1"The hands on the label are our daughters'," Stacey Eaton said. "The older child's hand is our (now 14-year old) daughter Jaylyn's hand, and she's holding (now 4-year old) Amaya's hand."
The label design came before their son, Callum, arrived on the scene eight months ago.
"Callum isn't left out," she said. "We now have Callum's Red."
This wine-making agribusiness headquartered in the basement of the Eatons' Kensington, N.H., home, may be adding new products to the eons-old wine industry, but it has a dedicated following in Eaton's hometown, and a growing list of medals from regional wine competitions.
"We've actually never entered a wine competition since we started and not come away with some type of medal," said Stacey Eaton. "Callum's Red recently took a silver medal at the Eastern States Exposition."
What for the couple started as wine-serving weekend gatherings with friends and family grew to a part-time business that keeps both Eaton and his wife busy and delighted at its early success.
A full-time employee for the past 17 years with Salisbury's bridge building firm, SPS New England, 38-year old Eaton says he's happy to keep his day job. But there is a hope that some day his passion will become successful enough for it to become his full-time career and lifestyle.
"It started as a hobby making five gallons," said Lewis Eaton, who is the son of Doreen and Lewis Eaton Jr. "That grew to 15 gallons, then to 130 gallons. Last year our goal was to produce 200 (12-bottle) cases of wine. We actually produced 750 cases. This year's goal is 1,000 cases, and we'll make it.
"I like wine, and I learned about making wines. I read a lot, and I have a B.A. in business. And other wine makers in the area have been great whenever I have any questions, like Dr. Peter Oldak of Jewell Towne Vineyard in South Hampton."
Eaton's friends in Seabrook couldn't be more pleased he's pursuing his passion. According to local retailer Aboul Khan, owner of Richdale Convenience Store, as soon as he started carrying Sweet Baby Vineyard wines, he had trouble keeping it in stock.
"There is strong loyalty from Seabrook people to support him," Khan said. "When he opened his wine business, it was a very big deal in town. He's a well-known Seabrook resident, and everyone bought the wine. I couldn't keep it on the shelves."
Told of Khan's comments, both Eatons smiled.
"Richdale's sells a ton of wine for us, all the Seabrook stores do," Stacey Eaton said. "Along with Richdale's, in Seabrook our wines are sold at Tobacco Depot and O'Brien's (General Store). There are stores that are physically larger that carry our wines that may sell more. But for their size, Seabrook stores are probably our best sellers."
At Seabrook's Common Island Cafe, owner Oliver Carte, Jr. sells Sweet Baby Vineyard wines by the glass.
"I had requests for his wines," Carter said. "People in town have tried it, and they asked for it. I'm not a wine connoisseur, but they tell me that Lewis' wines are very fresh tasting. I sell his reds, and people like his apple and blueberry wines."
Carter isn't surprised Eaton can hold down a full-time construction job, then come home to the labor-intensive job of making, bottling and distributing his wine.
"He's a really nice guy," Carter said. "Very personable, and he's very hard-working."
Eaton is up at 3 a.m. to make it to SPS New England's work site at 4 a.m., then gets home around 5 p.m., and spends time tending the hundreds of vines in his backyard or preparing fruit for the crusher and stemmer or straining crushed fruit by hand through cheesecloth into one of the 15 stainless steel fermenting vats or bottling and corking by hand every bottle that carries the distinctive label.
Stacey Eaton is the distribution manager in the two-person business.
"I deliver wine to stores with Callum strapped to my back," she laughed. "He's our best salesman. People just love to see him."
The current wine list at the vineyard includes three reds, two whites, a soon-to-appear rose and five wines made from New Hampshire-grown fruit: blueberry, raspberry, apple, white peach and strawberry wines, the last three made from fruit grown at Apple Crest Farms in neighboring Hampton Falls.
"Our strawberry wine is our most popular," Lewis Eaton said. "There's nothing like Apple Crest Strawberries. We made 35 cases of wine from them, and it sold out in six weeks. We're making more. We invited family and friends over to dinner, and they cut the top off of 300 pounds of strawberries. We have another 300 pounds coming, but we're going to have to invite over a different group of friends to help with those."
So well known is Sweet Baby Vineyards for its strawberry wine that Eaton received a call recently from the University of New Hampshire. The college plans to develop a strawberry exclusively for the making of wine. Eaton hopes he'll get to make the first bottles of wine from this special fruit.
This fall, the Eatons will make their first bottles of wine from their own grape vines, planted years ago on the acreage behind their home. The wine will come from Eaton's Niagra vines, to make Niagra white, a semi-sweet wine perfect when sipped cold.
He's also hoping to plant about 200 more grape vines in days to come, each one able to produce enough grapes to make a gallon of wine. Then Eaton plans on planting blueberry and blackberry bushes.
He's also preparing to expand the tasting room where they greet visitors every Saturday and Sunday afternoons from noon to 5 p.m. at their Route 107 (204 South Road) home, for tours and tasting sessions. The thought of doing more construction work isn't daunting, he said.
"I've always had a lot of energy," Eaton said, and laughed. "And I don't sleep much."
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