Haber Family Vineyards

This week, we caught up with Ron Haber of Haber Family Vineyards. Ron and his wife Sue-Marie recently released their first vintage of Haber Family Vineyards wines – a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from Diamond Mountain. In the future, they will release wine from their Howell Mountain estate. We tried the first release of the 2006 Diamond Mountain Cabernet and were very impressed.

Why did you and Sue-Marie decide to get into the wine business?

Sue-Marie and I wanted to keep active in our future retirement life. One of our passions was the enjoyment of food and wine. After many vacation trips to the Napa Valley, talking with vintners and friends we knew there, we felt that starting a vineyard project could fulfill our passion and also allow us to live in the Napa Valley.

Did you know that Howell Mountain was where you wanted to plant your vineyard from the beginning or did the property find you?

We both loved Napa Valley Mountain wines. We also wanted land that had not been previously planted. We had tasted through the various Cabernet AVA’s and found Howell Mountain wines to be our favorite. The property actually came to us while we were on an airplane. The property was just going to go on the market that day! We made an offer, site unseen, contingent on thoroughly checking the ability of the land to meet our needs. Therefore, we feel that the site found us 100%!

Why did you start with a cabernet from Diamond Mountain?

We planted our site in 2004. We decided that we wanted the Haber Family Vineyards brand on the market sooner that the minimum of six years it takes from planting to having a wine to sell. We found wonderful fruit to buy on Diamond Mountain. The Diamond Mountain fruit allowed us to keep to our love of mountain fruit, add some diversity, and give us the superior quality we were looking for. Diamond Mountain has a pedigree of producing renowned Napa Cabernets. We were thrilled to include this wine as part of our Haber Family Vineyards.

When will your first release of Howell Mountain Cabernet be?

Our first release is our 2006 Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. We have only 50 cases of 2007 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon in the bottle for release in 2010.

What characteristics do you think are unique about your Howell Mountain Vineyard?

The site is unique due to the combination of red volcanic soil and steep, sloped west facing (for great sunlight) land with excellent drainage and is at a high altitude. The combination is perfect together for growing great Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon.

Do you plan on releasing other varietals in the future or are you strictly focusing on Cabernet?

Our first goal is to successfully bring to market our two Haber Family Vineyards Cabernets. If we are successful, we have definitely talked about adding a white wine that would have to live up to the same standards that we are setting for our reds.

Where are your wines available?

Since our production of both Diamond and Howell Mountain Cabernets will be under 400 cases each, we worked very hard to establish a very personal website to market our wines directly to the consumer through our mailing list and the web. We are also working on distribution in NY and NJ and are looking at only one or two more select states to work with distribution. We have successfully placed the wine in a number of very highly rated restaurants in NY and NJ and are working to have our wines with a limited number of key retailers on both coasts.

You can learn more about Haber Family Vineyards online at www.haberfamilyvineyards.com.