HarveyFamilyWineBlog

Back to Sedona, AZ where it all began

Blogging from the beautiful Red Rocks of Sedona, Arizona.  Jana and I have been here for the last week for some post harvest R&R.  This is our 8th time here since we were engaged here 12 years ago at the top of Cathedral Rock.  Of course we made our pilgrimage to the top with some sandwiches and a bottle of the 2004 Cathedral.  For some reason the wine really tasted great at the top of Cathedral Rock.  Both the Jana Cathedral and Rose can be purchased here in Sedona at a wonderful deli called Aroma.  Jana is the photographer between us so she'll be blogging with pictures from our wonderful hikes through the snow covered Red Rock country of Sedona.

Sutter Creek Holiday Open House

The Grand Opening of the new Scott Harvey Tasting room location at 79 Main St. culminated with Sutter Creek's Holiday Open House.  The town was filled with people enjoying an old-fashioned Christmas--and our Tasting room was no exception. 

We looked forward to the inauguration of Music & Wine in the Alley on Sunday with the other two Tasting Rooms that are now in town--Sutter Creek Tasting Room (which has been there for 12 years) and the new Vine 49 which is also a wine bar.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not cooperate.  It was truly a Christmas weekend.  We got an unexpected and very rare snowfall.  Below is a picture of the Spinetta Vineyard (one of our Barbera Vineyards) on December 6.

Wine & Magic - what a great combination because wine is magic

Scott and I had the opportunity to do a combination wine tasting and magic show at Monks Wine Lounge in Chico recently.  The magician, David Minken, is an international champion and through a personal connection, the town of Chico was very fortunate to have him perform there.  His expertise is close-up magic so David presents his sleight of hand to an audience of under 50 people.  He normally appears in Southern California, for the Magic Castle and celebrities like Johnny Depp.

A wine tasting is the ideal prelude to the show.  Scott and I had the opportunity to introduce five of our wines to the participants at the wine bar.  The wine was accompanied by delicious appetizers prepared by chef/owner Kevin Coy.  His wife, Keely, is the sommelier.   The tasting/show benefitted the local Humane Society.

Chico was an impressive little town.  We did 4 shows in two nights so it gave us a chance to explore the area.  After browsing the Saturday morning Farmer's Market, Bidwell Park was the ideal place to stroll.  It is one of the largest municipal parks in the U.S.  We stayed at a delightful B&B, the Goodman House,  owned by Tom and Margo Graham who are wonderful hosts.

All in all, wine, magic, gourmet food and Chico made for a perfect weekend.

Thank heavens for time share vacations

Time shares have been much maligned over the years. I am a fan.  When Scott and I were first married we went to our first time share presentation while we were staying at the Marriott in Maui on a great promotional deal.  We had no intention of purchasing anything during our visit.  With both of us being sales oriented, we are easy fodder for a salesman.  Sure enough--we left owning a week at the Maui Marriott for perpetuity and can even will it to our children.

So here we are this week packing our bags for Hawaii because we HAVE to use our week.  With this current economy, it is pretty certain we wouldn't be taking much of a vacation this year--but we can't let this week go to waste.  Actually, we have gifted honeymoon weeks in the past for family members.  Luckily, no one is getting married this year.  It couldn't come at a better time with work being as stressful as it is.  It's far enough to be a real getaway but still can stay connected to our business.

I'm a bit embarassed to admit this isn't the only Time Share we own.  We'll be off the the Hyatt in Carmel in a few months.  We have sworn off going to any more presentations.

Mosel Riesling--Who farms those unbelievably steep vineyards?

  From our last blog post you can see Jana and I are having a grand time in Europe.  After making a small detour through Dublin, we are now visiting fellow friends and wine makers, Markus and Sybille Kuntz on the Mosel.  Believe it or not, the cheapest way to get to the Mosel from Prague is by Ryan Air via Dublin, so we stopped for a few pints of Guinness.

I got to know Markus when he was making great Rieslings for a winery in New York's Finger Lake region.  About 12 years ago he went home to Germany to take over a famous old Estate Winery in Trier where he met Sybille.  They are now producing some of the best dry style Rieslings from their vineyards in Lieser and Bernkastel on the Mosel.  You always wonder who those poor grape growers are that have to farm those unbelievable steep vineyards rising straight up out of the banks of the Mosel.  Now you know, its Markus and Sybille toiling away to bring us wonderful dry Rieslings.

      We ate and drank our way through two wonderful days.  We started with their every day Spatlese troken Riesling.  The wine is produced from their four main vineyard sites with an average vine age of over 40 years old.  The wine cost 9.5 EUR and has a residual sugar of .8% with an acid of .77.  If you go back to the Riesling blog I posted a while back, I talk about a new taste scale developed by the International Riesling Foundation.  Aaccording to the International Riesling taste scale this wine is dry.  We quickly finished that bottle and moved on to three vintages (2003, 2005 & 2007) of their Gold-Quadrat troken Riesling.  This is what they call their Power Riesling from old vines being 40 to 60 years old.  The wines showed the classic mineral, flinty and spicy character.  Price on these wine is around 15 EUR.  From here we moved on to Vineyard designated (Lieser Niederberg-Heldon) wines, the best they have to offer.  This vineyard produces a dry (troken) wine they call Dreistern (Three Star), and an off dry (feinherb) wine they call Dreistern Goldkapsel.  These old non-grafted/own root vines produce a wine that definitely tells the two stories all great wines need to tell.  The first is I'm Riesling and the second I'm Mosel.  These wines range from 20 to 25 EUR.  You can find these wines on their website www.SybilleKuntz.com.  They are sold in selected markets in the US.  If you email them at weingut@sybillekuntz.de they can tell you which distributors carry their wines in the US.  I know in California they are distributed by Regal wines at 800 886-3425.  They are wines worth looking for.

