One of our favorite wines for special occasions is Judd's Hill from just outside St. Helena, CA in Napa Valley. They made a great cabernet sauvignon in 2001 that is rich and robust. But, then again, I've never had a Judd's Hill wine that was that way.
We were first introduced to Judd's Hill when one of my manufacturers took Cindy and I out for dinner at The Captain's Table restaurant along the river in Moline, IL. He had been to the winery before and ordered a couple bottles of wine. It was great, to say the least.
We found out that Gendler's wine shop in Moline sold Judd's Hill and we've been buying it there ever since. It's a tough bottle to find - even Sam's in Chicago doesn't carry Judd's Hill.
When Cindy and I made our trip out to California's wine region in 1999, we stopped outside St. Helena and called up the Judd's Hill winery. Bunnie Finkelstein - seriously, that's her name - answered the phone and we told her we were from Iowa and asked if we could possibly stop by the winery. She told me, "Oh, goodness. It's just me and a couple of our workers here today and we're out in the fields tending to the vines." She said that any other day, we'd be welcome, but today was not good.
Here's a picture of Bunnie - Don't ya just wanna party with a lady who plays the tuba?
She asked where in Iowa we were from and how we ended up hearing about Judd's Hill as it was not available in Iowa. I told her that we were from Davenport and she immediately said, "Oh, you get your wine at Gendler's!"
I said, "Yes! Do you know about Gendler's?"
She then told me that her husband, Art (at right, picture by Bill Hunter), grew up in Rock Island and moved to Los Angeles after college to become an architect. She said that they both had a love for making wine and they decided about 25 years prior to move to Napa Valley.
It turns out that Art was also instrumental in developing the Whitehall Lane winery with his brother. Whitehall Lane is also one of our favorite wineries, too. Art did some consulting work on the side and worked at the winery when time allowed.
They sold it in 1988 and Art ended up buying 14 acres near St. Helena to start up Judd's Hill. Whitehall Lane was producing about 30,000 cases a year, Art wanted to produce only about a tenth of that annually.
Judd's Hill is named after their only child, Judd (left), and at the time we were there they were only producing 400 to 500 cases of wine a year. It think their ouput is now close to the 3000 cases Art was looking to produce each year.
If you can find any of the Judd's Hill cabs, grab a bottle. It may be a little pricey, but for special meals or celebrations, it's worth it.
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