While this winter's drought has been giving grey hairs to Rob (Dir. of Vineyard Ops), we've been making up for lost time over at the Adobe restoration site, which is on track to open in time for Harvest 2014. This week was particularly exciting after an archaeological discovery while digging a trench for a firefighters' back flow system. We unearthed a past dwellers dating to circa 1860-1880!

Work was halted and out came equipment of a different kind: trowels and sift screens. The Three Sticks team, lead by Sonoma City Historian and archaeologist George McKale, gingerly dug through the hot-spot, and proceeded to sift all dirt, rocks and clods through a 1/4-inch screen. Nothing got past us! Common finds were charcoal and old brick pieces with the occasional square "cut" nails (common in construction circa 1810-1900s), cow bone and wine bottle remnants. Yes!! Sonomans have been enjoying wine for a loooong time.

A rare find was a large triangular ceramic piece with a beautifully intricate design of a landscape with a palace and a fisherman. There were several ceramic pieces found with the same design and they are thought to come from a serving platter or wash basin. To see a picture of the ceramics and other artifacts (and a video of Prema sifting!), please visit our Facebook page. Be sure to LIKE the page to receive updates on the Adobe as well as other mischief the Three Sticks team gets into. There was a fun write up in the Press Democrat which has further detail about the dig.

Many of the unearthed artifacts will be on display at the Eighth Street Wineries Open House on Saturday, February 22nd from noon to 4pm. We will roll up our cellar door to the public along with our many neighbor wineries and Don has come up with an amazing line-up of wines we will be pouring - he's pilfering wine from both the library and the barrel! On top of that, we will be previewing a couple of the wines that will be included in our Spring Release on February 25th. To purchase tickets to the Eighth Street Wineries Open House on February 22nd, please follow this link… We hope to see you there!