A Brief History of 90+ Cellars - Wine Buyers in Boston

What if I told you to your face that you could purchase a $25 bottle of wine for $9 to $12? How about a $75 bottle of wine for $30? You'd probably call the cops because an uninvited strange man has suddenly appeared in your home, but suppose you got past that and listened to what I was saying. You'd either say I was crazy and to get the eff out, or you would ask me where you could sign up.

Through 90+ Cellars these things are possible. This is what they do. That $25 bottle that you can get for $9 to $12 is their Lot 53 Cabernet Sauvignon from Mendoza, Argentina. This is one of the "lots" that they've been releasing with great success for years. That $75 bottle for $30 was their Lot 95 Super Cuvée 2012 out of Napa, California; a part of their Collection Series that features high end products on crazy deals just like that.

I've been a fan of 90+ since the very first time I tried their wines, which was probably soon after they were established. Hell, their famous orange sunglasses are my preferred facial accessory and optical protection from the solar intensity of the summer. They're so stylish and sturdy.

Because 90+ is so awesome, the entire month of May this year is dedicated to them and I'll be reviewing plenty of their wine. So let's go over how they came to be and how they're able to sell wine at such a great discounted price.

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A Brief History of Market Vineyards

What were you doing in 2008? It's hard to believe it's already been eight years, right? I was 28 years old and on my fourth year of employment with Luke's of Cape Cod, but I finally found my love for wine in February of that year. Better late than never, so they say. From there I proceeded to obsessively educate myself on the beverage.

BOB BERTSCH AND
MATT REISENWEBER

Meanwhile in 2008, on the other side of the world, three guys were dining on the rooftop of the Beijing Hotel doing the normal boring social interaction stuff (ew, gross) until they were served a bad bottle of wine (ew, grosser). This brought up the discussion of how nice it would be to take this problem into their own hands and make great wine themselves. This idea in the brains of these three men is a bit different than most of us who jokingly say this, because they actually followed through with it and made it happen.

Matt Reisenweber, Daniel Schulte, and Steve Anderson went home to the states, brought Bob Bertsch in on it, and got the ball rolling with four owners. Schulte and Anderson were from Kansas City but this new winery would be planting its rootstock in Washington, the home state of Riesenweber and Bertsch.

Their new adventure needed a name and, because of their mutual backgrounds in the financial market, they decided on Market Vineyards. Their new adventure also needed a winemaker. They searched around Washington looking for the winemaker that would best bring their vision into realization, and the man for the job was clearly Charlie Hoppes.

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A Brief History of Lieb Cellars - On the North Fork of Long Island, New York

There's something about Lieb Cellars that is just so inviting and personable. I'm not just talking about their wine, but the company itself and the people. I've never been there and I've never met them but I've been in communication with them here and there and they're just an awesome, enthusiastic group. I proudly consider this winery a friend of the blog.

I was having a hard time coming up with an article topic for July. August will be the return of Bulgarian Wine Month so there will be another Bulgarian article then, and the article I'm planning for September is gonna take a TON of research. Well it turns out that the wines I'm reviewing in July are all from American wineries, just in time for Independence Day. Lieb Cellars, Ferrari-Carano and Matchook. Nothing American themed came to mind, but I have written A Brief History of Matchbook Wine Company. Why not do the same with Lieb Cellars? A bio of an American winery! Good idea!

So let's take a trip to Long Island, New York. Where I'm assuming hairspray and long nails still reign supreme, and they have no interest in paying for new stadiums to keep their hockey team.

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A Brief History of Matchbook Wine Company

How The Giguiere Family Became The Face Of Dunnigan Hills.

Just east of California's Napa County is Yolo County. This Yolo isn't the You Only Live Once phrase that self-justifies kids in their 20's to achieve alcohol poisoning while documenting it on Instagram. No, this Yolo derives from the native Poewin yo-loy, which translates to abounding in the rushes. It features the greatest concentration of organic farmers in California.

Within Yolo County is Sacramento Valley, and within Sacramento Valley is the Dunnigan Hills AVA for winegrowing. It's cooled by the Sacramento Delta and San Francisco Bay, giving the grapes a break from the heat, but this place still has less threat of frost than the rest of Sacramento Valley. The Dunnigan Hills region isn't as famous as its neighbors Napa and Lake County, but it's been an official AVA since 1993 thanks to a petition presented by John and Lane Giguiere.

LANE AND JOHN

John grew up in the 1950's as the son of a wheat farmer and had an obsession with fire, setting numerous things aflame including his father's wheat fields. He also started some accidental fires setting off fireworks with his brother Karl. So you can see how Matchbook Wine Company got its name.

The self-proclaimed arsonist was lucky enough to find the love of his life in high-school, and he and Lane were married at a young age. Together they got into the wheat farming business. Broke and ambitious, they decided that they needed to expand their focus beyond wheat so in 1981 they planted a few vineyards. In 1983 they put everything they had into creating a new winery called R.H. Phillips.

They scraped by for a few years, living off of credit cards. When they were down to their last "sawbuck" ($10 bill) R.H. Phillps started to see some moderate success, so they continued to expand and try new varieties in their vineyards. Both lovebirds were big fans of Spanish reds and they planted their first Tempranillo in 1988.

