Sleeping Dog Wines are created almost exclusively from grapes grown in the Buoy Vineyards adjacent to their home and winery on the southward slopes above the Yakima River in Eastern Washington. What began with Larry's hopeful request to Farmer Bob Buoy of, "Hey, can I pick a few grapes that are left over and make some wine?" has grown into a relationship of mutual respect and admiration for each man's gift with the grape.

Bob and his crew selectively prune and thin the vines throughout the growing season, working continually to nurture the health of the crop. Aurora's olfactory prowess is vital in helping Larry determine when to begin tasting, catalogueing and analyzing the clusters of fruit he collects from throughout the vineyard -- sometimes several times a day, to Aurora's delight. After walking the vineyards for over a decade, Larry and his canine apprentice have established definite biases for particular scents and flavors that determine which grapes will capture the robust, intense berry flavors that are Larry's preferred signature for Sleeping Dog Wines. These select grapes are then hand-picked and delivered across the road to the winery door.

At harvest, the friends and family of Sleeping Dog are mustered to the crush. Under strict supervision of Aurora and her feline assistant, Syrah, the crew hand-sorts and cleans the grapes as they are fed into the crusher/stemmer. Achieving complete intimacy with the grapes during their new, transitory journey, they dispatch the juice to ferment in 200-gallon lots. When the juice is ready, another summons is issued to return for the press. Alpha Vintner Larry earns his title on  these days; instructing, monitoring, and controlling every detail of the entire process. At the end of the day's work, all join to share a hearty meal with a few glasses of Sleeping Dog Wines--literally enjoying the fruits of their labor.

Once settled into stainless steel tanks, Larry continues in his perfection of the vintner's art, guiding and nurturing the young wines as they age. He maintains strict chemical and temperature controls, and combines precise amounts of French and European oak at critical points throughout the aging process to achieve the flavors he desires. Watching and guiding its maturation, skillfully as any artist, Larry ultimately decides when the wine is ready for bottling until one day, his opus is debuted.