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The Hedges Family Estate Winery has risen and flourished out of a serendipitous collision of Red Mountain terroir and French sensibility. Tom Hedges and his wife Anne-Marie, a native of the Champagne region of France, took a chance on Red Mountain back in 1990 and purchased land on this remote site of scrub and tumbleweed in central Washington.
PAVING THE WAY
Now, almost every Washington producer wants a piece of what comprises a small red dot on the Washington State viticulture map. Hedges Family Estate literally paved the way for Red Mountain’s worldwide reputation as a premiere grape growing region. “We initiated the AVA (American Viticultural Area) application,” Tom Hedges says.
“We got the ball rolling for paving Sunset Road that leads up the mountain, and we initiated the AVA Alliance and all the planning and zoning for the Red Mountain AVA.” And they remain in a small company of Washington producers that are all estate grown and bottled.
But the Hedges are not strangers to firsts. “We were the first to sell Cabernet/Merlot as a designated wine starting with the 1987 vintage,” Tom says. “We were also the first to heavily promote terroir, and describe it on our original 1987 Red Mountain Reserve labels, instead of just promoting the grape varietals.”
ALL ABOUT TERROIR
“Our wines are less about the varietals and more about the place,” points out Christophe Hedges, Tom’s son and head of sales and marketing. “We sell the brand less, and the place more,” he says, which explains why the Red Mountain AVA name is so dominant on their labels.
“The wine and the label are really a lesson in geography,” Christophe says, noting the labyrinth of information on the Syrah label that looks truly old-world. “That’s why French wine labels are so complicated—they put so much emotion into the product.”
INTENSE RED MOUNTAIN FRUIT
“This is the most consistent growing area I can think of in the state,” says winemaker Pete Hedges, noting the benefits of planting on a slope and rattling off impressive statistics regarding the amount of heat and sunlight followed by cool nights to preserve acidity; alkaline well-drained soil and lack of stagnant air—all qualities for happy grape vines. “The intensity is spared for the fruit and not the foliage.” Indeed, Red Mountain fruit is consistently noted for its intense extracted quality.
With 24 vintages behind them, an increase in production, sales up in unlikely times, and their first Syrah off their revered Les Gosses Vineyard newly released this summer (2010), it’s hard to not feel a visit with the Hedges family is a brush with royalty.
“True to our European origins, we want our wines to go with food,” winemaker Pete Hedges says. His wines are beautifully balanced, with a complexity he attributes to the incredible variation in soil from their sites, from the finest silt to bedrock to basalt. “We plant based on what geography tells us to plant, which is more of a French concept.”
Which brings us back to Les Gosses vineyard, French for The Kids, and the source of their new, highly anticipated estate Syrah.
Tom Hedges says, “We have a Swedish consultant who has been growing Syrah in Provence for 25 years or so. He believes Red Mountain Syrah is our best grape, perhaps among the best in the world, and very reminiscent of the Côte Rôtie wine appellation in France that is famous for Syrah. Hence, the 17-acre Les Gosses vineyard planting.
“From there, we came up with the idea of making an American style Côte Rôtie, and what better designation for it than Descendants Liegeois-Dupont, my wife’s family.”
Only 390 cases were produced of the just-released 2008 vintage, made in homage to Ann Marie’s grandfather, Marcel DuPont (hence Cuvée Marcel Dupont). Marcel was a Chevalier du Tastevin of Burgundy. “He was an emissary of that region, a very high honor,” adds Christophe Hedges.
THE FRENCH CHATEAU
In keeping with Anne-Marie’s French heritage, it made sense to house the wines and tasting room in a formidable cream-colored French-styled chateau with panoramic views of Red Mountain and the Yakima Valley.
A European looking cobblestone path leads visitors up to the chateau. Just beyond, a petanque court beckons for a round over a glass of wine. The path is lined by immaculately groomed Umbrella Catalpa trees and pink and red roses that frame the wooden shutters.
There are stone benches to sit and take in a bit of French countryside à la Red Mountain. Water flows from a La Dolce Vita-like fountain with a backdrop of lavender, heather, roses and birch trees.
Inside the high-ceilinged chateau is an impressive wood-paneled tasting bar, a large stone fireplace with comfortable seating, even a grand piano that blends into the elegant European style furnishings illuminated by chandeliers.
FRENCH FAMILY TRADITION
Anne-Marie Hedges came from a family whose business in France was many generations old, where working for the family business remains normal, if not expected.
“Though we didn’t push them,” Tom said, referring to the dynasty-like implications of working out of the chateau alongside his wife, his brother Pete, and son Christophe and daughter Sarah.
“I was humbled sitting next to Alissa Antinori (part of the innovative Italian wine company responsible for the Super Tuscan revolution) a few years back in our dining room,” Tom recalls. “She told me she was the 26th generation. That is something I would love to see at Hedges Family Estate, a bit unusual in America these days with exit strategies being more the norm, but a worthy goal. It’s still very common in French wineries.”
FREEDOM FROM RATINGS
If one had to classify the Hedges as a Hollywood film, it would be independent.
“We refuse to give in to the ratings game,” Christophe says, referring to the fact that Hedges no longer sends out their wines for points (from journalists and wine critics). “We’re here to educate but we don’t follow anybody’s lead,” Christophe says jovially.
“Nobody’s going to pin me down,” echoes Pete, referring to wine ratings. But they all agree on one thing: A sense of place and that undeniable characteristic of Red Mountain.
Written by Kirsten Telander