So last year I made some (6 cases to be precise) un-oaked cabernet franc at Raphael out in Peconic. I had "my" own row of vines that I didn’t spend as much time caring for as I had hoped, but the vineyard crew took care of it for me.

I did, however, harvest the grapes myself over the course of four back-breaking hours, crushed and de-stemmed the fruit via a hand-cranked machine, and inoculated the result with a strain of yeast popular in the Loire Valley.

Then Jackson was born and I missed out on bottling altogether. Oh well, there’s always this year.

I’ve spent way too much time thinking about the labels for this wine — and subsequent production as well. At first I was going to name my fictitious winery Jax Cellars, name (obviously) for the little guy. Then some friends raised the issue of future offspring. Fair point, I thought. I don’t see us living in our current house for more than a few more years, so any sort of street-name names wouldn’t work, either, though Upton Cellars has a nice ring to it.

Thompson Cellars was the obvious choice, but it seemed a bit boring, a bit expected. Then I remembered Tumasonis. What is Tumasonis you ask?

Well you see, when my Lithuanian ancestors first came to America, Tumasonis apparently sounded a lot like Thompson to those who welcomed them at Ellis Island, so Tumasonis became Thompson (at least for my family). Update: My dad emailed me this morning and told me that my great grandfather apparently changed the name himself:

"I believe the idea was to "Americanize" the name and it sounded close to Tumasonis.  Back then, immigrants tried to be assimilated to their new country as much and as soon as possible.  He changed his first name from Juozas to Joseph too."

So the official name of my unofficial winery/brewery is Tumasonis Cellars, which I’ve shortened to ‘Sonis Cellars on the first two labels I’ve created, for that cab franc and a merlot rose from the 2007 vintage (which I’ve dedicated to my always-supportive wife, Nena). Keep in mind that my design skills are highly mediocre. Be kind.

Future releasing some from Tumasonis Cellars will include a red blend, 2007 Le Petit Homme (which means The Little Man, for Jackson) and the first homebrew from our literal cellar, Benny’s Beag-Ale (named for my trusty cellar dog).