"Enter as strangers, leave as friends." anonymous
While Eric Glomski, owner and winemaker at Page Springs Cellars and Vineyards, may not have said this famous quote it is certainly his attitude. "He is such a nice, normal, and down to earth guy. Not what I expected at all, he was so friendly and easy to talk to," says my mom after Glomski gave us the grand tour of the cellar and bottling line. And honestly I could not agree more. With his schedule and current demands (aka everyone wanting a piece of his time) you would expect Glomski would have become jaded and protective of both himself and his winery, but the opposite is true. While the guy is still crazy busy, he stays true to himself and his passion for wine making at Page Springs Cellars.
I was scheduled to sit down and interview Eric over lunch this past Thursday, but the wine called and it told him it was time to bottle. So our lunch meeting was turned into a grand bottling lesson and tour.
He just finished his second going on his third 16 hour work day. "We used to bottle 24 hours a day, but that was crazy, and now we work in shifts for only 16 hours," says Glomski.... Still sounds like an exhausting day to me. Those are the things they don't write about in books, or show in the movies when they talk about how romantic and elegant being a winemaker is. Like I have said before, wine making is more similar to farming than anything else, the days are long and the land and crop determine your hours, not the clock. But even with just finishing two long days, Eric still had plenty of energy, he was made for this life. Seriously, they talk about a toddlers energy level and how it should somehow be bottled, well the same could be said for Eric.
I invited my mom to join me on this little trip, because as you know she loves wine, and loves to see how things are made. I have two videos I am currently editing to show you just how the bottling line works, so look for those in a later post. The vibe of the cellar was totally upbeat, and rocking, literally, it was 80's day, so the speakers where blasting the glorious tunes of that era. Everyone had a rhythm and groove to their job, and not a single person looked tired or unhappy, you could tell they really dug their jobs. Even one of Eric's sons enjoyed the life of the bottling line, jamming out to his favorite tunes. "Yeah, he loves this stuff, he loves the energy and the social aspect of the bottling line. My other son (Eric has four kids) enjoys the more laid back and quiet life in the vineyard, which is where he is right now," explains Eric. Eric told me his philosophy in our first meeting about having his kids work in the winery, which is again laid back and up to them. He does not believe in pushing them into it, or only giving them the glamours jobs either, as he expressed, "I do not want to make the same mistakes I have read about in other famous winemakers lives and making my kids work in the vineyard, and making them feel the pressure of doing what I want them to do, instead of letting them learn and make their own career choices." And it looks like that philosophy is working quite well.
It was really cool to get a first hand look at how the wine is bottled, by the guy who makes the wine. Eric has a true passion for Arizona wine and creating something that will not only stand the test of time, but gives back to the community. I learned about the Arizona oak he is currently using (which by the way is so freaking cool, I had a total wine geek moment when I first learned about this), again all to make a local and truly uniquely Arizona product. And instead of letting the smoked damaged grapes from Colibri Vineyards down by the Chiricahua Mountains go to waste, he is using those grapes to make brandy, which will show up in through a partnership with High Spirits Distillery in Flagstaff in about a year. He also took the time to show us the barrel room and gave a quick lesson on how barrels are made and his overall wine making philosophy. Of course, many times his staff pulled him away to help and assist with some aspect of the bottling line. Multitasking, a winemakers life.
While Glomski is not the first to make wine in Arizona, he is truly a pioneer of wine making and community building in the state. And his dedication and love for what he is doing shows up not only in the glass, but in his everyday operations of his vineyard. So please enjoy his wines, and enjoy some fabulous pictures below that I took during my visit! Cheers!
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| This is the favorite wine from the tasting. My mom and I loved it and gushed about it to just about everyone in the tasting room. It is from all estate grapes, and was pure deliciousness, and worth every penny. Arizona Syrah blend at its finest. |
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| This was the second favorite. If you are a fan of Viongier, or picky about your Viognier, like I am, you will be very pleased with this wine. Creamy, and exotic, with yummy baked apple, just how it should be. A lovely wine. |
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| View from the outside deck. Those are vineyards on the hills too. |
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| The empty tank. |
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| View from the top of the tank. I hate ladders, but I climbed one to get this shot! |
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| Loved the colored rings the wine made inside the tank. |
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| This is the wine that was being bottled. She is young, but with some bottle aging it should smooth out the rough edges. |
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| Second tank of wine that was bottled that day |
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| Glomski helping to move the freshly bottled wine to the storage cellar. |
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| The tanks. |
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| This is the beginning of the bottling line, loved the Carpe Diem handwritten note! |
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| My wine! Fresh off the bottling line, given to me by Eric, so cool, a first for me! I am standing at the top of the stairs leading to the cellar. |
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| Another picture of my wine. |
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Another fabulous view, this one is from the parking lot. And again if you squint real good you can see vines on the hills in the background.
For more on my visits to Page Springs please check out the following links. And support Arizona wine, pass this post around and take a road trip up to Page Springs Cellars and taste the wine in the lovely tasting room!
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