By: Fritz Hatton
A Message of Gratitude
Traditions, customs, friendships, families, recipes—if well preserved, all, like wine, improve with time. Caren shared the brining recipe she has used to prepare our Thanksgiving turkey(s) for two decades. The turkey tastes better with each passing year. Other parts of our Thanksgiving meal include recipes that go back three generations—creamed onions, gooey fooey rolls…maybe we’ll publish that one next year.
The relationships that we have formed in building Arietta, although still in its first generation, go back a quarter century. Our dear friends Lee and Cristina Hudson planted Arietta’s Cabernet Franc and Merlot blocks in 1986, and we have purchased these grapes since our first vintage in 1996. Andy Erickson has made the Arietta wines for fifteen years. Our growers the Hyde Family have preserved and nurtured our tiny block of Semillon vines for just as long. Viticulturist Mike Wolf has looked after our Cabernet blocks since 2007. Jessica Loesch has directed Arietta’s sales and marketing since 2013. And John Kongsgaard, our founding winemaker and the best man at our wedding, has been a close friend and mentor since 1992.
Likewise many of our subscribers have been with us since the beginning. Some have bought every vintage. Others take a break, and then return. It is humbling to see in our “new” subscription system purchase histories dating back twenty years, and to discuss these wines with clients who continue to support us.
We remember too restaurants which have featured the Arietta wines since our beginnings—The French Laundry, Aureole in New York, Pappas Brothers in Houston and Dallas, and many others.
These relationships are long and enduring, and we view them as key to the success and longevity of the Arietta brand. Caren and I are immensely grateful to all who have supported and shown their enthusiasm for Arietta throughout our history, and have become members of the Arietta “family.”
Happy Thanksgiving!
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About Fritz Hatton
Fritz has over four decades of experience in the fine and rare wine business and in addition to being a vintner is the nation’s foremost wine auctioneer. He serves as principal auctioneer for Zachys Wine Auctions, and as auctioneer for many charities nationwide, including Auction Napa Valley.