Heart’s Fire Winery is a boutique winery on the Campbell Wine Trail that reflects a passion for Zinfandel and Petite Sirah. The name reflects this passion and watching the two couples with their friends on a recent weekend processing and bottling their wines truly demonstrates this passion they have for their wine. Two couples, Brian and Kristin Link and Dan and Julie Scheve are partners in the adventure.
In 1997 the Scheve’s were making wine in their home and later their friends Brian and Kristin joined in this passion. As their skills, and the wine, improved they took that bold step to start their own winery. Starting in their garage, they soon moved to their current location at 165 Cristich Lane in Campbell.
Handcrafted wine is a term that truly depicts this winery. Stopping by the winery on a typical tasting day, first Sunday of each month, finds the owners at a simple table showing off their wines to the guests and informing them about what goes into production of such wines. When harvest season arrives, their friends and their children arrive to help out in the winery, whether it is crushing grapes one weekend or bottling wine the next. Without the support of these friends, Heart’s Fire would not be able to produce the wines that they love.
Heart’s Fire strives to find the best grapes for their wines from some of the quality vineyards in Sonoma and Mendocino County, famous for Zinfandel and Petite Sirah.
The Heart’s Fire 2006 Zinfandel Price Vineyard from Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County is an elegant wine with aromas of strawberry and plum with notes of cedar and pepper. On the palate, these same fruity flavors come forth with hints of smoke, rhubarb and vanilla. Price Vineyard is located near Healdsburg and is operated by viticulturalists Muriel and Steve Price.
The 2006 Zinfandel from Treborce Vineyard in Dry Creek Valley provides a different outlook on Zins with more blackberry and caramel on the nose carrying over on the palate to include coffee, cinnamon and clove on the palate leading to a rich long finish. The tannins are balanced and result in a wine that will only improve over the years.
Heart’s Fire 2006 Petite Sirah from Rhodes Vineyard comes from the Redwood Valley in Mendocino County near Ukiah. The wines produced from grapes from Rhodes Vineyard tend to be well-structured but not overly tannic like many Petite Sirah can be. The delightful blackberry, cherry and blueberry you expect in a Petite Sirah shine through mixed with toasted oak, smoke and nutty vanilla. The finish is long and lingering.
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