As we cork the bottle on another great year at Round Peak, we would be remiss not to thank you, our loyal customers, for visiting our tasting room, sipping and purchasing our wine. We are truly grateful for your support.

We want to thank publicly our general manager Mark Golding, and his able assistants Josh and Marcello. As a team, they keep our vineyard healthy and productive. We also thank them for helping our new consulting winemaker Sean McRitchie get our new winery up and running.

Nine of our twelve planted acres are now producing good quality wine grapes in the following varieties: chardonnay, merlot, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and nebbiolo. Quality has been so good, in fact, that we have been able to produce wines in all varieties without having to resort to substantial blending. Our original eight acres have achieved their first milestone of maturity, having passed the five year mark, and that maturity is now showing in our new wines. Indeed, again this year, every wine released by Round Peak Vineyards won at least one medal in blind tastings at the Mid-Atlantic (Winston-Salem) and NC State (Raleigh) competitions.

As we officially become an estate winery, we intend to produce the best wine, supporting the Yadkin Valley as a premier wine region.

Because the summer turned hot and dry in July and remained so through September, (an ideal climate for wine), we believe the quality of our '05 grapes will be the best yet, although 2004 will remain a tough act to follow. In May we started construction on our new winery, which was completed and bonded in August. The '05 harvest has now been processed, and that vintage is developing quietly, mostly in French oak barrels. Although we are processing enough wine for approximately 2,000 cases this year, our winery has a capacity of 4,000 cases, so we have lots of room to grow.

George, Lee, Janet and Susan