"Share ideas and inspiration"

I started putting things on paper even more than before. Take thoughts out of my head and look at them from above. Mind without clutter. A great thing to do, we all know about it and it works. Please don't take this text as a self-made bullshit lecture. Just sharing my own experience. We all have libraries full of these books, it's all been said and written before.

It took me a year to coin the phrase "Share ideas and inspiration" as our mission statement. It sums up what we do and want to do. It doesn't give away if we're in the wine business or if we make, say, concrete sinks. This universal level is important for me. To go beyond the wine itself, again, and find our mission.

Sharing is something that has a future and is sustainable. I have been lucky in my life that, in most cases, I got answers to the questions I asked. I try to do the same. I'm inspired by a lot of people, and I try to inspire others too if I can. Getting things going. If you want to be a good leader, you have to be a good follower. Sharing works both ways. Inward and outward. There has to be a balance, just like in nature.

To arrive at this motto that defines us, I had to ask myself questions. Who are we? What do we do? Why do we do it? What are we good at and why? Who are we here for? By answering these questions, our mission statement emerged:

We are going back to our roots, finding new paths, having fun and sharing it. That's what we want to do. On top of that, we sell wine. But what precedes it is what counts.

The mission is followed by a vision statement that describes our direction and longer-term goals. I've divided it into four parts:

1) Terroir - Reflecting our place and putting it on the wine map of the world.

2) Plant and Soil - To farm with respect and reason. To create a harmonious whole with a minimum of external inputs. Keep the soil and landscape alive

3) Wine - to spread good energy, joy and ideas through wine

4) People and environment - Sustainable internal team, sustainable customer team. Sustainable relationships with others. To benefit the neighborhood and place where we live. Giving help and respect.

Last but not least, the values that are important to us.

- transparency

- courtesy

- innovation

- attention to detail

- mastery of craft

It all sounds terribly simple, and obvious when I look at it now. But, while thinking about these things, I got to a point where I felt it was impossible to move on.

My way of communicating is wine and if something doesn't align with our mission statement, it's something we don't want to pursue and spend further time on. With this approach, we can get rid of the clutter and chisel the essentials. Trimming our composition so that it's still great, but where everything unnecessary has been taken away.

That's our plan for 2024. For life, for wine. I'd encourage everyone to make a mission statement. To limit ourselves in certain ways. Because that's when the best things can happen.