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The Weinnotes newsletter is written by A.J. Weinzettel, a wine journalist and podcaster who has written about Oregon wine country since 2019. Each issue tells the story of a winery and the people behind it, mostly in the Willamette Valley.

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Dispatch · Saturday, April 16, 2022

Hazelfern Plays the Newlywed Game

James Suckling's Oregon report has Sparkling beating California, then Bryan and Laura of Hazelfern on the podcast, quizzed on each other.

Can you believe it snowed on Monday? I am still processing that fact. Springtime in Oregon is all about being weird and falls into the Keep Portland Weird vibe, but that’s too much over the top for me.

I have to dive into a few links before my rambling this week.

The Robb Report listed 15 Pinots to Sip This Spring. Of course, it’s nice to see Oregon represented alongside California, but this excerpt caught my attention.

Broad strokes aren’t enough anymore—California Pinot pegged as richly fruited, while Willamette Valley versions lean a little more earthy and austere—Burgundian, if you want to go that far. To revel in their nuances, don’t open one bottle for dinner—open two. Pour a California Pinot and an Oregon Pinot side by side, to test out the broad stroke theories.

I should dive more into California Pinots to understand other domestic Pinots. I have put my big toe into the pool on the subject but have yet to find a California Pinot compared to what Oregon produces.

The Great Northwest Wine magazine named Chris James Cellars Oregon’s Winery of the Year. They also named Potter’s Vineyard as Oregon’s Winery to Watch.

Those who know Vincent Fritzsche are aware of this one-person show making killer wine at affordable prices. If you don’t know Vincent, you must sign up for his newsletter, so you are notified of his Spring and Fall releases. I would also suggest setting up a tasting appointment to familiarize yourself with him and his wines. The Oregonian did a small piece on Vincent this week and talked about a Napa Valley Cab coming out in the Fall. It's Vincent, and I will get at least two bottles!

Also, this past week, James Suckling was in town. From what I hear, he tasted over 800 Oregon wines, attended several dinners, and even played some tennis. Here are some highlights from his report I found fascinating.

making consistently top-notch pinot noir, with a smaller but potentially even more impressive selection of chardonnay.

But as a varietal sensitive to both terroir and winemaking, pinot noir expresses a unique personality based on a combination of differences in soil, elevation and microclimate, as well as clone, rootstock and vine age.

Fewer producers in Oregon focus on chardonnay, but those that do, such as 00 Wines, are making incredible whites.

Chardonnay comprised only 17 percent of our tastings, compared with two-thirds pinot noir, but out of our top 30 wines, 11 were chardonnay – more than double the average proportion.

We also tasted some fresh whites from pinot gris, but although Oregon’s signature white in the past, these failed to impress at just under 90 points on average. We tasted some zesty rieslings too at an average of just under 91 points, but saw more potential and consistency in Oregon’s sparkling wines. With their bright acidity, wines such as Domaine Serene Dundee Hills Evenstad Reserve Brut NV showed more freshness, minerality and refinement compared with Californian sparkling wines.

we hope that more Oregon producers can eventually unlock the potential for great chardonnay.

It made my heart sparkle to read Oregon Sparkling outshining California!

If you are into scores and are curious about the Top Ten Wines in James Suckling’s Report, here they are:

ANTICA TERRA PINOT NOIR EOLA-AMITY HILLS ANTIKYTHERA 2018 - 99
CRISTOM PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY EOLA-AMITY HILLS JESSIE VINEYARD 2018 - 99
00 WINES CHARDONNAY WILLAMETTE VALLEY EOLA-AMITY HILLS FREYA HERMANN CUVÉE 2018 - 98
ANTICA TERRA PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY BOTANICA 2018 - 98
ANTICA TERRA PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY CERAS 2018 - 98
00 WINES CHARDONNAY CHEHALEM MOUNTAINS KATHRYN HERMANN CUVÉE 2018 - 97
00 WINES CHARDONNAY WILLAMETTE VALLEY EOLA-AMITY HILLS RICHARD HERMANN CUVÉE 2018 - 97
00 WINES PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY EOLA-AMITY HILLS RICHARD HERMANN CUVÉE 2018 - 97
ANTICA TERRA CHARDONNAY WILLAMETTE VALLEY AEQUORIN 2018 - 97
ANTICA TERRA PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY OBELIN 2018 - 97

There was also a nice dinner at the Troon Wine Bar in Mac with some winemakers. One of the winemakers, Bryan Laing from Hazelfern, sat next to James Sucking for dinner. I can only imagine the contents of the conversation and heard from a reliable source that Bryan and James played tennis ended up playing tennis.

