MK:  Since early on in the game — and certainly this message has been repeated quite often — for me, the main thing has been patience.  Because I came from the general contracting business where patience was not really part of the deal; we had to make things happen every day on a tight time frame.  That mindset for me had to really change.  I learned that I couldn't simply make things happen right away in this business; there really is a time factor here that is much-longer term.  And it's wonderful once you get into that rhythm because it really is a natural rhythm — you have the rhythm of each year with the passing of the seasons, the rhythm of the wines aging in the barrels, the rhythm of when they come to market, etc.  So you're always dealing with what I call multiple dimensions of time: we're obviously living in the present, which is really your sales that are always happening right now; we're also dealing with the future, which is the vintage coming up after this growing cycle that's developing in front of our eyes; and finally we're looking at the past, in terms of seeing how things worked out that we bottled years ago.  There's always this wonderful mixture of time!  So, in the end, patience has been the best lesson for me.

Patience, they say, is a virtue.  And it's apparently one that Michael Keenan has learned and embraced in the process of producing wine from the steep hillsides of Napa's Spring Mountain.  Hearing his story was a poignant reminder that by remaining true to the message of the land to which they've dedicated themselves to relaying, and staying mindful of its natural ebb and flow, wine producers can't help but become better human beings.  And, in doing so, they inevitably make better wines.  To learn more about Keenan's own portfolio of wines and how to get them, visit Keenan Winery online.  Photo Credits: Keenan winery and website.  

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