What does becoming a “Follower” mean?
1. Interesting emails (around one a month if I don't get writer's block) with behind-the-scenes stories, personal musings, and fun facts.
2. Early access to wine allocations. Wine won't be released for years, so you have plenty of time to decide.
3. Invites to events at the 63 Raw Acres property.
About The Project
As I signed the papers making me the owner of a beautiful plot of land just 7 miles from my house and in my hometown that I grew up in, I had a few thoughts. First was, “wow, I can’t believe I just bought 63 acres in Napa Valley with an already approved plan approved by the county to plant 18 acres of vineyards”.
Second thought was, “Wonder if I can find some good rocks to climb on, and I can’t wait to hike this with my dad”.
Third thought: I have no fucking clue what I’m doing. I might as well document it all, and invite all my friends, enemies, and strangers to follow along for the five long years leading up to my first vintage.
About Cory
Wine is my passion, and my entire adult life has revolved around the wine industry. Throughout my journey, I've had the pleasure of sampling over 50,000 different wines, snapped a staggering 96,239 pictures of my hand holding a bottle (a possible Guiness World Record), and successfully sold over 10,000,000 bottles in my lifetime. I enjoy rock climbing with my dad, playing sports with my two boys, and long walks on the beach. I was raised in Napa, left for Cal Poly for 5 years and returned back to work in the wine industry. My first job was packing shipments at Benchmark Wine Group for $11/hour. I quickly moved up and became General Manager before leaving to join BPWine with my two business partners in 2007. During my time at BPWine we started Last Bottle, First Bottle, and Last Bubbles along with producing our own wine Sleeper.
We sold the company in 2021 and after giving retirement a 2 month try, I decided it wasn't for me. So here I am now.
MORE OF MY STORY
Testimonials
Timeline
Spring 2023
June 2nd
Soil pits dug and samples being taken for analysis.
June 13th
Moving in the heavy equipment!
June 20th
Clearing the property begins.
May 2nd
Hike the property for the first time!
Summer 2023
July 10th
Hiking Haystack Peak - Vineyard being cleared in background.
July 30th
Lots of rock being pulled out during the ripping process
August 20th
Family time!
September 5th
More rocks!
Fall 2023
September 28th
Visit friends in Tuscany to get some inspiration
October 5th
Crushing rock to gravel for the avenues
October 16th
Santiago leading the crew putting hay down for erosion control.
November 18th
First big rain of the season. Drainage working!
Winter 2023/24
January 6th
300 oak trees planted to offset any trees that were removed (although they were almost all burned in the 2017 fires).
January 18th
Cat got into the cellar and broke a bottle of Mouton.
February 11th
Las Vegas for the Super Bowl -- Spoiler alert -- bad ending.
February 26th
Cover crops growing + Wildflowers.
Spring 2024
April 1st
Controlled burn of cleared debris.
April 26th
Start ripping the final 6 acres.
May 28th
We have a road! Vineyard avenues being prepared.
Friends and Advisors
These are some of the fine individuals I call friends or who I've worked with over the years. I have leaned heavily on many of them to help me figure out what to do with this land I bought.