About Us
The Story
My name is Mike. I'm a geek and I know it. I grew up with a square controller in my hands and I never looked back. I love the media of my childhood and have great memories about it. 8-Bit Vintners is my way of honoring those memories.
I was born in Canada and moved to Scottsdale, Arizona when I was around 10 years old. I went to college in Phoenix at a small private school called Southwestern where I earned my Bachelors in Business Administration. After school ended, I really didnt know what I wanted to do, but I loved wine. So after having only been married to my beautiful wife for a few weeks, I asked her to pack up and move to wine country. I had heard of a 2 year wine program in the booming wine region of Walla Walla, Washington and decided to enroll and go back to school. In June of '09 I graduated from the Center for Enology and Viticulture and it was the best experience of my life.
My faith and my family are the two most important things in my life. Without them, none of what Im doing would be possible or worth doing. Im honored to share my passion with you and I thank you for allowing me to do so.
"I want to create wines that offer a unique and distinctive personality that drink well with food or without. Wine is a beautiful thing, but its supposed to be fun. My hope is that when you drink a glass of my wine, it brings back good memories of your youth and sharing those memories with others."
Whats up with the screw caps?
For the first vintage of Player 1, I chose to use screw caps over corks. This was not a statement against the cork industry. I feel Player 1 is a wine intended to be consumed soon after purchase. This is not to say that it wont age well, because I think once you taste it, the tannins would disagree. I just think there are more people who drink their wine out there than look at it and a screw cap screams "DRINK ME!"
Why those bottles?
I like them and the label fit on them....barely. Also, their lightweight which means their more eco-friendly and they cost less so I can pass on the savings to you.
Seriously.....Walla Walla?
Yeah, seriously. Google it. Walla Walla has been producing some of the World's best wine for over 20 years and its just scratching the surface. We have some of the most unique and dynamic people in the business here and business is good.