I grew up watching my dad do magic. Not with cards or sleight of hand, instead, he would transform cardboard wine boxes into suits of armor for my brothers and me or tell impromptu tales about how the abandoned cars in the river were the lost steeds of long-ago crusaders. All of us kids would listen to him, fascinated.My dad had a casual way of turning the everyday into something special. Family meals were simple but sourced from the garden and eaten outside at sunset. There were multiple hour sessions of hide and seek in the winery that involved crazy ingenuity: building a refuge out of wine pallets or wrapping up in a sleeping bag to hide in a freezer with the door propped open… The vineyard and cellar were our playground.

That is how I learned to make wine—watching my dad cook ribs that were sweet but spicy and then blend together a fruity Zinfandel and a hefty Petite Sirah so that it would go better with dinner. He transformed everything to become something better. Creativity and possibility reigned supreme.

When I started my real work at Marietta, my dad gave me space to practice the balance of science and technique with ease and intuition. Somewhere along the way, I too learned how to make wine by magic. The work became play. Calculation merged with creativity and methodology gave way to marvel. 

We are still performing magic here at Marietta. This second-generation winery continues to transform belief, hard work, a blessed climate, and extraordinary land into beautiful liquid expressions of family and place.
 

-Scot Bilbro, Owner/Winemaker