1. Suzanne, the first time I met you I was entranced by your southern charm and generosity, not just in supplying your Napa Cab to a fundraiser, but in extending an invitation to your home the next time I traveled to Napa. I’d have to say that having your wine in your home ranks up there with one of my favorite Napa trips of all time. Now I understand that the barn you showed me has been made into your first tasting room. Can you tell readers about that?
I’m honored to be included in your ‘top Napa trips’. Our “Barn” as we call it, is officially a Winery/Tasting Room. We celebrated the Opening over Halloween weekend with close friends and family. As my Granny would say, “anything worth having is worth working hard for”…. we certainly worked very hard to realize our dream…. and now… well… we look forward to hosting all those fans of Phifer Pavitt Date Night in our Tasting Room. You can see some photos at http://www.phiferpavittwine.com/pv-imag-gal/wine-tasting-room/
2. Tell those of us new to Date Night Cab the story of your Date Night.
The idea for what would become Phifer Pavitt Date Night began on one of our more elaborate date nights in Italy…. Throughout our courtship and into our marriage, Shane and I have maintained a commitment to a weekly datenight. It was on one of those such nights that we were posing the question… “What would we do if we could live anywhere and do anything”? For us, the answer came rather quickly… we would move to the Wine Country, become Vintners and start a boutique winery…. maybe grow some Olives and make olive oil and raise our family. That conversation led to the offer to buy land in the Napa Valley and thus begin the adventure of starting Phifer Pavitt Date Night.
3. Where can we find your wine?
Phifer Pavitt ‘Date Night’ is a very small boutique producer. The majority of our wine is sold direct, via our website
at www.phiferpavittwine.com or www.datenightwine.com and now can also be purchased in our Tasting Room. However, where it makes sense, we have partners. One such partner that brings our wine closer to your readers is — The Duke of Bourbon located in Canoga Park.
4. What’s new for Phifer Pavitt in 2011? The next big project is equipping the “Barn” with winemaking equipment and preparing for the 2011 Harvest.
We are excited to have partnered with Partners2media.com (located in L.A.) to be our Video Storytellers. Check out the ‘expanded’ Phifer Pavitt Date Night story at http://www.phiferpavittwine.com/gallery.htm
5. I remember being regaled in stories of Napa, your winemaker, and being a “farmer” during my visit. Any new adventures you’d like to share with Beacon readers?
The newest, exciting adventure for the Phifer Pavitt Estate is harvesting our first Olives. Our family harvested about 500 pounds of Olives from our property and produced the first Phifer Pavitt Estate – Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This is especially meaningful for us, since the majority of those olives came from trees planted by our family members when we bought the property approx. 10 years ago. The old adage holds true. “Plant grapes for your chldren, plant olives for your grandchildren”…. Olive trees take a long time to produce scant amounts of olives. If you’ve never harvested olives, you will be shocked at how many olives it takes to make a tablespoon of olive oil.
Highlights from the SCV Wine Calendar:
Pinot Days (link) is here! We love the 90+ producers at this event! Eves Wine 101 Blog and Pinot Days have partnered to offer our mailing list members a 10% discount on all of the festival’s events. Enter the discount code EVEWNSC11 when ordering tickets from the Pinot Days web site and get an immediate 10% discount on all events. Grand Festival is Sat., Jan 15th from 2-6pm at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica.
The first SCV Wine Fest is coming up fast, get all of the information, and tickets, on their website!
Yours, in wine and out,
Eve Bushman- Commentary
Eve Bushman is a local writer that specializes in writing about wine. You can find great articles by Eve on her blog at http://www.evewine101.blogspot.com or email her at [email protected]. Her commentaries represent her own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization she may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon. Eve also writes at http://scvelitemagazine.com and you can follow Eve’s Wine 101 on Facebook and Twitter!