During Hazelfern's pickup party on Sunday, I asked Bryan if the tennis match was true, and he got the biggest of grins on his face. Bryan poured one of their Chards for James, and the response was, “We need to taste your wines!” Somehow the subject of tennis came up, and Bryan mentioned he played. Last Friday, they played a doubles game and talked Hazelfern Chardonnay the whole match. It is super exciting to hear the story and see a connection made between James Sucking and Hazelfern. I am sure getting James’s attention is crazily complicated, but now Hazelfern has a memory forever planted. Fingers crossed that we will see Hazelfern in the top eleven list of James Suckling’s Oregon report next year because Hazelfern seriously cranks it up to eleven on multiple fronts!

Back in February, I reached out to Bryan and Laura at Hazelfern to see if they were interested in being on the Podcast. They were getting ready to do a couple of family events and head out to Charleston for a food and wine event, but they were interested. So we set a date for about a month out, and we were set! There was a minor issue, though. It was too much time.

When I say it was too much time, I had too much time on my hands to prepare and think. So before I reached out, I thought it would be fun to do a segment on the Podcast that mimicked the Newly Wed Game. If you don’t know, the Newly Wed Game aired from 1966 to 1974, and I just realized all I watched were reruns. So anyway, the basic premise is to see how much married couples know about each other.

Once I had the interview date in concrete, I ran the Newly Wed Game idea to a few close friends. Everyone loved it! I was in as well! A couple of weeks later, I doubted myself. I seriously flipped flopped back and forth for weeks on the segment. It felt fun, but it also felt a bit like clickbait. The Internet is all about clickbait. I don’t do clickbait content. I shouldn’t do it. Time, I tell you, is my arch-nemesis.

On the day of the interview, as I set up the mics and cameras, I mention the segment to Bryan and Laura. I let the fate of the segment rest in their hands. They were all in! The interview went great, and the segment felt like it turned out pretty good. It wasn’t awful by any means, but it also didn’t feel like a Grand Slam either.

As with everyone on the Podcast, I give them 100% editorial control. Before I sent the draft to Bryan and Laura, I thought I should cut the Newly Wed segment out of the full video but have an unlisted clip that will only live as a link within the Weinnotes Newsletter community. After Bryan and Laura saw the draft, they liked the segment and changed my mind to keep it in the full interview.

As you have guessed by now, this week’s newsletter is a podcast episode featuring Bryan and Laura from Hazelfern. I wanted to sit down with them to capture how these two people work together, raise a family, grow grapes, and make freakin out of this world wine while having fun and being happily married. I have no idea how they do what they do, but they have captured magic in a bottle, and I hope you can see the magic come through in the interview.

There are no clips this week. I found a way to cut up the video into Chapters to make my life easier and allow you to watch what you want. Any likes and subscribes on YouTube and your podcasting platform of choice is greatly appreciated! It is all about making the algorithm happy.

Here is the link to the full YouTube Interview. Below is a list of the chapters/topics. Inside YouTube, expand the video desc, and you will see hyperlinked Chapters to click.

I know there are a handful of audio listeners out there as well. Here is the Spotify link and the Apple Podcasts link as well. If you use other Podcast players, search for Weinnotes, and you shouldn’t have any issues.

Chapters for the interview

00:00 Intro
02:01 Family and Roots in South Carolina
07:38 The Backstory of the Barn / Winery / Tasting Room
13:52 Bryan and Laura working together and the Valentines Picture on IG
17:15 Sharing the same birthday
19:10 W.V. Wine Auction and NKOTB
21:02 Zachy's Auction Back to The Future
23:14 First Gen Label Teaser
27:48 HazelFern Sparkling is coming!
28:26 Juggling Life, Being Parents, Managing a Winery, How do you do it?
31:27 Legacy
34:52 Oregon Wine Community Story
39:34 Newly Wed Game
50:53 Rapid Fire Questions
53:46 Blind Wine Reveal

With Gratitude,

A.J.

PS - I have learned so much from the last three months doing the Podcast. My brain has been in overdrive learning a new platform, YouTube. With that being said, the Podcast is taking a small break (at least that is my plan right now) to create new processes and flows to streamline better the backend, aka make things easier on A.J. There have been crazy ideas I like a LOT, but they don’t make my life easier. I have an idea I’m currently running with, and it is a series of 10-ish minute videos where I sit with a winemaker or someone else in the community to share a bottle of wine. We talk about the wine and life and have a real-life conversation for ten-ish minutes. What do you think of that idea? Do you enjoy the long-form better? Do you have a better idea? Please feel free to send any and all ideas my way!

PPS - Did you know Canard is coming to Oregon City?

PPPS - Being a coder, it is so difficult not to camelCase HazelFern

A.J. Weinzettel

Wine journalist & podcaster covering Oregon wine country