I’ve long thought this line from the Graham Parker song of the same name also applied to wine. There is something (actually, many things) about wine – how the grapes are grown, how the wine is made, the diversity of tastes and styles, how well it compliments food, the sociability it promotes – that generates a passion for it among so many. Marshall Vanderburg and I included.
While my passion is writing about it, Marshall’s the passion is growing and making it. He had worked in a wine store while in college. Later worked various positions in the Denver wine business. Then career, in city planning, software, and business operations. But kept his interest in wine with home winemaking and wine travel, especially to western Colorado wine country.
And when it came time to retire, Marshall wanted to realize his passion for growing grapes by making wine his “life encore”, as he describes it. That meant moving in the middle of the pandemic to the Western Slope’s North Fork Valley to pursue a “vine-to-wine” operation. By the end of 2020, Marshall and his wife Janine had relocated to the valley, which encompasses the West Elks American Viticultural Area. He says the pandemic allowed them to work remotely but I think that convenience was just the final push to go for it.
Marshal understandably chose this valley, as it encompasses many of Coloraod’s best wineries, such as Alfred Eames, The Storm Cellar, Black Bridge, and Stone Cottage.
Though Marshall had been spending most of his time “familiarizing myself with the elements involved in planting a vineyard from scratch”, I get the sense he didn’t fully comprehend the challenges he would face (who would?). From finding suitable land, navigating the purchase, obtaining the necessary tools and equipment, deciding which grapes to plant (pinot noir and riesling), planting the vineyard (battling rocks and boulders), and nursing the vineyard (including adapting to pests, vine diseases and weather challenges). And doing all this almost completely by himself (some welcome help from friendly valley neighbors). Talk about D.IY.
And yet, Marshall persevered having his first harvest in 2023. And overcame other challenges to harvest increasing yields in 2024 and 2025, enough to begin bottling his own wine.
With encouraging prospects for the vineyard, Marshall’s wine encore has evolved into that second career. But the story doesn’t end there. Marshall has adopted the sentiment promoted in the book Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life that, as he puts it “encore careers are often motivated by a desire for personal fulfillment and social impact rather than economic factors”. So, somehow he has found time to chronicle his experiences, challenges and lessons on Marshall’s Wine Encore website and Substack– with the hope that others might learn from his experiences.
At a time when the very existence of vineyards and wine is threatened by climate change and a growing temperance movement, Marshall’s purity of intent and dedication to his vineyards and his wine is refreshing and inspiring.