Heart Wood Cellars

2016 Vintage - Heart Wood Cellars First

Our first Vintage we created five wines from three varietals: Tannat from D.A.Ranch in the Verde Valley; and Petite Sirah and two clones of Syrah from Rolling View Vineyard in Willcox. Each of those five wines: “Tannat”, “Love”, “Syrah”, “Heart”, and “Petite Sirah” won medals at the 2019 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition—the largest wine competition in North America. Our 2016 Tannat was named the Best Tannat in Arizona at the 2018 Arizona Wine Growers Association/Arizona Republic Wine Competition, where “Heart” also was awarded a Bronze Medal.

16 Heart

You always remember your first. There were many firsts that went into making this wine, our first blend. There were over 20 blending trials, and two different blind panels where we put wines before trusted wine experts to help us judge and evaluate as well as validate what we were getting from this wine that we called “J10.” Valerie and I kept separate notes on the various blends we were considering finalists. Valerie used letters to keep track of the blends, I used numbers. When we compared notes—she thought her “J” was the best and I though my “10” was the best. It was the same wine. Thus, the code name J10 was created. It was the unanimous first choice amongst our panelists and quickly became our best seller—so far.

Petite Syrah 57%
Syrah 29%
Tannat 14%

This wine won a Silver Medals at the 2019 and 2020 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competitions, (we entered it 2 years in a row as a benchmark on how it was aging in bottle) and a Bronze Medal at the 2018 Arizona Republic & Arizona Wine Growers Association Wine Competition.

Silver Medal Winner
2020 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

Silver Medal Winner
2019 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

16 Petite Sirah

Petite Sirah from Rolling View Vineyard in the Willcox AVA

Known as “Durif” outside of the United States, this varietal grabbed our attention in our quest for wine knowledge. We liked everything about the wine that could be produced from quality Petite Sirah grapes and have been very fortunate to be able to purchase some from Rolling View Vineyards in the Willcox AVA. We knew of the meticulous care that Dan Pierce took of his vines, producing the high-quality grapes we were looking for.

We made our first batch of Port-Style Wine from these grapes. As the Petite Sirah fermented, when the brix (sugar content) reached just the right level—at 3 AM—we took out just enough partially fermented wine to mix with just the right amount of neutral grape spirits to fill a 54 Liter (14.25 gallon) demi-john. The remaining—still fermenting—Petite Sirah now had a higher skin to juice ratio giving the resulting wine a higher concentration of the desirable phenolics (taste, color, mouthfeel, etc.), which we hoped would help this particular wine to age well, very well. The goal is for this awesome wine to be incredible in 2021. We have put aside some cases to be re-released on its fifth anniversary in the bottle.

Silver Medal Winner
2019 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

♥ Our 2016 Petite Sirah is aging perfectly—on plan —and is available for purchase with only a few cases left to be sold in 2020.

16 Love - SOLD OUT

The story of “Love:” Making our own wine for the first time—in 2016—was nerve wracking. Our mantra—spoken often, was: “don’t screw it up!” We had ordered our very first barrels—10 of them—based on the grape tonnage we anticipated and budgeted for that year—and we picked up a few stainless-steel kegs—just in case. As the 2016 Vintage/Harvest proceeded, and we began barreling our very first wines—it suddenly became apparent that while we had just the right amount of vessels (barrels & kegs) to hold our 2016 wines—we were going to have about ½ a barrel of Syrah Wine and ½ a barrel of Petite Sirah Wine—and 1 barrel left. So, our first blend was created—based on “vessel management.” We lovingly tended to and topped the 10 barrels from our first Vintage—tasting and taking notes—every month—to document their progress and our learning curve. About 6 months in, Valerie noted that she really liked how the Syrah/Petite Sirah blend smelled and tasted. By the 12th month the notes started to say that she really “Loved” how that blend was evolving. In the coming months as we prepared to bottle the 2016 Vintage after 18+ months in barrel—we needed to name this wine—for the Label. When Valerie asked for ideas during a brainstorming session—I, Daniel replied—I think you already named this one: “Love.”

Syrah 52%
Petite Syrah 48%
Both from Rolling View Vineyard Willcox AVA

Gold Medal Winner
2019 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

♥ While the 2016 Love has SOLD OUT - there are a few cases in the Heart Wood Cellars Wine Library that could make an appearance in 2021 when this wine will be 5 years old. It has been an important part of our business plan—to make and sell Bold, Elegant, Complex Red Wines that will be outstanding when aged five years in bottle.

16 Syrah - SOLD OUT

We worked with 2 different clones of Syrah in 2016, both from Rolling View Vineyards in Willcox AVA. It was fun and interesting to ferment these 2 clones separately and monitor their evolution in separate barrels. We liked both, each for different reasons. After about a year in barrel we chose the one we thought was just a bit livelier to become this single variety. We nurtured this wine with the hopes it would age well and stand out in the Arizona Wine marketplace. Wines continue to evolve in the bottle by a process known as polymerization, where the molecules continue to exchange and form long polymer chains. This wine taught us patience. It was excellent shortly after being bottled, and then lagged in its own evolution compared to its sister wines. Then just when the last few available cases were sold, it became a fan favorite at Wine Festivals, leading us to wonder: what will this special wine taste like in 2021?

Syrah from Rolling View Vineyard in Willcox AVA

Silver Medal Winner
2019 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

♥ While the 2016 Syrah has SOLD OUT - there are a few cases in the Heart Wood Cellars Wine Library that could make an appearance in 2021 when this wine will be 5 years old. It has been an important part of our business plan—to make and sell Bold, Elegant, Complex Red Wines that will be outstanding when aged five years in bottle

16 Tannat - SOLD OUT

We knew from the beginning that this wine was special. It was released only to Heart Wood Cellars 'OHANA Wine Club members. In February 2019 the last few remaining cases were put away for future years. The challenge will be to try to hold on to—some—bottles, until 2026 when they will be 10 years old. This special varietal was the subject of Valerie’s research paper for Enology. We were also very fortunate—as college students—to work with the Tannat block at D.A. Ranch. We also knew we wanted to make some of our first Port-Style Wine with this varietal. In the same process as the Petite Sirah, we made a demi-john of Tannat Port-Style Wine, leaving the remaining Tannat wine to finish fermenting with more skin contact and therefore an increase in phenolics (taste, color, mouthfeel, etc.). We will never duplicate this unique wine; we will just strive to create another equally as impressive.

90% from Willcox
10% from the D.A.Ranch in the Verde Valley

Best Tannat in Arizona by the 2018 Arizona Wine Growers Association and Arizona Republic Wine Competition.

Gold Medal Winner
2019 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

♥ The 2016 Tannat - SOLD OUT in about 6 months —there are a few cases in the Heart Wood Cellars Wine Library that will make limited appearances in the coming years—available only to 'OHANA Wine Club Members. Watch for the release of 2018 Vintage Tannat—sometime in 2020.