Then in 1995 they started work on a new brand that would change everything. After two years of work, they released a Chardonnay in a long-neck bottle that featured a bear breathing fire on its label. I'm sure you're familiar with it. Toasted Head Chardonnay, named after the toasting of wine barrels, was born into immediate success. With such a big triumph on their hands it was time to finally cash in on all their hard work, so they sold R.H. Phillips and Toasted Head to the Canada based Vincor in 2000 with a five year no-compete clause.

CHARRING OAK BARREL

In 2005 they left their jobs as executives at R.H. Phillips and briefly attempted to enjoy retirement, but the wine life was calling to them. That year they released a 2004 vintage of Matchbook that included a Tempranillo, a Syrah and a Block House red blend. Vincor was sold to Constellation in June of 2006.

In 2008 the Giguieres broke ground for the construction of a new winery they called Crew Wine Company, named so because they were able to bring back a big chunk of their old crew from R.H. Phillips. Today the entire company goes by Matchbook Wine Company.

John's brother Karl Giguiere runs the farming side of things. He was the first to start harvesting at night in Dunnigan Hills. You may remember the line titled Night Harvest by R.H. Phillips, the whole theme being that picking at night was the best time to do so. (It was quite popular in restaurants back in the day but was driven off of a cliff under Constellation. In 2009 Constellation actually closed up shop of all R.H. Phillips items except Toasted Head and put it under the watch of Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi.)

Dan Cederquist is the Matchbook winemaker. He graduated from the University of California, Davis for viticulture in 1987. He worked at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and Deloach Winery before coming to Matchbook in 2005.

Matchbook Wine Company makes four different lines: Mossback is an old nickname for a farmer, and their Mossback label features Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. They're sourced from Russian River Valley, Chalk Hill and their surrounding Central Coast. Sawbuck (remember Lane and John's last $10 bill?) is their non-AVA-specific California label. It has a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Chardonnay and a Malbec. Chasing Venus is named after Captain Cook's personal mission to study Venus while he explored the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere, discovering New Zealand and Australia. This label focuses on Sauvignon Blanc, and has one from Marlborough, New Zealand and one from Russian River Valley, California.

THE ARSONIST

Then there's Matchbook. This label is about the varietals that do the best in the warm climate of Dunnigan Hills: Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvigon, Syrah, and most awesomely... Tempranillo. Their original plantings of Tempranillo from 1988 were the meh-whatever Valdepenas clone. Today they're constantly expanding their Tempranillo vineyards with the clones from Ribera del Duero, Tinta de Toro and Rioja. A taste of Spain in Cali. I love it.

The Arsonist is a subset of the Matchbook label. There's a Chardonnay and the company's first Bordeaux-style red blend. Keeping with the theme of fire, it features Prometheus from Greek mythology on its label. Prometheus was the Titan god of forethought, and he was given the job of creating mortal mankind out of clay. Seeing how terrible the humans lived made his paternal instincts kick in, so he stole fire from Zeus and hooked them up. He was busted and tied to a stake on Mount Kaukasos where, in a constant loop, an eagle ripped him open and ate his liver. Herakles (Hercules to the Romans) eventually freed him.

Oh, and the Giguieres also make olive oil.

This entire month on TheWineStalker.net is dedicated to Matchbook Wine Company. I'll be reviewing a total of seven of their wines, so everybody get cooled down because it's about to get real hot up in here.

November 1st: Matchbook Dunnigan Hills Tinto Rey Red Blend 2012
November 5th: A Brief History of Matchbook Wine Company
November 8th: Mossback Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2014
November 12th: Mossback Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2013
November 15th: Matchbook Dunnigan Hills Old Head Chardonnay 2012
November 19th: Matchbook Dunnigan Hills Tempranillo 2012
November 22nd: The Arsonist California Red Blend 2012
November 26th: The Arsonist Dunnigan Hills Chardonnay 2013

- Joey Casco CSW/CSS
   TheWineStalker.net

References:
Matchbook Wine Company
Toasted Head Winery
Giguiere's build a new winery
The Giguieres of Dunnigan Hills
Matchbook Ready To Set Fire To The Wine Scene

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L.A. Cetto - A Brief History of the Mexican winery

December is L.A. Cetto Month thanks to International Spirits and Wine!

DON ANGELO CETTO

Don Angelo Cetto (Chet-toe) was born near Trento, the capital city of Trentino, Italy. He survived the first World War and immigrated to Mexico in 1924. Four years later he was using the skills he had learned in the old country to plant vines in Baja California, the Mexican state south of the USA's California. 

Mexico couldn't be any different from his homeland, however. Trentino is cold as ice with infamously fast and chilly winds while Mexico is, well, hot as hell. Although Angelo's mission was to make warmer climate Mediterranean style wines instead of Trentino style wines, there were growing pains.

Poor grape quality was one obstacle he had to overcome, and he found himself releasing his first wines as fortified ones in 1930. He offered quality sherry and port style wines from those low quality grapes, becoming a hit with locals and Prohibition America. The money made from those early fortified wines allowed him to branch out and make the wines he intended to make in Valle de Guadalupe.

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