Wine

Friday, Aug. 22, 2008

Wine Notes: Midnight Cellars gives the competition a swirl

When the Midnight Cellars Winery crew competes in wine contests, it’s not all fun and games — it’s a key marketing strategy — and the members’ competitive spirit drives them to the top

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Rich Hartenberger doesn’t take his competitions lightly — especially when it’s the annual Winemakers’ Cook-Off in Paso Robles.

The winemaker at Midnight Cellars was up to 1 a. m. the night before the event working with friend Hal Schmitt to perfect their recipe for “Midnight Beefapalooza.”

They spent hours on their port-wine reduction sauce and making mushroom duxelle, and got up again at 6 a. m. to work on their made-from-scratch puff pastry. All of this to produce a deconstructed Beef Wellington that ended up winning the Peoples’ Choice Award, against 30 other local winemakers.

Rich’s father, Bob, is amazed at the effort and the result.

“Seven years ago, the most creative dish was a hot dog topped with mustard,” Bob said in amusement. But this is now a different Paso Robles, and Bob and Rich have been part of the growth in both size and quality that was reflected in this year’s event.

The Hartenbergers’ adventure started in 1994 during a family wine-tasting vacation in Napa Valley. Sitting on the patio of a winery (father and son can’t agree on which one), Rich made the suggestion to his attorney father: “Dad, why don’t you take some of your money and buy a winery, and Michele and I will run it for you?”

A year later, Bob purchased a 158-acre property on the west side of Paso Robles, and Rich left his job as a project manager in Chicago to run it.

They had originally targeted Napa, but Rich said it was “just not the right fit.”

Discouraged by Napa vintners about even getting into the wine industry, Bob and Rich ended up in Paso Robles, where they were instead encouraged and supported, despite their lack of winemaking experience.

“When we got down to Paso, there were a number of people who were very helpful and instrumental to our business,” Rich recalled. “Tobin James and Doug Beckett and all the old-school guys really helped us out.”

When they purchased the property, they were just the 30th winery in Paso Robles. “We were a small, rag-tag group,” Rich said.

Located in the topographical region known as the Templeton Gap, the vineyard has about 30 acres planted in chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, zinfandel and petit verdot.

Two years after buying the vineyard, the Hartenbergers purchased a smaller piece of property just off Highway 46 West on Anderson Road. More convenient for wine tourism, they built a tasting room and a state-of-the-art winery that can produce 15,000 cases a year.

Although Rich started with a winemaking consultant for the first few years, he has been the head winemaker ever since. As the result of 10 years of experience, several UC Davis extension classes and support from other winemakers, his tasting room is adorned with medals from winemaking competitions throughout the state.

“It’s also included a lot of trial and error,” he said.

The winery produces about 8,000 cases a year, and the Hartenbergers plan on growing to 12,000 in the next few years. Their wines are distributed in 15 states, and they have had the luxury of selecting the markets and outlets.

“We don’t make a lot of wine, so we just get in the right places,” Rich explained, “the right restaurants, the right wine shops.”

They use the wine competitions as a key marketing strategy, and it was with that same competitive spirit that Rich and Hal teamed up to win this year’s Cook-Off. All the winemakers brought a new level of creativity to the event, with entries such as marinated grilled shrimp and mango salsa on a jicama taco (the Judges’ Award winner by Mitchella Vineyard and Winery) and wine-boiled brats with a chutney sauce. This was definitely a far cry from hot dogs with mustard.

Now, 10 years after opening the winery, Rich has no regrets for making such a drastic career move with his father. “It’s been a riot,” he said. “I’m having a lot more fun now that I ever would have had in Chicago.”

And as far as Midnight Cellars’ accomplishments and the reputation they’ve built over that time, he compares it to when they first started the business.

“We’re the old guard now,” he said, “as hard as that is to believe.”