Hello beautiful reader!  My name is Rachel Speck, I am a professional winemaker, wine expert, and overall wine enthusiast and my wish is to share what I know with you in hopes you can appreciate, understand, and love wine as much as I do. Wine is a wonderful thing but we all know there are more things to living a fulfilled life. My intention is to incorporate wine into everyday life with food, friends, events, and even crafts. Wine yoga anyone?

For me wine is more than just a cheap thrill but a cultural item and piece of modern art. It is truly a beautiful thing. I believe wine brings people together whether over holidays or casual weeknight dinner. Having a fine glass of wine is looking back into a moment of time that was captured in a bottle, expressing where its from and how it was made. Having a glass of wine is taking in a that past moment while being completely present, awake and aware. So many of my happiest memories there is usually a bottle (or two) that accompany the moment. When we stop to think about what we are drinking, who we drinking it with, and why, we not only make a happy memory but create an open awareness that reverberates good vibrations out into the universe. Awesome right?

A little more about me. I am young(ish) winemaker but I did not start out my career in wine. I graduated with a B.S. in Biology, yes that’s right I was geeky scientist (wait I am still a geeky scientist). I started in analytical immunology and then moved into a R&D position at a company called Vinmetrica. This company started Little Oaks Winery the very same year I joined on. I was hired in June (2013) and August was our first harvest. I was hooked right then and there! I fell in love with the physical labor (yes harvesting wine grapes is backbreaking), followed by processing the grapes at our small urban winery, tasting the luscious grape juice, and watching it turn into excellent crafted wine. Wine captivated me from the beginning and being the forever nerd I started studying. I have my Advanced WSET Level 3 accreditation, which is super cool and officially makes me a bit of a wine nerd too. I believe that education and learning is always ongoing, I will always be a forever student as well as an educator.

Wine is anything but simple and the industry doesn’t make it easy to quickly learn and appreciate it. I am here as a guide to make wine more approachable and meaningful to daily life. So come on tribe let’s begin the journey!