Hart’s
Desire Winery, founded February 2,1991 by John and Desire Hart,
is a small boutique winery nestled in the rolling hills of Alexander
Valley near the town of Asti. The Hart’s mission is to create
a limited production of handcrafted wines from the finest vineyards
in appellations throughout the state. Each of their single vineyard
selections is designed to express the full spectrum of eccentricities,
derived by time and place, soil and grape. The Harts do most all
of their own picking and gently handle small lots of fruit. They
use a small crusher, a hand crank basket press and gravity to
move their wines and they don’t own a pump or stainless
steel tank. This allow the wines to be produced using minimal
intervention and gentle handling techniques. All wines are aged
in the finest oak barrels and bottled unrefined and unfiltered
to retain as much complex varietal character and expression of
the vineyard. John’s goal is to produce “knockout”
wines from exceptional vineyards with the emphasis on fruit, intensity,
and balance. The winery’s growers are committed to their
work and it is their contribution which is the cornerstone of
Hart’s Desire consistent quality and style from vintage
to vintage. These limited production wines bear uniquely, artistic
labels that they think expresses their artistry in the bottle.
For
years, John, a microbiologist, tinkered in his kitchen and garage
making both beer and wine. In 1990 John and Desire decided to
turn the expanding hobby into a full time pursuit, as it was becoming
apparent that John’s adoration for wine wasn’t going
to disappear. Desire wanted a place to park her car again! On
handshakes and goodwill, John was able to build both contracts
and friendships with quality growers in Napa, Russian River, Dry
Creek Valley, Alexander Valley and down south in Edna Valley.
During this time Desire, a homecare nurse, took care of Mr. Ponzo
of Russian River whose grapes produced a silver medal in the Sonoma
County Harvest Fair for Hart’s Desire. Hence the saying,
Desi coined “from homecare to Harvest Fair!” Over
the succeeding years Hart’s Desire Wines gained medal recognition
for their handcrafted wines.
Enjoy,
John
and Desire Hart
