Vintner's Journal Home | April 2005 »
March 31, 2005
Website update
I added a "Downloadables" section where the Press or other interested parties can download label images, fact sheets, lab reports, etc.
Posted by matchvineyards at March 31, 2005 09:12 AM
March 30, 2005
Designing our label
We've received numerous comments on our label. Thanks! We think it looks great too. But when we started Match Vineyards, we never thought that designing and printing labels would be such a tough process.
Obviously, we had a few ideas on what we liked in wine labels: simple, elegant, something that stood out but wasn't too flashy. We went to some wine stores and bought wines with labels or bottles we admired. (This was an expensive process but I, never one to shirk my responsibilities or pass up the opportunity to try new wines, bravely endured this step.)
Next, a designer needed to be chosen. Sasha hoped I’d be able to do it – it’s obvious from how great
One of our first choices was a bottle. Bottle shape and weight are big factors in label design as well as in determining the final production and shipping costs. Glass is sold by weight, so not only do some wineries’ huge bottles drive up costs, they also cause you to have to pay more for shipping. That being said, we did choose a bottle with what we considered medium heft and that felt great in our hand: the Sommeliere Brodeaux series from Demptos Glass.
Work with Tina started out with an interview – her with us, and us with her. We told her our initial thoughts on the label and generally just told her our story. We had already named Butterdragon Hill so the idea of butterflies, dragonflies, or a combination was quickly in the mix. We also own a lovely painting (one of our favorites) by an artist named Gaylord Soli that we thought could influence the design. The “Match” name with its numerous connotations as well as the original meaning (the Russian word for “sword”) also offered some ideas. In fact, a Russian influence seemed to tie in nicely with Sasha’s Russian-Jewish heritage as well as my background as a Russian linguist. Another idea was something in the style of the paintings of Marc Chagall or the poster art of David Lance Goines.
Tina prepared several proofs for us to try out. We spent many days with mock-ups of our bottle choice, filled with Two-Buck Chuck, with potential labels taped on. The idea was we kept the bottles around the house and determined how a particular label made us feel and looked from various angles and distances.
Well, we thought we were near the end of the process. We were very pleased with the direction the design had taken and were meeting for a final time with Tina and Cary Gott to nail down colors. Towards the end of the meeting, Tina asked Cary if she should show “it” to us – a design based on some of our original ideas but definitely in a different direction. Cary nodded and when Tina pulled out the mock-up bottle, both Sasha and I knew that we’d found our label. There were still colors to be chosen, but we were on our way.
While Tina was a joy to work with, printing was a real challenge. It was news to us that while the printers would proof our label on printing day, no large changes would be possible following the press check. It was difficult getting the embossing, registration, and the colors to come out right. Did you know it’s tough to get a true red? We also envisioned having a luminescence in the blue of the dragonfly’s wings similar to that of a real dragonfly in the sunlight. That was an effect difficult to reproduce with ink. The pressmen worked hard though and we ended up with a label that looked fantastic. We hope you agree.
Here are a few of the designs that didn't make it.
One design direction tried to capture the romance of a good "match" along with matches in antique playing cards.
Or a combination of dragons and butterflies?
We pushed very hard in the direction based on a painting by Gaylord Soli:
Posted by matchvineyards at March 30, 2005 02:36 PM
March 28, 2005
Kudos to Randy Dunn
According to an article on NapaNews.com (the online version of the Napa Valley Register), Randy Dunn of Dunn Vineyards recently bought a 64 acre parcel on Howell Mountain, not with the idea on how many grapes he can grow there, but with the thought that he can preserve it from vineyard development. Our hat's off to you, Randy. Although we obviously love vineyards, we like seeing the natural vegetation of the Napa Valley too!
Posted by matchvineyards at March 28, 2005 11:49 AM
March 24, 2005
Origin of our names
How does one go about naming a winery? I’ve “heard” that a certain Napa real estate broker (and winery owner) went against all advice to name her wine something a little off-the-wall after a screeching bird-of-prey. “It would never sell,” she was told. It does. Quite well.
