Don & Judy Phelps, Owners & Winemakers at Hard Row To Hoe Vineyards

What a delightful story with an equally fantastic ending. Let me introduce you to a remarkable couple; Don & Judy Phelps. Don a life long engineer and Judy a corporate employee in research and development for the monster pharmaceutical company Pfizer, both had a similar calling to get out of corporate America and venture into working for themselves in the wine industry.

Let’s rewind for a second, from our initial conversation I assumed Don and Judy had been life long partners, but after further inquiry, Don & Judy married ten short years ago after being bit by the serendipity bug. Judy’s brother was married to Don’s sister or something like that and Judy and Don met over the phone when Don’s son was looking for an internship with Judy’s company on the other side of the coast. One thing led to another, the stars aligned, sparks flew, and Don and Judy are not only life partners, they are also business partners. That was just the start of this magical story that brought two people together and as a result of this partnership some pretty fantastic wines have been added to the ever growing list of delicious wines created by small production vintners.

Listen to this interesting interview and hear first hand their story and wine adventures together. Purchase their wines directly at HardRow.com and enter their contest to wine a free 1 week stay at Lake Chelan in a luxury condo just a stone’s throw from their vineyard. Find out more on their Facebook page.

2006 Seven Hills Rockblock Syrah Domaine Serene

This is a fantastic Oregon Syrah and it’s made by M. Eleni Papadakis at Domaine Serene. Maybe there is some truth to the parallel theory! This sexy Syrah is Fruit forward with aromas of ripe cherry, Asian spices, lavender, black olive and tobacco. The silky textured palate displays black cherry, cola, anise, dried plum, cocoa and toast with fine tannins. The 2006 Rockblock Reserve is lithe, forward and approachable. PURCHASE HERE

The Rockblock label started in 1999 with a sole focus: vineyard designated Oregon Syrah. We have focused on the warmer areas of Oregon in the south and east where Syrah can achieve maximum expression of character and ripeness.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?
The name Rockblock was chosen to reinforce the concept that the most profound expressions of Syrah are grown in areas where the soils are nutrient poor and often “rocky”. All of the Syrah vineyards we work with have these intense and distinctive characteristics.

A passion and commitment to produce the world’s best Pinot Noir led Grace & Ken Evenstad to Oregon in 1989. They founded Domaine Serene in the Dundee Hills located in the North Willamette Valley, where Oregon Pinot Noir began and where its heart remains. Domaine Serene owns 3 vineyard estates totaling 462 acres. 150 acres are planted exclusively to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and the remaining property has been left in its natural state . Vineyards are dry farmed using sustainable, environmentally friendly farming practices for extremely low crop yields which produce consistently elegant, concentrated, award winning wines. Robert Parker, famous wine critic, rated Domaine Serene as one of only two outstanding producers of Pinot Noir in Oregon. The 17th Annual Wine & Spirit’s Restaurant Poll named Domaine Serene Pinots as the Most Popular Oregon Pinot Noir in the country. In the now legendary “Domaine Serene vs. Domaine de la Romanée Conti” blind tasting, Domaine Serene bested the most sought after Pinot Noirs in France. Renowned wine writer, Anthony Dias Blue, declared Domaine Serene the “Château Lafite of Oregon.”

Philosophy
The entire Domaine Serene team is committed to growing, producing and marketing consistently outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. All resources are focused on this goal.

Wine Production
Domaine Serene produces exquisite estate-grown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Their vineyard management and winemaking practices are designed to ensure complex, concentrated and elegant Pinot Noir and Chardonnay year after year.

Domaine Serene’s farming practices are designed to produce very low crop level for concentrated flavors. Our fourteen year average is 1.7 tons per acre. All of Domaine Serene’s grapes are handpicked and hand-sorted on a conveyer belt to remove all imperfect fruit and other matter. The various small lots from each vineyard are kept separate in small open-top fermentors, and in small French cooperage selectively sourced from several French forests. There is minimal intervention and only gentle gravity flow movement of wine from beginning to end. Pinot Noir is in barrel about 14-18 months, is not fined or filtered, and is racked only at bottling. The Estate-grown Dijon clone Chardonnay is fermented in small, French cooperage and aged sur lies for 10-15 months. Bottled wines are aged about one year before release, often longer for single vineyard Pinot Noir. The 2000 harvest yielded approximately 9,500 cases of wine.

