Persevere.

The full story of Sam Lando

Persevere, to keep going even in difficulty. The challenging times made us fall down 3 times, but we got back up 4 times. I guess it goes with the territory, relying on Mother Nature for your job. I have faced 3 fires in the past 4 years. Our 2016 vintage, our first single vineyard pinot noir was eviscerated during the Tubbs fires of 2017. I felt like someone close to me suddenly passed and I was not allowed to say goodbye. We were the lucky ones, I had 46 other winemakers & friends who lost homes, hundreds of others displaced.

We thankfully had moved the 2017 (Sauvé la vie Pinot Noir) vintage in a new warehouse, otherwise, we would have been out of business. Grateful that we had just moved. It saved us. Sauvé la vie means “life savor”, a fitting name, the wine was dedicated to the emergency room doctor and the cooperage who helped during this time, saving our life and our livelihood. In 2018, more distress and more evacuations, moving from place to place, dreading of the lost of livelihood. With optimism, determination, and the amazing help from everyone, from the ashes we had risen again.

The job separates the girls from the women, the men from the boys. Now 2020, this past year with our “normal” already turned upside down; shelter-in-place, zooming, distance learning, business closures and more and then the 300+ FIRES put a capper to it all. I lost 60% of my harvest to fire and smoke. It’s through all of this uncertainty, anxiety and fear that I turn to love. Love of family, love of friends, love of community, love of clients & love of what I do. The life of a winemaker is hard back break work, stamina and patience required.

I will rise again; I will persevere because as Rumi says: Let the beauty we love be what we do.

This is Sam's story. What is yours?