Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/359372
104 / the tasting panel / august 2014 I had joined Hurliman and fam- ily partner Joseph Herzog at the Herzog winery in Oxnard, at the southern tip of California's Central Coast, to discuss this new addition to their winemaking portfolio: Herzog Variations. The inaugural release of this Cabernet Sauvignon, from the 2012 vintage, includes three different wines: Variations Three, Four and Five, named for the number of vineyard sites included in each blend. "An exciting aspect of this journey for me is that we are not limited vintage to vintage by a specific style or blend," says Joe Hurliman. "There is room in the future to continue exploring Variations with different regions, vineyards and climates. There are so many exciting vineyards to choose from." Spanning nine generations of winemaking, the Herzog family has a long and storied history in the wine industry, first as trailblazers in wine imports and sales (through the Royal Wine Company, which they purchased in 1950) and ultimately, in winemaking. 1985 marked their first vintage making kosher wine in California, and in 2005, the Royal Wine Company built a state- of-the-art winery in Oxnard that is now home to Herzog Wine Cellars and its acclaimed new American restaurant, Tierra Sur. Here they make a portfolio that ranges from the entry-level Baron Herzog wines, to the ultra-premium Herzog Single Vineyard series. Despite their successes, it would be uncharacteristic for the Herzog family to stop exploring and pushing forward. "We realized that the mid-point of our market was missing," explained Joseph Herzog, "We wanted something that could fill that gap between our current offerings and reach a wider audience." A Love Letter to California's Diverse Vineyard Sites What started as a smart but fairly unromantic business decision quickly took a creative turn, morphing into a sort of love letter to the diversity of California's vineyard sites. "When our team started talking about the concept, we kept circling around the ideas of the "Wandering Winemaker" or "Seasons," then someone said "Variations" and we all just stopped for a minute; we had found something that encapsulated what we really wanted to achieve," noted Herzog. "In effect, we've created a Cabernet Sauvignon that really speaks to the versatility of the varietal, and the important role the vineyards of California play in making this varietal sing." This project gets even more nuanced when we start to talk about the vine- yards they source from. Hurliman, who started his career at Alban Vineyards in 1990 and joined the Herzog team in 1998, has a veritable arsenal of vine- yard sites around the state of California from which he can cull fruit. "Since we are working to represent variations of Inside the barrel room at Herzog Family Cellars.