A to Z Wineworks

A to Z Wineworks is a partnership of two winemaking families. William Hatcher developed and managed Domaine Drouhin Oregon from its conception in 1987 until the Spring of 2001. His wife Debra was active in the venture as well. Many years ago, she also worked with David Lett at The Eyrie Vineyards.

Sam Tannahill was the winemaker at Archery Summit from 1995 until Spring 2002. Before that he worked at Domaine l’Arlot in Nuits St. Georges. Sam’s wife, Cheryl Francis was Chehalem’s winemaker from 1996 through 2003 after stints in Burgundy and New Zealand. Camas Goble joined the company in May, 2004 and, in light of her accomplishments, became a minority partner in 2005.

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More About A to Z Wineworks

The partnership blends unique skills. Bill brings an extensive background in strategy and finance to the company while Deb has successfully spearheaded their design, marketing and promotion. Sam and Cheryl have combined surpassing creativity and technical experience, allowing A to Z to maintain the same quality at 40,000 cases as with the first release of 2,500 that earned A to Z Food & Wine Magazine’s award for the best American Pinot Noir under $20. Meanwhile Camas’ organizational skills have made day-to-day operations smooth, allowing the other partners to focus on their areas of expertise.

Founded three years ago, the company has quickly became Oregon’s fastest growing winery. The business model is simple: to produce and market Oregon’s best wine values by eliminating unproductive fixed investment and unnecessary overhead.

Originally, A to Z sourced and blended excess wines from other Oregon producers. Although the company continues to purchase wine, they have gradually decreased their dependence on the variability of those supplies in favor of long-term grape agreements from Hood River through the Willamette Valley and south to Medford. While the contracts themselves ensure continuous sources of fruit, the 350 mile geographic dispersion serves as a hedge against a weather calamity in any particular region.

The idea behind A to Z is that these four friends can seek out individual lots of good quality finished wines, blend them skillfully to meld their individual characters, and then offer consumers a new wine at a value price that is—in essence—greater than the sum of its parts.

“ We’re offering a delicious low-priced product that will help everybody,” says Deb. “The wineries are going to win because they can sell us what doesn’t make their cut so they can focus on their brand quality; the consumer is going to win because we can raise the quality of ‘what’s left over’ and give them higher quality wine at a good value; Oregon wins because eventually everybody moves up the price ladder because the wine is so seductive; and we win because this is our home, this is our life, this is what we do!”

“ The pendulum has really swung in Oregon toward single-vineyard wines,” says Cheryl. “We’re not competing with that. We’re not trying to be the ‘Two Buck Chuck’ of Oregon Pinot either. We do want people to use A to Z as an entré to Oregon Pinot noir, and other varietals as well. What we’re trying to do is get everybody to know that Oregon wine is great!”

The Power of the Blend

The quality of the blend is all important to the success of A to Z Wineworks, so finding the right qualities in component wines is critical.

Most Oregon Pinot noir producers focus on making either single-vineyard designated wines or top-flight reserve blends that meet a certain stylistic form, both of which usually command premium prices.
But in order to sustain the quality of their brands, wineries have to adhere to very strict standards in the character of the different wine lots that go into their bottles.

Sometimes, some lots don’t measure up. Perhaps one lot has weaker color, another more grainy tannins; perhaps one has heavier black fruit, another may overemphasize strawberry notes. From the “home” winemaker’s point of view, lots like these have weaknesses that make them unsuitable for their label, even though the wine is otherwise perfectly good—it just doesn’t meet the profile they’re trying to achieve.

Enter A to Z. From the négociant’s point of view, each of these lots represents a potential value-added component of the blend they will create and bring to market.

“ What we try to do is start with a large block that’s representative of the quality we want and of the vintage,” explains Bill. “Then we start working in a kind of inverted pyramid to add lots that elevate the whole.”

This can be a difficult and exacting process—there is no formula for doing it right.

“ We once tasted all the lots from one winery,” recalls Deb, “and it was clear that one lot was the best, so intuitively you’d think putting that lot in the mix was the right thing to do. But when we did our sample blends, it was another lot that worked best when added to our base wine.”

Luckily, A to Z can rely on the combined experience of the partners to parse the character of the wines available to buy. Sam Tannahill has experience in Burgundy and was winemaker at Archery Summit; Cheryl Francis was co-winemaker at Chehalem; Bill Hatcher spent 13 years as managing director of Domaine Drouhin Oregon; Deb Hatcher has been involved in the Oregon wine world for 18 years. Together, these veterans create the blends for A to Z.

Refining those blends with needed components is a constant process right up until bottling, as Bill explains. “Cheryl might say ‘we need a little more sweetness,’ or Sam might want a bit more tannic structure—so we go out and look around to see who is making that kind of wine and see if we can buy some to add to our blend.”

And even though the process of achieving the best blend may sometimes seem casual—some sample blending is literally done at the kitchen sink—the reality is that tasting and testing is rigorous and meticulous.

Quality and Consistency Are Critical

Once the taste and texture—the organoleptic character—of the blend is determined, “running the numbers” to determine each lot’s composition is vital. “These lots are made in all different places in all different conditions by all different people,” says Deb. “Even though they are finished wines, they are finished with different yeasts and different balances; the potential for disaster is huge.”

“ We have to make sure the wines are stable,” agrees Cheryl, “and that together they will make a stable product. We don’t want customers saying five years from now ‘I didn’t remember A to Z made sparkling wine!’”

And they don’t want customers to experience variations in bottle quality. “The taste of A to Z from the first pallet shipped will not be different from the taste of the last pallet,” says Cheryl.

To help maintain their quality and consistency, they do not continue to add new lots to a previous base just because new lots become available. When they are out of the 2002 A to Z Pinot gris, for instance, they will not go back and blend some more just so they can release more A to Z bottles.

“ People say to us ‘If you’re going to run out of Pinot gris, why don’t you go out and source some more?’ The answer is: ‘Because we’ve made our Pinot gris for this vintage!’” explains Bill.