Hendry Wines

Probably the most consistently wonderful wines I've tasted have come from a tiny company in Napa called Hendry Wines.


The winery was founded by George Hendry, a former designer of particle accellerators! (I've noticed that a lot of my favorite wines were made by really unusual winemakers, such as Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat (freak!) or Mat Garretson (see earlier post) tend to be fairly against the norm!). What I've found outstanding about Hendry wines is that there seems to be a very sophisticated elegance to them. To me, they have marked floral components (which is why I think their logo is so appropriate: the simple barrel with flowers growing out of it). There is an old world restraint that balances perfectly with new world varietals such as Zinfandel, which tend to be a bit more in-your-face and fruit-forward. I have had the 2001 Block 7 Zin (fabulous), the 2002 Block 7 Zin (unfortunately, I found this vintage disappointing when I drank it over the weekend; perhaps it wasn't ready to be drunk, though I've heard that it wasn't a great year. I have heard, though, that 2003 was supposedly a much better year, so watch out for its release!), and the 2001 Block 28 Zinfandel (which has been my favorite of all the Hendry Wines I've tried). I can also recommend the half bottles of Malbec and Petite Verdot on current release. I've never had any of their whites (though they make an unoaked chard that i'd love to try!). Their wines are pretty pricey (well, for my poor ass!), so I generally save them for special occaisions. Also, here in TN we are at the whim of our local wine retailers, as we are not allowed to import wine ourselves (how i long to buy wine of my fave makers' web sites!).
In news of that kind, however, if you live in Nashville, make the Wine Shoppe at Green Hills your first stop for wine; our bartender/wine manager Stever will be starting there soon as a manager, and I really respect his taste in wine, and owe pretty much all of the wine knowledge I've acquired in the last year and a half to him. He introduced me to all 3 winemakers I mentioned above, so I'm sure he will stock them at the store. Here's to Steve and George Hendry! Thanks for enlightening my palate!


Now go drink some vino! (of course for this purpose I always recommend tayst first, but the new wine bar on 12th south, Rumours, is also nice. definitely younger and hipper crowd, but the wine list isn't as good).