Ed Rocereta:
CLASS OF 1966
Churchill Area High SchoolClass of 1966
Pittsburgh, PA
Ed's Story
Hi. Living in Ga . Place called Warm Springs. Hope to hear from you. Nice to see so many pics of you. Y'all look great. Nice going.
Sold my tennis club 5 years ago and have been looking for something new to have fun with. Finally hit on opening a winery in Warm Springs. With luck, I may be operational this fall(2010). Hope you like muscadine wine! Unless you live in the South, you have probably never heard of it, but it is indigenous to the area and is pretty good. It compares to a sweet Reisling. If you have any wine stories, let me know. Maybe I can use it in the tasting room presentation!
The photo is Wayne Guy,the one and same from Churchill Area, Chief Pontiac (Wayne collects them-the car that is) and myself on the right.Wayne and I are still best buddies and get together a couple times a year.
2/10/10..Winery building coming along. Equipment being ordered..If I can just get the forms filled out correctly, I will be in business by the end of the year. (You should see the forms!)
Watch for news of southeastern states reunion at Warm Springs Winery..coming this summer.
3/15/10..Where are you lawyers in the class? I had to hire a "downtown" Atlanta attorney to help me cut thru the red tape in time to open for this year.
4/7/10..Many of you ask about my little sisters, so here is an update on them. Lynda, living in New Mex w husband. They moved there about 3 years ago after Evans retired from banking so he could pursue his dream of becoming a surveyor and civil engineer, to attend New Mex State. Lynda is also a pharmacist, having graduated from U Rhode Island. They live in the desert w rattlers, jack rabbits. Nancy, baby sis, began a family, having 2 daughters w husband Rob (of CAHS) in her early 20's and before finishing college. She went back to PItt and earned a BS in math at age 30, became an actuary and consultant w a large consulting/actuarial firm at about age 33. She moved to New Jersey about 15 years ago w the transfer with the same firm and has been there since, with current husband, Marty.
April 7-Winery. Building almost complete. Looks like an old English Tudor style building. Pretty nice for an old cinder block garage and farm shop building. Pics will follow soon.
May 4. Federal application was sent off April 30. Equipment ordered May 2nd. The End of the Beginning. Picture of winery added to "Photos". What do you think?
May 25. It's official. It's a winery. Got permit from Feds. Five months working on those forms finally paid off. Also, received all of the equipment. Finishing touches being added to interior and a test run on equipment to be done.
July 20..Making first batch of commerical wine. It is blueberry wine, berries picked from area blueberry...Expand for more
farms. Made this last year in a "kitchen batch"; hope this turns out ok in a 70 gallon try. Also threw together 9 gallons of peach wine, made from local peach farm peaches. First try at this. What the hey, Georgia is the Peach State, why not make wine from the states's namesake fruit? I hope the tourists will like it!
November 20..Believe it or not, still waiting for the final permit from the State of Ga. However, it is in the process and, hopefully, will be open in Jan. Everything from labels to corks are in place and ready to go. It is difficult to believe the hoops one has to jump thru to get a business open. America: love it or leave it as they used to say.
Peach and blueberry wine turned out great. Of course, I have "vintners tongue", meaning anything I make tastes good!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING.
Dec 23..Got word from state that license is being issued! Will receive it after Jan 1st. What a bureaucratic nightmare that was, but, Hey!,finally Warm Springs Winery is a fully licensed and official winery! Looks like we can open around Feb 1st, after bottling this year's wine.
Remember, fellow Churchillians, you can't get to Fla without passing over or thru Georgia. Now you can visit a winery on the way.
Jan 31, 2011. Got that winery opened. I can't believe it. Over 2 years of permits and work. Sold about 45 bottles of wine this weekend on an unannounced, quiet opening. Visit the winery on Facebook at Warm Springs Vineyard and Winery.
April 17, 2011. Winery going well. Had a record week last week and today, Sat, was the best day ever. Seems that more people than not like the muscadine wine we make. People are coming from a hundred mile radius to find the little winery. If you use Facebook, it is a very effective tool for small business. I don't even have a web page, but people find us via fb and our advertising. You can view pictures at Warm Springs Vineyard and Winery on fb.
When there is a lull in visitors during hours we are open (Thur-Sun, Noon to 6 pm), I take flyers up to Warm Springs where there are always some tourists and pass them out. Always get a few people to go to the winery. Yep, I am still the same kid who hung around outside of Thorofare and asked ladies if they wanted their carts wheeled to the car and unloaded down at the Ardmore Blvd. shopping center. The ladies usually gave us a quarter for helping! Monks, Chip, Callahan and others sometimes tagged along during a break from dodgeball or basketball while hanging out all day at Saturday gym at Atlantic Avenue. We sure were lucky to have teachers like Mac, Mr. McCormick, Mr Brown and all of those others who spent their Saturdays keeping an eye on us. Maybe there is a name for a wine in this memory...
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