Michael Havens

This is a name that should be household for lovers of California wine but is not.

While others pounded away at Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa, Michael was busy devoting himself to Syrah and Merlot.  In fact, it was Lee Hudson, of all people, who had planted Syrah in the early 1990’s who approached Michael about making a bit of Syrah.  Shall I repeat, Lee Hudson approached Michael about taking his grapes.

Michael, after doing an insane amount of climatology history and research realized the site was similar to Cote-Rotie, and accepted the grapes. There is an off-chance that Lee might have ripped them out if there had not been a buyer. Hudson Vineyard, which is considered by many to be the first truly”cool-climate” Syrah vineyard, and is now made into 23094239048 point wines by John Kongsgaard, Arietta, Arnot-Roberts, Neyers, Byron Kosuge, etc. etc. was essentially defined by Michael.

Let us not forget that in the early 1990’s the only people doing Syrah, who had a clue, were Steve Edmunds, Joseph Phelps, John Alban, and meh…..that is about it.

Around the same time, Michael contracted with lesser-known grower in the Carneros for Merlot and Cabernet Franc named Larry Hyde.  Starting around 1994 he began one of the first Cheval Blanc style blends in the Napa Valley– an elegant, perfumey wine called Bourriquot based on cooler-climate Cab Franc and Merlot.

Then, in 1997, after a visit to the Riax Baixas visit in Spain, Michael talked Doug Hill into planting two acres of Albarino in a cold, clay-ridden, part if the Carneros.  The resultant wine, which the fantastic importer Terry Thiese called the greatest white wine made in America, is a minerally, almost crunchy bright, example of the variety.  It was the first labeled Albarino made in the New World.

In a similar manner, he was one of the very first to latch onto the teachings of Patrick Ducourneau– the inventor of the modern-day micro-ox.  Launching into his new learning in a manner fitting his academic past, Michael quickly became on the early leading users (and understanders) of a method later embraced by Michel Rolland, Stephan Derenencourt, and many other leading (and well-paid!!) consultants.  This method of introducing miniscule amounts of oxygen to wine– a practice that has become controversial, particularly after the painful Mondovino (and I refer simply to its length and not its subject matter)– has redefined the way in which winemakers everywhere understand the role of oxygen in the winemaking process.

Michael’s understanding of making wine is easily in the 95-100th percentile of winemakers world-wide.  Unfortunately, his consumer base was, like-wise, in the small percentiles.  In order to satisfy investors, and perhaps in small part  to ensure a happy and secure life for himself and his lovely wife Kathryn (my label designer!), Michael sold Havens Wine Cellars last year to Billington Imports, a company which most famously imports Catena.

Late last week Michael issued his resignation from his namesake winery.

Though the reasons are long and complicated, I just wanted to throw out a bit of public acknowledgment and support to a mentor and good friend.  Long-time readers will notice that Michael was one of the first to, with no holds barred, let me interview him for the website.  He has always been an excellent winemaker who is merely a phone-call away if I need help or advice.  He is, in short, not only a class-act, but also given his multi-disciplinary past in academia, one those people that makes winemaking a joy– we can kibitz about Frank Zappa, Foucault, or Albarino.

This post is not really for anybody, but given the motto here of “it takes a village to raise a winery” he is one of the chieftans of my oenological village.