Try this exercise at home: Imagine that you have a winery. What would you call it? Post a comment if you have ideas. We tossed around several names, but an early idea was GreenCheek (named after our green-cheeked conure parrot, Yoshi, and a name I used to use for my business as a web development contractor. Sasha nixed my idea to call it “dot wine” to try and capitalize on the Internet boom. But as recently as 2002 when we already had our first wine in the barrel, we were still trying to name our winery.
First, we tried Match Sloan Vineyards, after Sasha’s and my last names. But as many of you know, Sloan Estate beat us to market by a few years with their own fantastic wine. We probably still could have used the “Sloan” being that it’s my name, but rather than cause confusion, we became and remain simply Match Vineyards.
But there’s still the chance for confusion. No, being named “Match” does not indicate that our wines smell like sulfur as one person asked. Match is probably an Ellis Island bastardization of the Russian word “metch” meaning “sword”. Sasha’s grandparents emigrated from Russia around 1900.
But what about those goofy vineyard names, Butterdragon Hill and Baconbrook? It would be cool if they were historic place names or something like that, but no, we made them up.
We tossed so many names around for what would become Butterdragon Hill and nothing seemed right. Then one day, Alec and his buddy Ryan were swimming in our pool while Sasha and I sat nearby. The boys were using squirt guns to antagonize the numerous dragonflies that swarmed around the pool. The dragonflies were involved in their aerial mating ritual but they also seemed to be cavorting with the boys. Suddenly, a lone butterfly flew into the fray. The boys wondered aloud what would happen if the butterfly mated with a dragonfly. Almost in unison, Sasha and I answered, “You’d get butterdragons.” Our perfect name was born.
Baconbrook was easier. The memory of Steve Speckenbach, Sasha’s late husband and Alec’s biological father is a big part of our lives. Alec, of course, shares his daddy Steve’s last name. Totally by coincidence, both Alec and Steve (as a child) used the “code” name Baconbrook with their best friends. Baconbrook is an English translation of the German name Speckenbach. Calling our home vineyard and estate Baconbrook is our tribute to Steve and Alec and we’re very excited about the 2004 Baconbrook Cabernet Sauvignon, now aging beautifully in the barrel.
(A note to one individual who was either a comedian or clueless: No, having Butterdragon and Baconbrook vineyards does not mean our wines are "fatty.")
Posted by matchvineyards at March 24, 2005 10:59 PM | Comments (1)
March 21, 2005
Building the back office
I've spent the last several days upgrading winery data from Quicken to Quickbooks. This is a new experience for me since I've never used Quickbooks or studied accounting.
We are now set up to take Visa and MasterCard when we launch. Yippee! They said it would take 4 business days, it took 4 hours. Now I need to make a sale to give it a try. Anyone? Buehler?
Posted by matchvineyards at March 21, 2005 11:00 PM | Comments (1)
March 17, 2005
Website Updates
Although I've managed to post to the blog a few times, the website still needs more info. I'm working on it! (That and a million other things that need to get done before we release.)
Anway, here are some recent website updates:
- Added an "Events" section to the home page. This will be where we let you know about upcoming tastings, releases, etc. Events will also be mentioned in the Vintner's Journal.
- Added a lot more information about our winemaker and vineyard managers to the "About Us" section.
- Added a "Contact Us" page giving you the particulars on how to reach us.
- Tweaked the text on existing pages.
Posted by matchvineyards at March 17, 2005 10:40 PM
March 15, 2005
Pssst... breakfast in the Valley
Everyone knows there is great food in the Napa Valley. Visitors struggle to get a rez at the hottest new place or at a famous old timer like the French Laundry. But there are three meals in the day and most visitors are faced with limited choices and big crowds when it comes to breakfast.
