2014 Have Fritz Will Travel
Alexander Valley, Sonoma, California
The 2014 growing season in Sonoma was easy going. A mild winter and spring made sure the season started early with some vineyards being ahead by almost three weeks compared to averages. In early summer our winemaker Leo Hansen felt everything might come in all at once this year due to the early start and the plentiful weather. I remember his Chardonnay harvest being quite intense!
The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon will differ from our 2013 in a couple ways. The level of extraction is less for one. 2013 was a monster vintage in all senses. The wood was intense as were the tannins, acidity and overall extract. Our 2013 will require some
serious nap time to come around to be able to sit at the dinner table without restraints. Our 2014 is still broad shouldered but has much more initial charm and is much better behaved. The 2014 is open now and totally giving, I don’t feel it will ever close up…it’ll just give and give and give…It’s a giver. The acids and tannins move in one fluid motion over the tongue, totally team players. This is like everyone throwing their keys into the bowl and being totally down. Your mouth is going to love this.
This year’s name stems from the Robert A. Heinlein novel Have Space Suit Will Travel, and ultimately is a label shout to Fritz Stuhlmuller. The idea for Kitten Swish had been burrowing tunnels in my mind for years and I finally decided it was do or die time…go to space or don’t. I wanted to start a micro-negociant wine company and Fritz felt like the best guy to ask…we had already shot guns together…he owned a winery…we witnessed a sunrise that no one woke up for…and…Leo Hansen is the winemaker…things felt good…I felt we were close. Without Fritz and Leo and my partner Mark Kuspira (I’m sorry about the camera, but it did come back.) Kitten Swish would have been a very lonely kitten… …and without any swish.
It was over a swath of Heineken; several metal boxes of ammunition, one antique shot gun previously only used by old dudes…and a hillside (despite our best efforts the hillside barely knew we were there) where this deal between Fritz and I came together. Discussions done, and not without the proper interruptive bursts of, “I can’t hear you?!” we made our way down the hill and went for dinner.
I snapped a picture in the late evening of a tricycle decorating Fritz’s house. I remember taking this picture and thinking this is the beginning of Kitten Swish…and it was. This tricycle years later and after things bloomed comes to symbolize my relationship with Fritz and how he gave me the mobility and freedom to run through my tunnels and start a wine label. To Fritz.
It was an idea
You said yes
We shot rifles
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