A tribute to the power of one man's dream

The Power of one Man’s dream.

 2007. That was the year it all began. Inspire Moore Winery (then Imagine Moore) opened its doors to the public on 7/7/2007. It was the fruition of years of dreaming, discussing, deliberating, and finally doing. Timothy Alan Moore first fell in love with wine and winemaking on a year spent abroad in Austria during college. He interned at several Austrian wineries, made lifelong friends, and knew this was what he wanted in life…to make amazing wine. Fast forward to 1990, Tim graduated from UC Davis with his degree in viticulture/enology and married me, also a UCD graduate, to begin our lives together. Life then took us on several adjacent paths, beginning with his working in the foothills of CA as the cellar hand at a small winery in Murphys, CA. He was frustrated, not able to really practice his dream art, winemaking. A call came from a headhunter looking for a microbiologist in Broken Bow, NE. Why not? Tim reasoned, let’s see where life may take us…at the same time he interviewed for a position as assistant winemaker for Robert Mondavi in the Napa Valley area. In a serendipitous twist of fate, he accepted the job in NE just the day before he was offered the job with Mondavi. But ever the adventurer, it did not matter—Tim had embraced the idea of moving East, exploring the potential of new wine areas and a place to call his own. Just two years into his microbiologist job in NE, he was “discovered” as a winemaker and offered a chance to open one of the FIRST wineries in Nebraska, James Arthur Vineyards, in Lincoln, NE. Tim put all of his effort, his energy, his LOVE into this winery and their vineyards, establishing everything from the ground up. He got them established…but it was not his own. Then the call came from a UCD friend working for Canandaigua Winery (Constellation Brands) in Canandaigua, NY. “Come East! Come discover this gem of a wine area, the Finger Lakes.” Remarkably, Tim had travelled to the Finger Lakes in middle school for soccer and fallen in love with it then. It was fate. We both felt this was the destiny we were meant to follow. And so, Canandaigua Wine Co. became Tim’s home for 9 years. He loved his job, Assistant Winemaker and then Director of Growers Relations, but still he yearned…dreamt of that place of his own. His winery. His Dream. His Realization.

At 39, I told him he would be turning 40 next year, 2007. It was now or never. “Do or do not, there is no try” as his favorite, Yoda, expressed. Pursue your dream. Start a winery of your own.

And so he did. Without any help from me, or anyone else, he created his business plan and pursued the difficult endeavors of obtaining a liquor license and all that goes into starting your own business. And all along he knew it was in Naples that he wanted to establish this dream. He, and I, had fallen in love with this secret garden of a village at the south end of Canandaigua Lake. Though the bigger wineries of the Finger Lakes were on Keuka, and Seneca, and Cayuga Lakes, though it meant he would be “out” of the winemakers’ fold, he saw the potential and revered the sacredness of Naples. As chance would have it, a building at the North end of town came up for sale—a previous wood furniture shop—and through scraping, and bargaining with both of our parents, we were able to buy it and the Dream began. Inspire (Imagine) Moore was born.

Tim believed, he believed in his ability to make wonderful wine, he believed in the village he was investing in, he believed in the message he wanted to spread (through the wines names and the energy of the winery), he believed in community and love and joy. And so we created, the two of us and a few steadfast friends and a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Those early years were painstakingly difficult, never quite able to pay our bills on time, always stretching from month to month, so many—too many times to count—teetering on the brink of going under, just closing our doors and giving up. I will never forget the Christmas in 2010 when we could not pay the plumbing bill for some work at the winery and the plumber told us he would not be able to buy gifts for his children that Christmas…and Tim openly sobbed. And sobbed. And wondered why he had ever tried to embark upon this venture. I, too, sobbed…but, I implored, we have to hang on, we have to believe, we have to have faith it will make it! And then in March of 2011, we lay in bed despondently watching Saturday Night Live (still not sure if we would be able to open our doors again that spring) and Jesse J came on as the musician and played the song ‘Price Tag’…”it’s not about the money…we don’t need your money…we just want to make the world dance, forget about the price tag…we’re paying with love tonight” And somehow that song turned it around for us, we realized what we had started the winery with was the focus of  LOVE, and we were starting to put a price tag on love, rather than believe in the love to carry us through…I won’t say everything changed overnight, but what did change was our perception, our attitude. Naturally the idea of music at the winery emerged—we wanted to “make the world dance, forget about the price tag.” We began booking local bands and musicians and ‘First and Third Fridays’ came into fruition. Free to all, we simply wanted to host music and invite the community to come join in the dance. From there music flourished—Brian Burleys Big Blue House (and others) became standard—every summer at our Anniversary celebrations and Grape Festival and more. Tim never wanted to charge for these, just share the music. Then came the bigger bands (Giant Panda, Donna the Buffalo, Dustbowl Revival, David Bromberg) and along with them, a vision of a small music festival style space arose. And thus, though it was financially tight for us, Tim planned a new bigger vineyard pavilion. He wanted to keep the magic growing. We began Inspire Moore wanting to spread a message of Love (along with a good drink) and that is all we needed to focus on. Life responded…Inspire Moore flourished and grew and became a steadfast cornerstone of Naples. We gave and we received, the endless interchange. A beautiful story. The power of a man’s dream.

In 2019, as you may know, Timothy’s life was cut short. Unfathomable to us, the Universe took him at only 51, and with the ground crumbling from all around us, we have continued on. Determined, as Tim was, to continue this dream and keep the magic growing. We refinanced everything last year in order to be able to afford a huge addition to the winery—a new crush pad and storage area and increased cellar space. We bought new tanks, we bought a new press. And then COVID 19 hit and we struggled our way through—adding a cover over our deck to facilitate outdoor tastings and keep the winery alive…”we’re paying with love tonight”…Love for the founder of this dream that is more than one man’s dream.

So I come before you today, humble and thankful…you have all already been such a part of this dream that we are intertwined in and for that I will be eternally grateful. Michael, Tim’s forever friend and long time co-worker at the winery, pointed out to me the other day that there was no ‘Memorial’ to Tim…no tribute…nothing dedicated IN PARTICULAR to this man. I reverently agreed. But we are stretched to the limit and recalling those early days, I know Tim would not want us going further in debt. At the same time, I was struggling with what to do with HIS pavilion, the last thing Tim created—in his last month’s alive—his vineyard pavilion which he gazed at, and planted arborvitae by, and dreamed about the events that would be able to take place here. But the Pavilion needs something more….an addition to be used not only as a stage for musicians but a dance platform, a private tasting space, a separate group tasting area, etc. Thus the dream of a dream emerged. We are reaching out to you, our community of friends and patrons who have been such an integral part of our dream, in hopes that you could show your support once again and give whatever you may be able to towards a ‘Timothy A. Moore Memorial Gazebo’. Tim’s vision had always been that Inspire Moore would serve as a place of warm gathering, a place of community that embraces the principles of love, harmony and inspiration so intertwined with our winery’s foundation. With your gracious support, we will all forever honor Tim AND through this finished addition to his pavilion we in turn can give back to you, our community, as he always dreamed. A tribute to the power of one man’s dream.

In deepest gratitude, for anything you can give or just for your love. Because that’s where it all started, with love.

The Inspire Moore Family