Woody the Vineyard Dog

Woody takes his job as chief greeter at Broken Stone Winery very seriously.  He’ll run out to arriving cars, bark a few times, and then lean his backside up against visitors for a good scratch.  A few times people have simply turned around and left when they saw Woody come bounding out.  I suppose their fear of dogs wins out over their love of wine. But most just laugh off his fearsome barking as an empty threat.  Woody’s wagging tail gives away his true feelings.

During the summer, Woody is my constant companion.  When I’m pruning the vines on a warm spring day, he’ll never be more than a few feet away.  I gently push him out of the way when he gets between me and my work.  Then he’ll go and dig a shallow hole to expose cooler soil, and lie down in it.   As I work my way down the row, he’ll move his hole to a new spot and lie down again.   He’s my shadow when I’m walking up and down the rows.

He loves being out in the field, but his true love is welcoming people to our tasting room.

To my chagrin, many tasters don’t remember the winemaker, the wines, or the winery, but everyone remembers the big brown friendly dog!

So if you come to visit us, don’t be afraid of the big chocolate lab; he’s friendly.