My husband and I along with two of our dearest friends who enjoy wine as much as we do packed up and drove to HV Cellars new tasting room located in Tenmile just behind the Porter Creek store. We were not at all sure of what to expect. Our knowledge of HV Cellars previously called Hawks View Cellars with a winery located in Myrtle Point, was that they were doing primarily fruit wines. Since we were not fruit wine drinkers and have devoted our lives and our palettes to the appreciation of fine wine, we were a bit skeptical to say the least.
As we entered the tasting room we were pleasantly surprised to find a very neat and appealing room with a tasting bar and two additional tables where groups of four could be accommodated. Looking over the wine list we discovered HV cellars produces more than just fruit wine and we were excited to taste everything they had to offer. Evelyn, the winemakers wife who was working that day, proceeded to take us through the list. We started with the whites, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, both award winning wines and both were lovely and quite unique. We then ventured into the “red zone” and tried the Donna Rosa a Bordeaux blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with a little Merlot added. This wine was a light bodied wine with great fruit, terrific acidity and each sip made me smile and left me wanting another taste. Evelyn told us they call this their spaghetti wine as it paired well with marinara sauce and we loved the idea of a classic French style wine pairing well with a classic Italian dish. Next we sampled the Syrah which was one of the most unusual Syrahs I had ever tasted with licorice, menthol, eucalyptus and spice all surrounding the deep fruit. We finished up the fine wine offerings with the Baco Noir which was rich and well finessed.
That left the four fruit wines. Since I am not a fruit wine drinker and had little experience with fruit wines I could not leave the tasting room without at least sampling their selection but I was absolutely positive I would not like any of them and expected each one to be a sweet, syrupy, cloying mess. Oh how wrong could a person be? We tried three of the four starting with their signature blackberry wine and “yummy” noises filled the room. The wine was like eating perfectly ripe blackberries from the vine at the peak of the season and the richness and depth of flavors was divine. The plum wine was deep and fruity had a lovely aroma of roses and flowers. The final wine was the cranberry wine which tasted exactly as you would expect anything coming from a cranberry would taste like, tart, expressive and full of flavor.
Our group left with wine to enjoy later and it might surprise some to know I took home a few bottles of the fruit wines. While fruit wines will never be regularly consumed at my house I could see a place for them. We all agreed how wonderful it was to have this new addition to our winery family making high quality fine wine and exceptional fruit wines and adding something new to the already amazing Umpqua Valley.
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