Have you tried Cafe 29? This small place north of St Helena on Highway 29 may not be much to look at, but it's easier to get in and the food is quite good. Their specialty is crepes and while you won't mistake it for being in Paris, the crepes are excellent and you can "have them you way" with a choices from a multitude of ingredients. They also offer a bevy of other breakfast standards for those not interested in crepes.
Make sure you start off your day of wine tasting on a full stomach. Try Cafe 29. They serve breakfast and lunch until 2:30 PM. They have also recently started serving dinner, but we haven't tried that yet.
Cafe 29
3000 St. Helena Hwy North
St. Helena, Ca. 945747
707 963-9499
Posted by matchvineyards at March 15, 2005 11:51 PM
Market. Still a good choice.
The restaurant Market in St. Helena has been around for a while now and it would seem has lost some of its luster with the public. Not because of anything it has done, but in a place where good food is almost as famous as good wine, it seems like there is always some newcomer getting the spotlight. It's easier to get in now, but the food remains quite good. It's American comfort food: burgers, meat loaf, fried chicken, a a killer mac-and-cheese. Service remains strong as does a reasonable wine list. We hear that the owner/management team has a new endeavour over in Healdsburg called Cyrus. Good for them but we hope that Market will remain a great place to take a kid (if only because he loves the S'mores dessert) while the grownups get a tasty, hearty meal.
If you want good food in St. Helena, try Market.
Market
1347 Main St, St Helena, Ca. 94574
707 963-3799
Posted by matchvineyards at March 15, 2005 11:34 PM | Comments (1)
Shipping... what a pain
Ask anybody in the wine business what their biggest headache is and you're likely to get the answer "shipping." That’s what’s occupying our time here at Match Vineyards right now. We have around 500 cases of wonderful 2002 Match Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon waiting to be enjoyed by you. But how are we going to get our wines into your hands?
Order fulfillment for us little guys can be a real pain. Many of the laws governing the distribution of our favorite beverage are left over from the days of Al Capone and prohibition. And now that anyone over the age of 21 should be legally able to purchase wine from their source of choice (i.e. our winery) it rarely painlessly works out that way. The federal and various state governments have provided many a roadblock to control or limit the sale and distribution of alcohol. In this regard, fine wine is treated no differently than moonshine. Well, we want you to be able receive and enjoy our wine… legally. Unfortunately various groups and powerful lobbies are working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen. Those of you in “difficult” states -- and you know who you are -- should make sure your lawmakers know you are displeased with the status quo. Direct shipments of wine to adults should be allowed throughout this great land. Anyway, let’s hope that current movements in state and federal courts are successful and alcohol distribution laws are brought into the 21st century.
We’re exploring various shipping and order fulfillment options. We’ll be establishing a method that will hopefully provide as many of you as possible the chance to order our wine and have it delivered legally straight to you in as economical way as possible. Of course, it is also our concern that our great wines are treated with “kid gloves” all along the way until they reach you. We’ll keep you posted as things develop.
For more information about wine shipment issues, see the website Free the Grapes.
Posted by matchvineyards at March 15, 2005 10:44 PM
March 12, 2005
Getting ITB
(that's "In The Biz" don'chya know)
Just buying a piece of property with a vineyard doesn't automatically get you in the wine business. Honestly, we had no idea what we were doing. The only thing we had to offer was an excitment about wine and the willingness to learn. (And pay for it.)
Back in the summer of 2000, walking the still unplanted vineyard with our viticulturist Jim Barbour, we discussed what it would all mean. I was pretty excited. Lately I had been spending quite a bit of money on my wine collection and I figured I could use this vineyard to provide an interesting addition to my collection. Sasha and I liked Merlot too so we decided to change the plan and plant 3 rows (out of 90) in Merlot. (Regardless of what the guy in the film Sideways says, Merlot can make an awesome wine.) Anyway, Jim informed us that the future Butterdragon Hill vineyard would, at full production, provide around 20 tons(!) of grapes.
