Photo credit: Megan Reeves
Meet Faith Armstrong, the winemaker behind Onward and Farmstrong wines. As refreshing as the Pétillant Naturel she makes of Malvasia Bianca, many of the words used to describe Faith's wine could be used to describe the winemaker herself. Honest, vibrant, unfiltered, true to her origins, bright, complex.
Read on to learn more about Faith Armstrong with Charles Communications Associates' ongoing profiles - “Ten Medium Intensity Questions.”
Photo credit: Megan Reeves
1. As a child, you collected…
Sea shells
2. Please name a book that has had the most impact on your life.
Siddhartha
3. Recall the biggest and best mistake you ever made and what you learned from it.
It was a big mistake... I refused to deal with the fact that I was dyslexic when I was younger. When I wanted to become a winemaker, I went back to college and flunked my first round of midterms. I finally faced my fears centered around my learning disability, and got help from the campus resource center. Doing so completely turned my educational experience around, and I ended up becoming a straight A student and winning a full-ride regent scholarship to UC Davis. I leaned from this experience that I tend to do things the hard way and that life is hard enough as it is.
4. Favorite place to visit?
Gulf Islands in British Columbia
5. Most memorable bottle of wine you’ve made?
I can't pick just one, but here are a few that are high on the list:
~ 2009 Cerise Pinot: This wine changed my life... it was my first Onward wine.
~2010 Hawkeye Pinot: This vineyard changed me as a winemaker. It was unlike any Pinot vineyard I had ever worked with. 2010 was also the year of my harvest baby, which had a profound impact on my winemaking style.
~2013 Malvasia Bianca Pet Nat: Making Pet Nat is refreshing, exciting...nerve racking...it is very spirited indeed and keeps me on my toes!
Photo credit: Megan Reeves
6. British Columbia or Northern California?
I thought it would always be British Columbia, but now that I am raising my kids here...it's becoming Northern California.
7. In 10 years how do you predict technology will change winemaking?
Provide answers to help manage, prevent, cure, and stop the spread of vine disease pressures that severely threaten the wine industry on a global level, such as Pierce's Disease and Fan Leaf Virus.
8. Bacon or sausage?
Bacon.
9. If you weren’t a winemaker, what career path might you have followed?
I would become a florist.
10. Name one thing every person should try at least once.
Swinging on a huge tire swing that drops from a high platform in the trees.