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Before I started the Gallery Collection Club in 2003, I looked around to see what other wineries were doing.  I was surprised to find out that all they were doing was packaging 2 – 6 bottles of their regular wines that they were selling in their tasting room every day and shipping them to their club members as club wines.   I decided that my club had to be more distinctive and exciting than other wineries’ clubs. 

First, I wanted my club to be exclusive, by making wines specifically created for the club and released during a special Open House event.  Only club members and their friends were invited to this event.  Furthermore, I wanted this club to have a strong educational component.  Each wine released was accompanied with Winemaker’s Notes, which gave a thorough description of the wine and included in a Newsletter published for this event.  This Newsletter also contained suggested recipes for pairing with the wines.

The most distinctive part of my club was that I created specific categories and made all my Gallery Collection wines to fit one of these categories.  Here is the list of the 5 categories of wines:

  • Holiday Wines – “Proprietor’s Blend”, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, made every year since 2003 and released in November for the holidays.
  • Wines with a Narrative – The narrative part of this category is in the name that I chose for the wine.  I made many wines that fit this category which I will list only a few:
    •  “Due Amici, whichtranslates from Italian as “Two Friends” referring to the major two wine varietals in this blend, namely Zinfandel and Primitivo.
    •  “Eulogy”, a wine made from a Syrah, clone 877, that I planted in 2001 showing signs of weakness and eventually after 5 years started breaking in the graft union and dying. 
    • Padre & Figlio”, which translates from Italian as “Father & Son” referring to Syrah and Petite Sirah, which are the two components of this wine and which are related in this manner.
  • Auto-Biographical Wines – Wines having a connection with my life.
    • Sivan”, my daughter.
    • Taksim”, the name of the neighborhood that I grew up in Istanbul.
    • “SandFire Red”, the fire that almost destroyed our home and winery in 2014 that started on Sandhill Road and HW 49
  • Off-Beat Wines – Stand-alone non-mainstream varietals, such as Touriga Nacional”, “Cabernet Franc”, “Grenache”, “Petit Verdot”.
  • Oldies but Goodies – Any of the above wines aged 10 years or more.

It’s a common fact that there is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sense may lead to an involuntary stimulation of other senses.  My ulterior motive in creating the Gallery Collection Club in this manner was so that my wines would appeal to all your senses and drinking them would make it an unforgettable experience.

Chaim