BOS Winter Adventures: Behind the Scenes in the Winery and On The Road

As the winter chill settles in and the vineyards go dormant, the pace of life at BOS Wine doesn’t slow down. While the grapevines rest, we focus on many projects to progress our hibernating vintages and expand our reach in new markets, retail stores, and restaurants. We’re also visiting establishments that currently sell BOS wine for tasting with staff, tasting events, and wine dinners. 

BOS In The Cellar

Delicious work is happening right now with both our Michigan and California wines. We just tasted through all of our reds at Boathouse Vineyards and are thrilled with how they are progressing! We are making decisions regarding maturation vessels and length in vessels and blending. We’re excited to work with winemaker Doug Olson on our red wines this year; our collaboration and learning from his expertise is something we never take for granted. We are also spending a lot of time at Left Foot Charley Winery where we are  making our whites with winemaker/owner, Bryan Ulbrich. He has been an inspiration to Dave since he started and it is such a joy to make wine there! 

It’s also an exciting time for our California wines, as our 2021 Moon BOS was just bottled! You won’t have to wait much longer to taste this glorious wine; it will be here in time for our Winter Wine Club. It is made from 100% Cinsault grapes from the magical Bechthold Vineyard. It is planted with the largely underappreciated Cinsault rather than Zinfandel, the grape variety most wine aficionados associate with old vineyards. Cinsault, which tends to be low in tannin, is generally used to add aromatics and a spicy component to Southern Rhone Valley-style wine blends. Nestled in the Mokelumne River area of Lodi, the organically dry-farmed vineyard with head-trained vines is believed to be the world’s oldest surviving Cinsault vineyard. Shout out to Jillian Johnson DeLeon, our great friend and talented winemaker, who made 2021 and 2022 (yes, you still have that to look forward to!) Moon BOS.

BOS On The Road

Dave and Jackie spent some time in California in early January, visiting vineyards and wineries and connecting with the people, like winemaker Jillian, who help keep BOS California wines coming your way. They, of course, had to do quite a bit of research and development and had a great time at Tres Sabores, whose high level organic and regenerative farming is something to aspire to; owner Julie Johnson is both an icon and leader in the industry. They also enjoyed (many) flights of sparkling at Domaine Carneros, a definite favorite bubbly producer. With future BOS goals including many more bubbles, it’s crucial to always draw inspiration from wineries and winemakers that align with our passion for biodynamic farming and clean, quality wine.

Dave also spent a week in Chicago spreading the word about Michigan wine and doing tasting events and wine dinners. Our Illinois distributor is Cream Wine Company, who also represents Left Foot Charley Winery, so we’ve been joining forces with Bryan Ulbrich and Kristy McClellan, Sales Director for these trips, and they’ve proven to be very successful in getting our wines on more lists and more shelves. We started the week at Up North Wine Tasting Room in Geneva, which we love visiting. We did a happy hour tasting event and a joint wine dinner the following night. It was amazing to see some of our favorite wine club members at those events; thank you for the support! We ventured into the city and did a couple tasting events at All Together Now and Nettare. Thank you to Cream for setting up the events and helping us meet the best Chicagoans, to all of the incredible establishments; we are beyond honored that you carry our wines, and to Bryan and Kristy for helping to showcase some of the best of what Michigan wine offers. 

We also recently enjoyed an incredible wine dinner in Traverse City at Modern Bird! This was our second wine dinner there, and both times, we celebrated Jackie’s birthday, so we’re hoping to make this an annual event in the future. Modern Bird owners Andy and Emily are so talented; from the unique creations on every plate and the perfect pairings, it was a pleasure all around. Next is our wine dinner with Little Bird on March 5th in Grand Rapids, which will be our third dinner there, and we can’t wait to return. Stay tuned for details about our trip to Detroit this spring! 

BOS At The Wine Garden

Visit us at BOS Wine Garden! We have events happening all the time, including our DIG Nights and weekly Local’s Nights (Wednesdays, 5-8 PM) as well as community events like Frostbite Trail event. The BOS team is always working on new curation experience pairings, delicious dips and flight offerings, labeling wine bottles, and growing our wine clubs. We’d love to host you, your friends and family soon; we’re open Wednesday - Saturday during the Winter months and are available for walk-ins or by making a reservation. 

In short, Winter is a season of productivity and innovation. From cellar work to sales trips, the winter months are essential for shaping the future success of BOS Wine and ensuring that each bottle tells a story worth savoring.