For years Jeana and I would lay in bed dreaming about someday moving to Chelan. This is the story of how those late-night conversations slowly became our farm, vineyard, and winery. by Chad
For years Jeana and I would lay in bed while living in Sacramento, talking and dreaming about when we’d move to our property in WA, in Manson, WA. We made plans for a two-bedroom house (twice), just trying to figure out a way to spend time there, to be where we wanted to be. At the time, it was our first 8.14 acres we dreamed about – overlooking Roses Lake, totally bare, nothing on it. We loved California, we especially loved our neighbors, but our heart was in WA.
Jeana and my journey and dreams of being in the Chelan Valley really began when we bought a house there in 2005. A house that would become an anchor for us – in our “dreams”. “Oh, well we’ll retire there” or “oh, let’s take a trip back to WA and check out our house.” But nevertheless – we spent a lot of time laying together, talking about “when”. When are we going to make the move? And “how”… how are we going to pull it off. And you do know – the road to someday leads to a town called nowhere (more later).
Maybe the “how” is where the fun part of the story is. How we ended up 3.5 hours from where we both grew up. The origin of how this couple became first generation wine growers and farmers (read Years to Yes for more in how we met). We got married in 2005 – Jeana was practicing as a pharmacist and I was getting comfortable being called a salesman calling on people with massive experience in farming.
That same year (2005) was when we’d buy that fateful house in Chelan. Within 6 months of buying it – we were whisked away to North Carolina for my job. I’d be on the road, Jeana getting licensed in NC, she’d be working full time. No kids in the picture yet, we’d explore and travel our tails off – staying in Charleston, backpacking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But on trips back to WA to see friends and family, we’d work in a way to visit Chelan. Oh… we’ll retire here. Maybe someday we can stay at our house we bought instead of long-term renting it. Man, how we’d dream of what it would be like to be back there.
Then comes another state – we moved to Memphis, TN in 2008… more work experience – me running marketing for Cotton, Peanuts, Vegetables, Tobacco and Sugarcane, Jeana taking on a manager role at Target Pharmacy. Throw in the same dialogue… man, what will it be like to live and stay in the Lake Chelan Valley someday.
But I’d also say that this is where our interest in wine started growing. Yeah, we’d experienced wine in North Carolina, but in Tennessee we had some great wine shops. And in 2009 we hosted a wine party focused solely on WA wine. Each couple brought a bottle to share in a blind tasting…. Everyone got to vote. You wouldn’t believe what wine won – it was a sweet wine from Texas. That didn’t steer our passion away from Washington Wine (we shared some nice ones that night).
My love for WA Wine started with my year at Ste Michelle in 2001 as a viticulture technician under the late Ed Doherty. But our laying in bed conversations in these years were – retire in Chelan, dream about where life with Syngenta (the company I worked for then, and just recently rejoined) would take us. “Could” we end up in Switzerland?
That’s right, living in Switzerland – they’ve got lakes, they’ve got amazing grapes, oh, and they have amazing cheese, and friendly people. How’d we know? Well, because we had the chance to stay after a 9 day training I had at INSEAD (top 10 business school in the world) in Fontainebleau France. We skied below the Eiger, we toured Syngenta’s headquarters and one of their global discovery centers, we rode trains, we stayed with friends, it was a fantastic trip. We were sold. If we had the chance, it would be a big yes.
A lot of mental energy was put into dreaming of living in Europe. The stories from colleagues, reminiscing about our time there…. As the dreaming continued so did our journey moving around the country.
Soon would come the purchase of our 5th house together – in Rocklin California. And soon after that, our first son would be born after moving in 2010, Carston came into our life in 2011. I tell him the story – he was born in February, and it was one of the coldest days of the winter, where all the almond growers were worried about their blooming trees. Frost isn’t good for delicate flowers. No flowers – no nuts. However, that year, the growers escaped the frost and Carston forever has a fun story for his birthday.
California, oh California (there’s a good song about it) was an amazing place to live for 8 years. And boy oh boy did our immersion into wine take off. Not only were customers I was spending time with into wine – but we were surrounded by epic wine growing areas. The Sierra Foothills, Lodi, Napa, Sonoma, Anderson Valley – then not too far away – the Central Coast. For me it became kind of an obsession… traveling and going to so many dinners with customers who loved wine.