Prague

Jana & I are in Prague for a week enjoying a wonderful get away after harvest.  Got to use up all those hotel points and airline miles before they go away. Trying the local wines, they are nicely made dry fruit forward Rieslings, Muller Thurgau and Sauvignon Blanc.  Whites are better than reds, but what are really good are the wonderful beers and their price.  What a fairy tale city.  Having survived the last two world wars with out being bombed, the city is full of beautiful towers, the Medieval St. Charles bridge and the Castle. It has an interesting Jewish quarter, one of the best in Europe.  Of course our wine travels with us.  The first picture is looking north from the river Vltava up at the St. Charles bridge.  The second one and the one above are on the bridge in one of the many statues that line the bridge.    In the last two weeks since the US election the exchange rate has gone from 13 Koruna to over 20.  So, we have been enjoying a better exchange rate being able to all the more enjoy these wines and the Czech beers.  Right now I'm drinking a wine labeled Ryzlinkrynsky which I assume to be Riesling.  It is from a producer called Lekavy in Moravia.  We have also had a Sauvignon Blanc from the same producer. Both wines are well made in a 12% dry crisp style.  Prices are about 160 Koruna, about $8 US.  Restaurant pricing is about double that in the stores.  The last two nights we had two red wines.  The first one is from a variety called Zweigeltrebe.  It was about 450 Koruna and one of the better reds.  It seems those red varieties that run darker red juice do better like Zweigelt and Dornfelder.  The wine was form the producer Bavory in Tanzberg in Mikvlov.  This is probably the Czech Republic's best wine region located in southern Moravia just north of Vienna.  We had a Czech wine making exchange student from this area at Folie a Deux.  He was a lot of fun.  The second red I assume came from more of a co-operative winery, it was non vintage from a variety called Svarovavrinecke.  More of a simple lighter red that was again well made telling a regional story.  Not sure about the varietal story since it was my first wine from this variety.  The wines are good and well priced, I don't see use selling much California wines here at the prices we would have to charge.

People always ask what is my favorite wine in our portfolio

I almost always say--Jana Cathedral.  First of all, it has my name on the bottle.  That makes it pretty special to me.  It also represents the place where Scott proposed to me--Cathedral Rock in Sedona,Arizona--after four months, no less!  He said the vortex got him.  It's an amazing place. 

Scott has always been impressed with the Martin Vineyard where the Cabernet Sauvignon is grown for this wine.  It represents the largest percentage of fruit of the three Bordeaux varietals that the blend is composed of.  You can view here a short video of Scott describing the similarities of the 2008 vintage to our currently released 2004 vintage.  Appellation America describes perfectly what makes this region so special and the controversy around naming the appellation.  Can't say that I found the name "Coombsville" very attractive either--especially for our very top of the line. The area is actually a plateau.  When Scott was winemaker and president of Folie a Deux, this was his best Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard.  Fortunately, after the winery was sold, he was able to keep this contract.  Because this area is one of the cooler areas in Napa Valley, it has unique flavors that Scott refers to as pyrazines (it reminds me of a green tea character).  The vineyard was picked last week.  Scott brings me a glass of the fermenting juice to my desk every few days so I can see the progress of my "favorite wine."

Mixing business with pleasure

One of the great advantages of being in the wine business, is it takes you to some of the most beautiful places on earth--hence, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

We started our trip in Salt Lake City, UT doing a wine dinner at Greg Neville's Pine American Restaurant.   Fabulous food and service!  The wines weren't so bad either.  Unfortunately, our wines are not available for purchase in the state of Utah but are available in Greg's 2 restaurants--Pine and Lugano.

On to Jackson Hole for the Jackson Hole Wine Fest put on by the Rotary.  It was so great to see so many wine enthusiasts in this mountain town.  This is Scott and my 2nd year to do this event.  It was even better attended than last year.  We really felt our trip was worthwhile when we stopped in some retail stores the next day and saw several attendees with their tasting notes in hand from the night before.  Apparently, folks take their wine tasting seriously in these parts.  An added bonus is seeing our nephew, Bill and his friend Jim who are river guides on the Snake.  They helped us pour wine and it was a tremendous advantage since they knew so many people in the community.

The Tetons were calling.  I'm always in awe when I see those jagged peaks rising abruptly from the valley floor.  One of the things that make these mountains so remarkable--no foothills to obstruct the view.  As Scott and I took a boat across Jenny Lake to the Cascade Canyon Trailhead, my thoughts turned to 10 years ago when I actually climbed the Grand Teton--13,770 ft.  That was my last mountain climbing experience because I literally scared myself to death.  I much prefer the beautiful canyon trails gazing at the beautiful wildflowers at this stage of my life.  Building our wine company is enough adventure for me now.

Posted by Jana Harvey