[Gulp] 20 tons sounded like more than I would be able to drink even if we did expand the wine cellar. We needed help. Jim would grow us fantastic grapes, but what were we going to do with them? We had a couple of years before our first harvest, but we were to learn that those years would pass very quickly.
Luckily for us, Jim recommended we talk to Cary Gott. Cary is the founder of Vineyard & Winery Estates. He provides numerous consulting services for wineries and individuals and has probably forgotten more about wine and the wine business than most of us will ever know. With Cary's help we were able to look at some potential numbers and examine some "what ifs." What if we just sold the grapes? What if we built a winery? What if we did a "custom crush"? We also studied the soil reports, looked at our neighbors and the lay of the land. How good would the grapes be? (The land had formerly had a vineyard, but it was never cultivated to its full potential.)
We learned a couple of things from this exercise:
First, all indications were that this vineyard was going to grow some dynamite grapes. They would ultimately make a fantastic wine or be in high demand from other wineries. Secondly, no matter how we looked at it, unless we were able to move up full-time to the Valley and do the farming ourselves, it would be tough to operate the vineyard in the black by just selling grapes. Time to make wine!
Posted by matchvineyards at March 12, 2005 08:20 AM
March 08, 2005
Budo... the best restaurant in the Napa Valley... tonight.
Okay, so there are a lot of great restaurants in the Valley, but on this particular night and for our tastes, Restaurant Budo is currently the best.
One of the great things about life in the Wine Country is the choices of restaurants. Good food is a vital part of enjoying good wine. This was our first time to try this four month old restaurant located near downtown Napa. Budo has generated a lot of buzz and I can see why. Everything is creative and top-notch from the dishware, stemware, and decor, to the service, food, and presentation. It's a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.
At Budo, they call the food "Asian Accented." Many dishes are more than "accented" -- it might be more accurate to say they are Asian (primarily Japanese?) with western accents. Occidental or Oriental, this cuisine is one of our favorites.
Everything we tried was great, but our favorite was an appetizer: the miso crusted La Belle Farms foie gras served on seared big eye tuna and truffle ponzu sauce. This Asian treatment of traditionally French foie gras was sublime. But we wanted more! Note that all of the dishes at Budo are small, decorative presentations.
The wine list at Budo is comprehensive and fairly priced. And something unique among Asian restaurants: there are menu choices available that can take advantage of the extensive list of Cabernet Sauvignons and other bolder red varietals. We're usually red wine drinkers and it's nice to have some choices in food fare that complement our preferred wine choice. By the way, we took a 375ml of our soon-to-be-released 2002 Match Cabernet Sauvignon. It went wonderfully with the foie gras and with my entree, a bison tenderloin with oyster mushrooms, fingerling potato puree and bone marrow jus. Sasha enjoyed her tasting of Maine Lobster (prepared four ways) which was complimented by a glass of Delamotte, Blanc de Blancs, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.
As you may be able to tell, I'm not a professional restaurant reviewer, but I whole heartedly recommend Budo. Perhaps the only "gig" one might give to Budo is it is expensive, especially considering that the portions were small. A large dinner for two (3 shared appetizers, two entrees, two desserts, and a $20 corkage) came in at $230 excluding tip. Expensive, but to my mind this meal ranks up there with anything else in the Valley. Also, plan on dinner at Budo taking a while -- it's an experience, not just a meal.
Restaurant Budo
1650 Soscol Avenue
Napa, CA 94559
(707) 224-2330
Posted by matchvineyards at March 08, 2005 10:33 PM
March 04, 2005
What did you do before?
I must admit that I am one who has never blogged. Not even a little. It sounds like something I’ll have to clean up after doing. At least do a little laundry. But nevertheless, I will now attempt to reenter the technological world that I left behind and begin to blog, because imbibing minds want to know...
