Give the Governor a Harumph!
(Yep, that’s the real) Mel Brooks, Blazing Saddles

kimberly-hatcher

Before we even had a name, we had bottled our first wine and were anxious to see how it would stack up. So we gathered some friends from the wine biz and held two blind tastings. Facing wines in the $125-$250 range, we knew our wine was up against some serious competition. So when we finished first in one tasting and second in the other, we were surprised and anxious. We knew we had something special. Now we needed a name.

Fast forward a couple months. We had tossed around a boatload of names, but nothing stuck. Then, while at a dinner party in St. Helena, our host and friend, James Leahy, said something spectacular…something that stuck: “Give the Governor a HARUMPH!”

It was like home…a line from Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles. We took one quick look at each other, and we knew we had our name. Born out of our shared appreciation for the comedy of Mel Brooks and some random movie quote at a dinner party, our wine got its name. HARUMPH. While we’ve got great taste in wine, our taste in movies is undeniably awesome.

Since that night at the dinner party, we’ve had the good fortune to speak with Mel Brooks on several occasions and have even tasted him on our wine. He is quite the oenophile, and he loved our wine. Harumph…it’s perfect.

For nearly twenty years, Scotti has made a career out of his passion for wine. From teaching and tasting to production and promotion, he loves everything about wine and is always thirsty to learn more. With his gregarious personality and penchant for all things fine, Scotti is eager to share his knowledge and experience with people just getting into wine, as well as with collectors who know their way around an extensive cellar. Working in restaurants to pay his way through college, Scotti had an epiphany when his mentor first gave him a taste of a 1982 Chateau Leoville Las Cases. Incredible! Not only was it the beginning of a true fascination with and appreciation for wine, it was also the turning point in his career. Moving up and making a name for himself, Scotti became Wine Director at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse in Houston, Texas where he developed the wine program and earned a Best Sommelier award from Food and Wine Magazine in 2000. In 2004, his talent in both sales and hospitality brought him to Napa Valley to join Revana Family Vineyard as host to their top clients. From there, Scotti went on to Crocker & Starr Wines and Fisher Vineyards to develop and maintain their hospitality programs. In 2012, Scotti branched out on his own to start Stark Advantage. Whether developing partnerships with local wineries or creating custom itineraries for wine country visitors, Scotti is always looking for new ways to show off Napa Valley and connect great people to great wines. In his ten years of hosting people in Napa, Scotti has created a network of awesome people both locally and globally. If there is anything you need in Napa, Scotti can connect you. To introduce someone to great wine is, to Scotti, pure joy. So it’s with great pleasure that he embarks on this adventure with his friend and partner in this monkey business to introduce you to Harumph.

After a decade of serving as a San Francisco firefighter Kimberly explored her passion for winemaking with the 2009 vintage. Anticipating the next chapter in her life she sought out and found the embrace of the winemaking community. Dedication and persistence allowed her to juggle a full time career within the fire department while at the same time developing her talents in the cellar. Trading shifts at the firehouse and consolidating vacation time for the harvest season provided the time needed to walk vineyards and work in concert with some of the most celebrated growers in both Napa and Sonoma. Working closely with farmers who understand the winemaking side of vineyard management and don’t mind when she walks the rows day after day, Kimberly lives by the old saying from grower Kent Ritchie “The best wine starts with soil imprinted with the winemakers shadow”.