The donkeys got loose
August 25, 2025
Many of you know that Cavender Creek Vineyards is known as the “winery with the donkeys.” Donkeys have been a part of Cavender Creek before I became the owner. Previous owner, Raymond Castleberry, got a baby donkey when he first bought the place to protect the sheep he had on the property. Donkeys are fierce protectors of livestock and will defend them from coyotes and anything else that would harm them. Raymond named his little donkey “Hotie.” It’s pronounced “HO-tee.” He was “Donkey Hotie.” Get it? And if you’re at all familiar with Cervantes’ novel, or even the musical based on that novel, Man of La Mancha, you know that Don Quixote’s love interest was Dulcinea, which is what Raymond named his female donkey he got later. Dulci had a son, a hinny, named Hoosier, as in “who’s yer daddy?” because no one knew which horse had impregnated her.
When Raymond produced his first vintages, he looked to his donkeys for inspiration for his wine labels. Hotie’s image was on all the red wines, and Dulcinea’s image graced the white wines. When I bought the winery, I continued that tradition, only I got our good friend and children’s book illustrator, Michael Austin, to do the donkey artwork for our labels. We put donkeys on all of our merchandise, and over the years, we’ve had a lot of fun with all the things you can say about asses.
Sadly, Hotie died in 2018 from complications of diabetes. The vet tells me that these donkeys are particularly prone to diabetes. None of us had the heart to name our new baby donkey we got later that year “Hotie II,” so we named him “Elliott” after the champion race car drivers, Bill and Chase Elliott, who live close by in Dawsonville.
Dulci got struck and killed by lightning two years ago. Elliott was bereft. He stood out in the pasture and brayed for days.
I finally found not one, but two, companions for him several months later. Bert and Ernie are not brothers but they have been raised together since they were babies. Though they are smaller than Elliott, they are eighteen years old. They were looking for a new home and the three of them got along just fine from the very beginning.
All of them are a breed called Sicilian donkeys. They have a cross on their backs, which is why they are sometimes called “Jerusalem donkeys” or “Holy Cross donkeys.” The way you tell my donkeys apart is that Elliott is taller, and Ernie’s cross is longer than Bert’s. Bert is a little browner than Ernie. I can’t decide if that’s because he loves to roll in the dirt more than the others.
As you can see from the picture, they were waiting for me when I got there to feed them breakfast this past Sunday. But when I opened the gate, Elliott pushed on past me and I couldn’t stop him. Bert and Ernie followed. They loved being free, out in the dewy green grass of the lawn. They kicked up their heels as they ran around, stopping only to munch on the grass. Every time I got close enough to put a halter on, they ran off. And of course, they weren’t coming when I called them. In fact, they weren’t listening to me at all!
Our housekeeper was there cleaning the tasting room and I called for her help. Our manager, Carl, just happened to stop by to check on something when he noticed the mayhem in the vineyard. The three of us chased those donkeys all over the place for almost an hour before managing to corral them again. If anyone could have seen us, I’m sure we made quite a sight!
Elliott stomped and brayed at being penned up again. He was not happy at all! Bert and Ernie, who have sweeter dispositions than Elliott, were happy with the apples I used to cajole them into the corral. It was an unanticipated adventure and quite a workout for a Sunday morning!
Life is never dull on a farm—or with donkeys.