Ratings
91 Points - “Dense, smooth and generous, this is beautifully focused to show its floral–accented blackberry, currant and plum fruit, which lingers on the well–stuffed finis. Not heavy, but packed with flavor. Needs cellaring. Best from 2010 through 2016″ – Wine Spectator

2005 Perrin & Fils “Les Sinardes,” Chateauneuf-Du-Pape

From the owners of the very famous Chateau de Beaucastel, Perrin & Fils – The Southern Rhône bad asses! This is an excellent red wine blend of 70% Grenache, 15% Syrah and 15% Mourvèdre. PURCHASE WINE HERE

In 1909 Pierre Tramier bought the property and Beaucastel then passed to his son-in-law, Pierre Perrin, a scientist who considerably increased the vineyard holding. His efforts were continued by Jacques Perrin until 1978. Today the torch is carried by Jean Pierre and François, sons of Jacques. But Marc, Pierre, Thomas and Matthieu, who represent the fifth generation, are ready to pursue this fabulous family history.

Perrin & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape les Sinards comes from the younger vines at Château de Beaucastel, together with a leased vineyard of 7 hectares that lies to the west of Beaucastel, in the commune of Orange.

The wine is vinified in the same manner as Château de Beaucastel and is matured in casks for a year before bottling. It features a wide range of aromas such as kirsch, lavender, pepper and other spices; on the palate there is a well-rounded combination of fruit and supple tannins. An intense red color, very dark. A nose of black fruits, kirsch, lavender, roasted lamb, garigue. Full-bodied, very ripe palate with a nice textures and soft tannins.

Reviews:
“Perrin & Fils aspires to establish its reputation specializing in vineyard-designated communal wines from the Southern Rhône. And as the company’s head vineyard scout, [Pierre] Perrin must unearth diamonds in the rough. ‘I am a discoverer of crus,’ he says. ‘It’s our job to how the complexity and specificity of the terroirs in the Southern Rhône.’” WINE SPECTATOR

Jean-Pierre and François Perrin – chosen among the Most Influential Wine Personalities of the last 20 Years. “The Perrins believe in natural winemaking, unfiltered wines, and routinely produce long-lived classics that are among the finest in the world.” Robert M. Parker, Jr.’s THE WINE ADVOCATE

Tasting Notes
An intense red color, very dark. A nose of black fruits, kirsch, lavender, roasted lamb, garigue. Full-bodied, very ripe palate with a nice textures and soft tannins.

Food Pairing Notes
Goes perfectly with a roasted Lamb with Thyme

The Prisoner

This week’s wine recommendation is fitting to my personal journey. So many times we don’t recognize we are a prisoner to our own beliefs, opinions and conditioning that it takes something to awaken us to a deeper understanding and give us that helicopter perspective about life.

I feel like a prisoner that is being set free from my old way of limited thinking that was keeping me stuck. Even the label is speaking to me. What a great marketing team that Orin Swift Cellars has because it was the combination of the label and the name that had captivated my curiosity. I couldn’t help but wonder what the story was behind this man on the label and the wine itself. It sounded like a very intense wine and I just had to have it regardless of the cost.

Ah, you guessed it: this week’s wine is called The Prisoner. Where and how Dave Phinney and his team thought up this name–I have an email into him–is beyond me, but I love it!

For the past three months, I have walked by it time and time again while perusing through the wine racks of Whole Foods always pondering, “Hmmm, I wonder what that tastes like?” Until about two weeks ago when I finally asked the wine guy at Whole Foods what it tasted like and he kindly opened a bottle for me, just for me to taste! It was as delicious as I imagined it to be.

This wine explodes with an abundance of flavors and to that end I will post their write up because it is exactly what I would say: The 2007 blends the lush berry flavors of Zinfandel, the power and concentration of Cabernet Sauvignon, the dark black fruit of Syrah, the intensity and structure of Petite Sirah, the flesh of Charbono, and a hint of Grenache – all combined for a decadent wine with great complexity.

You can pick up 2007 The Prisoner at your local Whole Foods or order directly from Orin Swift Cellars for about $40.00 per bottle depending on the year.

50% Zinfandel
24% Cabernet Sauvignon
14% Syrah
9% Petite Sirah
2% Charbono
1% Grenache

Also, I have been invited by Orin Swift Cellars for an exclusive tasting which I am going to put on my bucket list.

Kevin from Orin Swift gave me the story on the label of The Prisoner: “Prisoner evolved over many years, Dave Phinney (Owner/Winemaker) received an original Francisco Goya etching for his twelfth birthday.  He had requested a skate board …  This etching was the inspiration for his first label many years later The Prisoner.”

Ciao Bella!