I used to be part of the techno-world back when all you had to do in the Bay Area to get a great job with gobs of stock options was be able to spell j-a-v-a and play a respectable game of foos ball at the company table. After spending many years spying for Uncle Sam, babysitting college students, and conducting medical research I finally started looking out for old number one and joined a “new economy” company as their webmaster. By the way, “new economy” is the opposite of making money the old fashioned way -- you know, by earning it -- and instead looks for the money to arrive from somewhere else. Like so many other sillyconian tragedies of that era, that company began a downward spiral that didn’t stop until my stock options were worth 47 cents… total.
Many people find it of interest that I, a young lad of 39, own vineyards and a winery and with the exception of once or twice a week for a few hours, and a couple of really intense times a year, I basically live a retired lifestyle. I am often asked what I did before getting in the biz. I rarely give the whole story and usually just say I was in high tech. The listener smiles and nods with understanding -- mine would not be the first success story they heard from the second California gold rush -- but actually the listener doesn’t really understand. Remember the 47 cents worth of stock options?
Suffice it to say that we were able to pursue this dream by making money another old fashioned way... we inherited it.
Both Sasha and I love wine, but arrived at that love independently. Sasha’s dad, the late Dr. Robert K. Match had imparted to her an appreciation of fine wine, especially red Bordeaux. Those who purchase our 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon will see that we’ve dedicated our inaugural vintage to this great man and wine enthusiast. I, on the other hand, first learned to appreciate wine while working as a waiter in college. The restaurant was upscale with a respectable wine list (for New Mexico) and I remember first falling in love with the 1982 Chateau Haut-Brion. I now know that the 1982 wasn’t “ready to drink” but hey, it tasted mighty good then and I can’t wait to try another bottle whenever certain online wine forumites finally announce that it is ready.
But how did we go from wine lovers to winegrowers? My flip, quotable, answer is that the traffic up to Tahoe is too bad. Many of our friends head up to places in Tahoe each weekend. That’s a drive that can take anywhere from 3 hours to 8 depending on the weather and traffic. Not our cup of tea especially when one considers that Sasha doesn’t even ski and in fact considers cold weather a real pain in the wine-a-maker. Therefore, our search for a place in the country -- a place in the easy driving distance wine country -- began in earnest in early 2000
We checked out both Napa and Sonoma. Our goal started out simple enough: a house with a pool in the wine country. As we looked, we realized we really wanted a house with a pool and a view. Then the land requirements starting rising. We wanted a bit of property, don’t you know. Then I heard of something called a “gentleman’s vineyard” which means –- the best I can tell –- a vineyard that’s just big enough to be trouble and cost money, but not big enough that it could ever make money. During June 2000 we attended the Napa Valley Wine Auction, the charity event where people pay insane amounts of money for wine. During our off-time, we had a list of available properties. Parked below the future Butterdragon Hill, it didn’t look like much. The vineyard wasn’t there. It was just an 11 acre property with an empty, but ripped, field of dirt and we could just spy a plain small house at the top of the hill. We were on the phone with our realtor who, when hearing our disinterest in this property, encouraged us to drive up the hill and take a look. “You’ll change your mind,” she assured us. And indeed we did. We bought the place based on that view and contingent on the completion of the planned 7 acre Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard. The final vine was planted in our little piece of Napa Valley heaven 5 days after we closed escrow. Our journey into the “romance” of Napa Valley winemaking had begun.
Posted by matchvineyards at March 04, 2005 05:00 PM
March 01, 2005
Introduction
When I started developing this web site, I struggled trying to capture with bits and bytes the passion and experience that we wine enthusiasts share. Wine is personal. Whether as part of a big celebration or an intimate evening, a bottle of fine wine adds far more than just liquid refreshment.
There are stories behind every bottle of wine. That's the romance. It's the story of eons of geological events that shaped the land. It's the story of vintage — the weather and the decisions made. It’s the culmination of the winegrower’s and winemaker's crafts. But most importantly, it's all of our own personal stories — the setting, the company, the taste. When you enjoy a bottle of Match wines, our stories intersect. We think that's pretty cool.
Posted by matchvineyards at March 01, 2005 08:00 AM
