Happy Harry's Direct Offer No. 7

Hourglass Wines Selection

Hourglass wines represent a cutting-edge, modern Napa Valley winemaking style. Ned Smith bought the property in 1976 and his goal quickly shifted from fruit trees to his favorite wine, Zinfandel, with the lofty hope of supplying grapes to local wineries in exchange for finished wine. The land was eventually taken over by his son Jeff Smith. In 1992, Jeff enlisted his family friend – and former rock band cohort – Bob Foley as winemaker for their new venture. Like so many aspiring guitarists, Bob had kept his day job over the years, making wine and garnering countless accolades and rock-star status for such labels as Robert Foley Vineyards, Switchback Ridge, Pride Mountain, School House and Paloma. Bob continues to make all the Hourglass wines and has the deep purple-stained hands to prove it. The calluses, however, are as much from guitar playing as his meticulous cellar work. Then, Hourglass’s inaugural release came with the 1997 vintage, a seminal Napa vintage by many critics’ standards.

With the christening of the winery at Blueline and its distinct single-varietal wines, Hourglass has entered an exciting new phase of its evolution. A brand synonymous with terroir-driven, modern Napa wines of the highest caliber, its goal is and will always remain the same: To capture the essence of two of Napa Valley’s most expressive vineyard sites in bottled form, and to have the honor of sharing them with you and your families for decades to come.

And then Saturday, September 26th 2020 came and everything changed forever as the Glass Fire tore down the hillsides of the Vaca Mountains into the heart of the upper Napa Valley.

The Hourglass Winery property at their Blueline Estate vineyard suffered significant damage. The 162-year old ranch house, where they would receive guests visiting the property with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, was burned to the ground.  As for their winemaking operations, the roof of their outdoor crushpad melted and dripped onto their stainless-steel fermentation tanks. The tanks themselves were burned as well, but they do not yet know the true extent of the damage. The caves and all the wine inside (2019 vintage red wines) are safe and sound.

Up to this point in the 2020 vintage, they had harvested and fermented a small portion of the fruit at the Blueline Estate, but any fruit still left on the vines was lost to fire and smoke damage. Some of the vines along the edges of the property were burned, but it is hard to know at this point whether some will ultimately survive. The Hourglass Estate (their original 4-acre vineyard on Lodi Lane) was spared from fire damage, and will be conducting micro-fermentations to determine if the grapes have been affected by the smoke.

To help them move onto newer vintages for market, Happy Harry’s has purchased the remaining North Dakota allocation.  We know you will enjoy these amazing wines in addition to helping a small winery rebuild for the future of Napa Valley winemaking.