Christmas Traditions

'Twas two days before Christmas and all through the farm and winery, the family is scurrying around trying to get everything done...The farm workers are all off next week, and the winery will be closed for three days for Christmas.  Christmas is a time for family traditions, and the Layton family has plenty of those! Two days before Christmas, Joe and Laura put up the Christmas tree, and Joe bakes his famous chocolate chip Christmas cookies. Joe is the BEST cookie baker in the family.  Christmas Eve is the time when the Layton side of the family gets together for dinner. This year the dinner is at Joe and Laura's house, and approximately forty guests - Joe and his four sisters as well as their children and grandchildren - will gather for dinner and a Chinese gift exchange. There are always lots of kids running around on Christmas Eve.  One Christmas Day, every year, all the Layton's who are home for the holiday go to Claudia's house for an enormous Christmas breakfast.  No one goes away hungry!  Christmas evenging, the Hill side of the family (Laura's family)  gathers at Williams and Jen's house for gift-giveing and more food!  The kids have a busy Christmas of toys and food, and the adults have a busy day of food and more food! 
All the Layton's wish your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and we hope you get lots of Joe's Cool Red for Christmas!  If you have not signed up for our New Year's Eve party at the winery, there is still time.  If will be a great way to welcome in 2012.

Preparing for the Big Day

What are we doing at the winery to get ready for Christmas? The company Christmas party, organized by Barb and Richard, was last night, and employees of both Lazy Day Farms and Layton's Chance Winery had a great time.  I am sure you will see some videos of the karaoke on Facebook in teh next few days. Everyone got a "gift" which fit some aspect of their personality, as we celebrated into the night Layton's Chance wine and Bob windor's karaoke.  This morning we are getting ready for a day full of Christmas parties, and all the last minute shoppers that will be out this last week before Christmas.  We are the perfect place for those hard-to-find gifts, as Barb can make a basket to fit any request - it doesn't even have to have wine (although we hope it does!) Don't forget to think ahead to New Year's Eve. We are planning a great dinner with food and wine pairings, and then an evening of music to ring in teh New Year with Mike Elzey and the Mayhem Band - everybody's favorite! Take some time to relax in the next week, and get ready for special holiday traditions with the family.

The Spirit of Wine



A quick photo op at a recent staff meeting

Halloween. Check. Thanksgiving. Check. Tree decorated. Check. This holiday season has seemed more like a checklist than a holiday. As we were preparing for Thanksgiving sales, and making sure that the wine was ready for your Thanksgiving meal, I was struck by a pretty amazing thought. At Thanksgiving we purchase wine to enjoy with our family and friends. On Friday nights we purchase wine to share with our family and friends. When giving holiday gifts, we purchase wine to share with our family and friends. Have you found the trend here? It is a pretty amazing thought that wine can help bring people together, and such a great feeling to think that we, at Layton's Chance, are a part of that tradition. So, whether you use our wine as gifts for family - or as a gift to yourself to get through the holiday season around all of your family, we want to take this time to say, Thank You! Whatever wine you choose to celebrate wih this season(and I am not going to lie- we hope it's Layton's Chance wine!), take a minute to think of what brought you together with your friends and family. We hope that you can appreciate all of the blessings in your life. It is our great honor to be a part of your celebrations this season.

Finally......a new blog!

Ok, so I have to start out by apologizing for the lack of blogs and updates the last few weeks....I could blame busy times, computer issues, event issues.....but alas, it is just writer's block getting in they way. Living the winery life every day, we tend to get used to the things happening around us, so when looking for new topics to update our adoring fans with, I seem to come up short. But as I was looking around the vineyard this morning, I thought...."Wow, everyone should know about this"....and with that, a renewed spirit was born! (Even though the spirit has been renewed, please don't expect amazing poetry from the writing....still pretty amateur).
I can't even begin to describe the changes in our vineyard! No longer than 2 weeks ago, I was giving a tour in the vineyard and the vines were lush(ok, so the weeds were the really lush part) and now it is barren! The vines are dying off at such a rapid rate, I can't believe it.  The frost that we have received a few times in the past two weeks has really sped up the process a bit.  I have been hounding our vineyard manager, Richard, for some updates on the vineyard to share. While he is a wealth of knowledge and can explain anything that happens in the winery and vineyard with the utmost confidence, getting him to write it down can be quite a chore! But, the story does have a happy ending folks...check out December's newsletter for a great update on the vineyard and what is coming up next!
Speaking of the monthly newsletter(insert segue here) did you notice the new feature, Ask the Winemaker? Our very own winemaker, William Layton, will be answering any question that you can come up with about the wine, the vineyard, the winery, and even Lazy Day Farms! Please send in your questions. Post them on Facebook, email them to info@laytonschance.com, or make sure to stop in with your Ask the Winemaker question.  And of course, if you do not receive our monthly newsletters, please email info@laytonschance.com to add your email address to our list!
Now as you know, Layton's Chance is not all about wine....but the wine is pretty great isn't it? We also take care of Lazy Day Farms. Once the grapes are all of the vine, and we can put that harvest to an end, there are 1200 acres of Lazy Day Farms to be harvested as well......yep, no rest for the weary around here. Isn't working at the winery glamorous? And you thought we sat around and drank wine all day(ok, that does happen some days!) Check below for a beauty shot of some of Lazy Day Farms finest.....soybeans that is.

