What would you choose if you have a successful career in computer graphic animation and want to make wine too? Thane Hawkins took a chance and founded Hawkins Cellars.
After a successful career in the animation industry- working on such successful films as Shrek, Monster's Inc, and ANTZ- Thane decided it was time for a change.
Hawkins Cellars Winery Story
It didn't happen overnight. During a six month leave of absence, Thane relocated to Oregon. At first, he began making wine out of his garage, and while results were mixed, his passion for winemaking grew.
He set out to get hands-on experience by enrolling in Chemeketa College's viticulture program and working harvest at Wine By Joe. In 2007, Methven Family Vineyards hired Thane to be their assistant winemaker. While working for Methven, he had an opportunity to produce a small batch of his own wine. And thus, Hawkins Cellars was born.
In the spring of 2011, Hawkins Cellars opened a tasting room in downtown Dundee in Willamette Valley of Oregon. The following year Thane Hawkins quits his job in computer graphic animation to give it all to winemaking.
In 2013 Hawkins Cellars planted Pinot Noir on Underwood Mountain and established Cloud Cap vineyard. To mark their tenth anniversary, they opened a second tasting room at this estate location in 2017. The same year Travel + Leisure magazine recognized Hawkins Cellars as Top Rated winery in the Pacific Northwest.
Winemaking
Thane's winemaking is inspired by Alsace of France. It's not by accident; he picked Underwood Mountain in the Columbia Gorge region as the estate location. It's a cool growing region similar in climate to Alsace, a wine region on the border of France and Germany, known for highly aromatic white wines.
Hawkin Cellars sources its fruit from Oregon's northern Willamette Valley for its Pinot Noir, to higher elevation sites in the Columbia Gorge and Yakima Valley for aromatic whites, and Red Mountain for bold red wines in eastern Washington.
In winemaking, Thane strives to follow natural and low intervention winemaking practices, using only organic nutrients and native fermentation whenever possible, and little to no sulfide.
We had a chance to interview Thane and his partner Deb Michelsen and Alex Hedges Distribution/Tasting room manager. For more insights into Hawkins Cellars and their wines, watch the video!
Interviewing Hawkins Cellars Team and Tasting Wine
Hawkins Cellars Wines
Hawkins Cellars produce a diverse range of wines from crisp whites and bubbles, to Pinot Noir and bold reds. On our visit to the winery, a few wines caught our attention: 2018 TruNorth White, 2015 Pinot Noir Yamhill-Carlton AVA, and 2016 Caldera Red.
2018 TruNorth is a blend of 60% Pinot Gris, 40% Gewurztraminer. The fruit for this wine came from Flume & Energaia Vineyards on Underwood Mountain in Columbia Gorge AVA.
It's a bit more intense on the nose than the palate, with the aroma of apple, grass, almond cookie, dried mango, and flavors of a lemon drop with orange rind. Overall, it's a light-hearted dry wine that you can take with you to the beach and pair with a cheese platter.
2015 Pinot Noir Yamhill Carlton AVA grapes come from one of our favorite areas of Willamette Valley of Oregon.
Just as we expected from the 2015 vintage, there's ripe dark fruit in aromas and flavors. It's a consistent wine with black cherry, dried red fruit, a hint of forest floor and smoke, and licorice aftertaste.
It's a great value at $40 in comparison to other producers of this region.
2016 Caldera Red is a blend of 35% Mourvèdre, 34% Syrah, 28% Grenache, and 3% Viognier. It definitely speaks French because it's a typical blend from the Rhone region of Southern France. Grapes for Caldera came from prized Red Mountain and Yakima Valley AVAs.
Note that Viognier is a white grape. It's a hallmark of Rhone wines where it's sometimes added to Syrah wines for color stabilization and added complexity.
Caldera Red has aromas of cherry, raspberry, plum, and a touch of smoke. On the palate, we tasted chocolate-dipped plums and cherries.
It's a full-bodied wine with a fruit-forward profile and grainy tannin. We would designate it to a crowd-pleasing category and the wine to pair with grilled burger and steak.
We tasted wines made by former scientists, engineers, lawyers, doctors, and apple farmers but never animators. We take our hat off to everyone like Thane Hawkins, who trade successful, established careers for 18-hour workdays, sleepless nights, freezing mornings, and great wines.