An Ode to My Grandfather

I was given the incredible privilege to have worked for and alongside with my grandfather for close to 11 years at our family’s winery and vineyard. I was his apprentice, his mind reader, and his assistant. In turn, my grandfather was my mentor, my champion, one of my greatest loves and I always wanted to make him proud. He was the patriarch of my family and the last of his generation of the Loew family. Since his passing, working on the vineyard, continuing a legacy that he built with my grandmother—brings so much pride. It is also my hardest endeavor in life.

My grandfather once told me, “If you want to work here, you have to follow the way we do things.” Everything he did had a process. When we worked, we often started in the kitchen where he would draw a diagram of the task we were going to complete step by step. Once I understood, we would get in his car and he would drive down the hill to the winery. It was the routine, and if I swayed from it to go to the bathroom, chat with my grandmother, or fill up my water bottle, he’d leave without me. When we worked in the vineyard or winery, we would work until the job was finished. 

My grandparents and I made award winning mead with our prized family recipe (that I swore to never share with anyone outside of family), produced other award winning wines, and invigorated our family’s business. These moments together embodied the full meaning of L’dor V’dor, from generation to generation. And with my own generation and future generations, I can now teach what my grandfather taught me.