I would play a game of "Guess what this is" but I think I gave it away already!

Well all, thank you again for your patience in cyberspace....we have to head back in and set up for Alex and Shiloh tonight(yes, this is the glamorous part!) Make sure you check our website for up to date happenings at the winery, www.laytonschance.com, and please follow us on Facebook(we get so excited when we have a new Facebook follower, will that be you?)
See you next time!(And I promise it won't be too long!)

Monsters in the Vines

Look what we found in the vineyard!

Ghosts, goblins, and pretty princesses?!?! Saturday's Halloween party at the winery had a little bit of everything! We had so much fun filling all of the community's children with candy....and then sending them home with their parents! Thank you to everyone who came out for the fun. From jack-o-lanterns in the vineyard to ring around the gourds, all of the kids seemed to have a good time.
This past weekend was full of entertainment...Chris English on Friday, Halloween party on Saturday, and Bird Dog on Sundays. Layton's Chance surely isn't just for wine! Make sure you check our website often for all of the events we have scheduled! 

Next Karaoke night is
November 4th!

We are finally getting "back to normal" (whatever that is!) at the winery. The official wine festival season ended last week in Salisbury(great to see you all there!)  so we are catching up on all of the pesky paperwork that needs to be done. We are also trying to get ready for Christmas....can you believe it! New merchandise is coming in pretty regularly now. We pulled through all of our decorations today(wow we have a lot of bows!) and are getting our game plan down for making the winery sparkle.
Garland and Richard are busy getting the soybeans in from the fields so make sure you wave to the tractors as you go by on the way to the winery! Hope to see you soon, and as always - Have a "Joe's Cool" kind of day!

New Wine Alert!

Well, last week was all about "firsts", this week is all about NEW! We have a lot of people that have been anxiously awaiting the release of our Oaked Chambourcin. Well, wait no more....it is on the shelf! If you have not had a chance to try it, I have got to tell you, that William has outdone himself with this wine! Our 2010 Chambourcin aged in french oak chips. If you like a full bodied red wine, Oaked Chambourcin is what you are looking for! We are also starting to look towards the Christmas holiday season(I know, it's not even ! Halloween yet!) but that just means that we are already seeing some new merchandise in our tasting room. Check out the great etched crab glass in the picture with our beautiful Oaked Chambourcin. They are huge glasses and only $12! We just brought those in this week from a great group of gals that we have met at some of the local wine festivals, the Shore Sisters. They have more great merchandise as well, so let us know how you like the glasses and we will bring in some more of their great gifts!     

Thank you to everyone who came by the Autumn Wine Festival in Salisbury this past weekend. We had a great time with the local crowd who already know, and love, our wines. There were some at the festival who had more fun than others(see picture!). It was a great weekend for Maryland wine! Wine festival season is coming to a close so look for some more great events at the winery. IThis weekend is a great example of how much we have planned! Friday night is Happy Hour with Chris English - Saturday(October 22nd) is our Halloween Party and we are so excited that Mindie Burgoyne will be joining us for a book signing and to tell some spooky stories! Make sure to wear your costumes - there are contests for both young and old, or old-ER I should say! And for those of you who are still fussing with Irene for cancelling Bird Dog and the Road Kings....get your dancing shoes on because they are at the winery this Sunday, October 23rd from 2-5pm! Bring all of your friends out for this local favorite! We hope to see you all soon at the winery. And as always, Have a "Joe's Cool" kind of day!

First Video Blog

Click on the following link to check out our first Video Blog. Check back weekly for the updates and videos of all of our staff!  See you soon at the winery, and as always "Have a Joe's Cool" kind of day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTdi8sOjmw4