What makes a maverick in the wine industry? To me, it is that wine-making personality that is out there where the buses don't go and make outstanding wines. When everyone else turns right, they go left and distinguish themselves to a higher degree from the pack. Take Donald Hess, a Swiss mineral water magnate who came to conquer the American spring water market in the 1970s and instead was drawn to the rugged hills of Mount Veeder to make wine. At a time when most winemakers were taking the easy route of producing wines on the accessible Napa Valley floor and surrounding slopes, Donald chose vineyards that were only accessible by Jeeps or horses. He was a pioneering maverick because he felt the wine made there was better in its intricacy and complexity. Later, in the 1990s, Mr. Hess traveled to Argentina. Rather than invest like many in the popular fertile vineyards in Mendoza, he the road less traveled and bought a 150-year-old winery, Bodega Colomé, the highest altitude vineyards of all Argentina located in the mountains of Salta. And yet the wines of Hess are legendary in their complexity, unlike any other wines, because of his maverick ways. 

Never to rest on their laurels, Hess Vineyards, under the guidance of Tim Perssonn, Don Hess's son-in-law and now head of operations after Don retired, expanded in Napa Valley to a little-known region in Pope Valley. Iron Corral Vineyard became their first new Hess estate in 20 years. The fruit here was a key component to their Allomi Vineyard wine, so they bought the 402-acre Iron Corral Vineyard parcel in 2019. A bold move at a time as other wineries were consolidating and selling off.

Hess's latest project involves exploring wines from the Paso Robles area. Heading this endeavor is Hess Persson Estates' Head Winemaker, Dave Guffy. A native of the Central Coast, Dave originally was thinking of a career in brewing while working in restaurants. While working his way through college when he discovered wine. He left school to be a cellar rat during the harvest of 1984 and fell in love with the art of wine-making and getting to know the wine community of the Central Coast. Working with various wineries and helping establish Cambria Winery as their winemaker in 1992 (he created Julia's Vineyard Pinot Noir), Gary was deeply involved in sourcing grapes from the best back road wineries in Paso Robles. He accepted the position of winemaker for Hess Person Estates in 1999, only the second head winemaker at Hess. With Hess's new Paso Robles project, Dave is returning to his roots, with access to some of the best fruit that Paso Robles has to offer.

"We're sourcing this wine from the Estrella District, a nested AVA within Paso Robles, from some contacts I have in Paso Robles. This area in Northeastern Paso is known for colder evenings, caused by ocean breezes flowing through the gaps in the Santa Lucia Mountain range, cooling off the grapes during the growing season and allowing for complexity in the finished wine."

Everything about the Maverick Ranch Cabernet speaks upscale. Introduced as a restaurant-only wine, the packaging exudes class with a heavy thick glass bottle and very deep punt. A unique label with a 3D security color-changing ink is used on official documents to prove its authenticity. The label resembles an antique archived document or deed with an excerpt from Donald Hess' original letter to the Christian Brothers (the former owner) explaining his vision statement for his winery on Mount Veeder and future endeavors.

"I am writing to summarize the nature of my family's vision. We believe in developing particularly fine vineyards in lands where the hidden potential has yet to be unleashed. Traveling in California, I have found several such sites, and these vineyards are being developed with great care and with the view of forging a path for our future generations".

Donald Hess, Dated October 11, 1983

Warm climate with strong influence from the coast. Long hot days, cooled by breezes through the Santa Lucia Mountains.​ Aromas of bing cherries, red plum, spices, and tobacco. Juicy, bright raspberry, cola, dense cacao, and toasty cedar. Balanced, well-integrated tannins.

Aged 18 months 40% new French oak.

78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Petite Verdot

Mocha and mace spices enliven the strawberry and red cherry aromas on the pleasantly easy nose of this bottling. The palate's red cherry compote core is ripe with a hint of tartness, as a charcuterie element adds complexity. Wine Enthusiast 90 pts

Hess Maverick Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

In tasting this wine, we could all see how this would do very well as a restaurant-focused wine. It is easy to drink now, with just enough complexity to match a whole range of foods. The color is dark ruby, with a ripe dark fruit nose with hints of spice. Full cherry compote on the palate with hints of a coffee rub. Very fine tannins with a lush finish. This wine is a perfect steak wine.

Regular Price: $27.99

*Sale Price is on 6 or more bottles

Wine is packed in a 12-bottle case

*Wine pricing for these wine promotions are held for two weeks after the email offer.

We can hold wines in unpaid reserves for two weeks to allow you time to pick up your wine. If it takes you longer than that to pick up your wines, give us a call, and we can process your wine and move it to paid reserves.

A common question we get concerning wine is about the 2020 vintage and smoke taint. As everyone knows, there were a series of fires in California in 2017 and 2020 caused by dry conditions. If those fires got too close to a vineyard, they might cause a condition called smoke taint in the wine. Fears of smoke taint in the 2020 vintage for wine have been exagerated. For a wine to get smoke taint, the smoke has to be near what is known as hot smoke; that is, the smoke has to come from a fire literally right next to the vineyard; hazy days don't affect the wine. The hot smoke must stay in contact with the ripe grapes for a period of 48 hours for the volatile compounds to become attached to the waxy bloom of the ripe grape and bonded to the sugars in the grape juice. The result, I am told, is the resulting wine tastes like you licked an ashtray. I have never tasted a smoke taint wine and for good reason. Wine throughout the wine-making process is constantly being chemically tested, and they test for chemical markers that determine smoke taint. They also spend a lot of time tasting the wine during fermentation and blending. I don't know of any winery that will risk its reputation by putting out a flawed wine with smoke taint, hoping no one will notice. Instead, they will leave the grapes for the birds or send the finished wine to the distilleries to make medical alcohol.

"Just because you have smoke doesn't mean your grapes will be

smoke-impacted."

—Anita Olberholster, University of California, Davis

Also, remember, California is a very big area. To paint all 2020 Californian wines as a loss to smoke taint is unfair to the hard-working winemakers unaffected by smoke taint. Paso Robles, for example, had very few fires, and the prevailing west/east winds quickly removed any smoke. Also, realize that due to climate change, future fires are all but guaranteed. The best test, if you are concerned, is to taste the wine, and if you feel like you have that nasty burnt salami served on an ashtray flavor in your mouth, return the wine for a full refund. Smoke taint, although nasty tasting, will not affect your health.

Smoke taint is not unique to California. As wildfires become increasingly frequent in wine regions worldwide – in particular, California, Australia, Spain, Chile, Oregon, and Washington – smoke taint is becoming an increasing talking point among winemakers. However, still, a very small percentage of wine is affected by it. A corked wine is by far a more common flaw than smoke taint.

Orders must be done by replying to this email. The reason is that I need to keep control of the inventory in one central spot. Emailing or calling your favorite wine geek at one of our four stores may not get your orders in on time to be counted or processed and this creates a helter-skelter for us to get you the wine. For the same reason, ordering on our online Web Store is linked to our regular price, and this sale price is only offered on the email platform. It is also why it takes me some time to respond due to the deluge of orders that I sometimes get. We haven't reached the efficiency or volume of Amazon yet, and in this post-pandemic environment, simple operations sometimes prove difficult. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Attleboro

628 Washington St.

Norwood

942 Providence Hgwy.

Sturbridge

376 Main Street.

Swansea

207 Swansea Mall Dr.

Monday-Saturday

9AM to 9PM