A favorite for Jeana and I was staying in Napa with one of my favorite customers and his now wife. We had the chance to go to a “Barrel’s and Beasts” event at Del Dotto… look it up. It was epic. Amazing wines and an over-the-top evening. The wine order card was hot that night. Our wine adventures weren’t all on the entertainment side of things… we also took every class we could. U.C. Davis for multiple. Sierra College, Jeana even took a Macro Economics course considering getting a Masters in Enology (wine making) at U.C. Davis. Oh yeah, we had the bug….
But we never lost sight of being someday back in Chelan. Laying in bed, dreaming of retirement in Chelan, dreaming of living abroad.
And in 2014, the year I left Syngenta – two books and a trip to Chelan entered the picture, forever changing our story and what we’d dream about. Rich Dad Poor Dad and Start. Recall… the road to someday leads to a town called nowhere.
Well, that February trip of 2014 landed us the 8.14 acres. And because I’d left Syngenta, our laying in bed dreams of living abroad turned to – what do we do with this blank canvas of land in Chelan? Some folks wondered what the hell we were doing. We kept wondering – we finally did it, now how do we get there.
But wait, there’s one quick story that unfolded that prior year. On one of our visits to Chelan, we did a walk through with our renter – the house we bought in 2005. We’d been long-term renting it for 8 years. In setting up our visit I asked the renter Anne, would you be interested in buying our house. Crazy thing is, I hadn’t told Jeana.
The walk through went well, and on the way out the door, Anne said, “you know Chad, I’ve been thinking about your question, and I would be interested in buying your house.” Well, this was news to Jeana and I got the evil eye. I figured asking didn’t mean we had to do anything… but it would be interesting to know. After about 3 hours, we talked and decided using the cash from the sale of that house would put us in an excellent position to find property. Property to plant grapes. Property to dream up the future.
So it’s here that the dreaming and planning began. The moment we purchased the 8.14 acres we call home. Home to hosting you. Home to our family. The Rich Dad Poor Dad Book spurred us into using part of the house sale cash to buy a foreclosure, the other part for the down payment. The Start book – I clearly remember it saying – you just gotta do it. But before jumping in, it said – go walk a day in their shoes, the shoes of the thing you want to do, make sure you like it. Then go for it.
Buying this 8.14 acres was what put us into dreaming mode. This was a dream I had given up on after college…. The dream of someday being a farmer, someday growing grapes, someday raising our kids in a wide open space close to the mountains of Washington.
Guys, if you’ve read this far. You’ve read kind of the origin story. If you read – Years to Yes, it’s the origin’s love story. But I have to emphatically say, laying there in bed in Sacramento, wondering when we would make the move and how we would make the move seemed so far off. It seemed like that road to someday. But we’d done it – we’d committed to being there. To planting grapes. To moving there.
There was a turning point. In the spring of 2018, Neighbor Josh Tindel and I attended a Tony Robbins event – became fire walkers, and I came home clear – someday was no longer. Jeana, let’s make the move. And that fateful Spring of 2018, we sold our Sacramento home to friends and made the jump.
Jeana and I aren’t significant in the whole scheme of things. There are so many people on this planet, so many wonderful human beings. We’ve felt guided to be in Chelan and raise our family. It’s been hard as hell. And maybe not in many ways what we expected. We’ve certainly invested a lot of money. Calling ourselves first generation farmers – that’s something we light up about. Seeing all of you light up by connecting with friends and multiple generations of family over one of our wines. Hearing your questions – we love it.
Our hope is we create something that lasts. I hope this story was fun to read and wraps you into how it came to be. If you’re dreaming of something – do it. Start.
When I look back at how this has all unfolded – I feel guided. We’re so blessed to live where we live, make wine where we make wine and farm where we farm. We’re pouring our hearts and guts into this. Some wineries start with lots of money – we’re boot strapping it. Every dollar you spend with us supports our family and helps us continue building this farm.
Some folks may know at a young age what they “want”, what they really “want” to do in life. You’ve seen the winding path we took – and in the end, we made it. All those nights laying in bed, dreaming, talking about what it would be.
I’ll end with this – the dreaming hasn’t stopped.
