I
can’t talk about the winery without talking about the Working Girls and
for us now they’re interchangeable. Molly, Libby then Lisa joined me at
the winery. (Libby is still a Working Girl at heart but is pursuing
another of life’s paths.)
Owning a winery was not something I planned but as
fate would have it my husband and I bought a bankrupt winery in 1999.
(This story I only tell over a glass of wine).
We were naïve enough to think we could run the
business from Dallas both holding full time jobs. Mine at the time was
international and you could say I hit the proverbial wall… so in 2001
with a retirement package in hand, we moved to the Olympic Peninsula and
I took over the operations of the winery.
My plans were actually
to do a “graceful shutdown” and pay off all the bills. But you know
wine… it has the power to sucker and seduce you in… and our first gold
medal in 2002 for the Dungeness Red Lemberger didn’t hurt. It was like
winning a $2 bet, I thought I knew what I was doing and I mentally
crossed the line… I own a winery! Holly Toledo, now the real work began.
The
Working Girls rebuilt Olympic Cellars together with the help of a new
wine brand “Working Girl Wines” released in 2003. There was still much
to accomplish, the lists were a mile long. Many times one of us would
exclaim “it’s a sign” as that invisible rainbow sheltered the winery
once again and showed us the path as we worked through problems,
mechanical breakdowns or just the aches and pains of cellar work.
A few years ago I wrote the “Circle is Unbroken”.
There were so many incredible connections to the origins of the winery,
the founder, our home and our wines it was almost eerie… as if we were
following a destiny of sorts.
Olympic Cellars is a premium blend
of old and new. We never stand still and always work to get better. We
love our small artisan winery and share it every day, in fact 361 days a
year. One of the Working Girls will always greet you personally, be it
at the winery, on the phone or in cyber-space.
Wine is like life... full of possibilities, ever changing and aging gracefully!
We appreciate your support and vallue your business.
Cheers, The Working Girls... Lisa, Kathy and Molly
