Ambition is a good thing, yet sometimes it also means you get a little ahead of yourself.
We had set a goal of doing a tasting event for Colorado Wine Week, trying to take advantage of all the crowds that come over to the Western Slope to enjoy a whole week of celebrating amazing local wines. Casey came up with the idea of Sunset Sips one evening as we watched the sunset from our patio. We truly have an incredible view for sunsets from our property. I was talking with one of the other ladies in the wine industry and she commented that we have a unique view from most of the other wineries in the area because we are on the west side of Mt. Garfield. We can still see Mt. Garfield from our patio, still the perspective is a change from looking at it from Palisade.
Anyways, we decided we’d do a tasting of five Colorado wines, plus a glass to sit and enjoy on the patio. We spread the word via Instagram and word of mouth and had generated a lot of interest, but very little commitment (just part of the culture around here, rsvp’s are not easy to obtain :). Our tasting room was coming along, we decided to rent wine glasses to make sure we had enough, but giving us the freedom to buy what we really want later. We were so close to having everything ready, then the snags started.
First, a friend asked if we had our salesroom license. It had been my understanding that the Limited Winery License covered the tasting room, after all under that license you are allowed up to five tasting room locations. But, no, you need a separate salesroom license. Then while filling that out, learned I needed a sales tax license (which fortunately was very easy to get) and that to get my salesroom license we would need another inspection from the state. The lady at the state was very helpful and even checked to see if they could use the inspection from when we got our Limited Winery License, but no such luck. Then I got sick and lost my voice two days before the event. Then the rain hit and we had to pick our muscat and make wine. Our babysitter had to cancel because she’s about to have a baby. So at 9 o’clock at night we made the call, it was time to not be so stubborn and call it.
There are times when facing adversity, that you have to preserve and push through all the obstacles. And there are times you have to make the call that it’s just not meant to be.
Wisdom comes in knowing which is which.