This past week, James Suckling was in town. From what I hear, he tasted over 800 Oregon wines, attended several dinners, and even played some tennis with Bryan from Hazelfern Cellars. Here are some highlights from his report I found fascinating.
- making consistently top-notch pinot noir, with a smaller but potentially even more impressive selection of chardonnay.
- But as a varietal sensitive to both terroir and winemaking, pinot noir expresses a unique personality based on a combination of differences in soil, elevation and microclimate, as well as clone, rootstock and vine age.
- Fewer producers in Oregon focus on chardonnay, but those that do, such as 00 Wines, are making incredible whites.
- Chardonnay comprised only 17 percent of our tastings, compared with two-thirds pinot noir, but out of our top 30 wines, 11 were chardonnay – more than double the average proportion.
- We also tasted some fresh whites from pinot gris, but although Oregon’s signature white in the past, these failed to impress at just under 90 points on average. We tasted some zesty rieslings too at an average of just under 91 points, but saw more potential and consistency in Oregon’s sparkling wines. With their bright acidity, wines such as Domaine Serene Dundee Hills Evenstad Reserve Brut NV showed more freshness, minerality and refinement compared with Californian sparkling wines.
- we hope that more Oregon producers can eventually unlock the potential for great chardonnay.
It made my heart sparkle to read Oregon Sparkling outshining California!
If you are into scores and are curious about the Top Ten Wines in James Suckling’s Report, here they are:
- ANTICA TERRA PINOT NOIR EOLA-AMITY HILLS ANTIKYTHERA 2018 – 99
- CRISTOM PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY EOLA-AMITY HILLS JESSIE VINEYARD 2018 – 99
- 00 WINES CHARDONNAY WILLAMETTE VALLEY EOLA-AMITY HILLS FREYA HERMANN CUVÉE 2018 – 98
- ANTICA TERRA PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY BOTANICA 2018 – 98
- ANTICA TERRA PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY CERAS 2018 – 98
- 00 WINES CHARDONNAY CHEHALEM MOUNTAINS KATHRYN HERMANN CUVÉE 2018 – 97
- 00 WINES CHARDONNAY WILLAMETTE VALLEY EOLA-AMITY HILLS RICHARD HERMANN CUVÉE 2018 – 97
- 00 WINES PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY EOLA-AMITY HILLS RICHARD HERMANN CUVÉE 2018 – 97
- ANTICA TERRA CHARDONNAY WILLAMETTE VALLEY AEQUORIN 2018 – 97
- ANTICA TERRA PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY OBELIN 2018 – 97
There was also a nice dinner at the Troon Wine Bar in Mac with some winemakers. One of the winemakers, Bryan Laing from Hazelfern, sat next to James Sucking for dinner. I can only imagine the contents of the conversation and heard from a reliable source that Bryan and James played tennis ended up playing tennis.
During Hazelfern’s pickup party on Sunday, I asked Bryan if the tennis match was true, and he got the biggest of grins on his face. Bryan poured one of their Chards for James, and the response was, “We need to taste your wines!” Somehow the subject of tennis came up, and Bryan mentioned he played. Last Friday, they played a doubles game and talked Hazelfern Chardonnay the whole match. It is super exciting to hear the story and see a connection made between James Sucking and Hazelfern. I am sure getting James’s attention is crazily complicated, but now Hazelfern has a memory forever planted. Fingers crossed that we will see Hazelfern in the top eleven list of James Suckling’s Oregon report next year because Hazelfern seriously cranks it up to eleven on multiple fronts!
Back in February, I reached out to Bryan and Laura at Hazelfern to see if they were interested in being on the Podcast. They were getting ready to do a couple of family events and head out to Charleston for a food and wine event, but they were interested. So we set a date for about a month out, and we were set! There was a minor issue, though. It was too much time.
When I say it was too much time, I had too much time on my hands to prepare and think. So before I reached out, I thought it would be fun to do a segment on the Podcast that mimicked the Newly Wed Game. If you don’t know, the Newly Wed Game aired from 1966-to 1974, and I just realized all I watched were reruns. So anyway, the basic premise is to see how much married couples know about each other.
Once I had the interview date in concrete, I ran the Newly Wed Game idea to a few close friends. Everyone loved it! I was in as well! A couple of weeks later, I doubted myself. I seriously flipped flopped back and forth for weeks on the segment. It felt fun, but it also felt a bit like clickbait. The Internet is all about clickbait. I don’t do clickbait content. I shouldn’t do it. Time, I tell you, is my arch-nemesis.
On the day of the interview, as I set up the mics and cameras, I mention the segment to Bryan and Laura. I let the fate of the segment rest in their hands. They were all in! The interview went great, and the segment felt like it turned out pretty good. It wasn’t awful by any means, but it also didn’t feel like a Grand Slam either.
As with everyone on the Podcast, I give them 100% editorial control. Before I sent the draft to Bryan and Laura, I thought I should cut the Newly Wed segment out of the full video but have an unlisted clip that will only live as a link within the Weinnotes Newsletter community. After Bryan and Laura saw the draft, they liked the segment and changed my mind to keep it in the full interview.
Transcription of Bryan and Laura from Hazelfern
A.J.: Brian and Laura from Hazel Fern sellers in Newburg, Oregon are known for their fun vibe, either Instagram account and in real life, there are no for some killer Pinot noir and Chardonnay. During our conversation, we talk about family roots in South Carolina. What is like sharing the same birthday, the fun marketing behind a couple of wine auctions, Hazel from sparks.
A.J.: And what it’s like juggling a winery being parents while trying to find some peace and quiet to name a few topics. Please enjoy this conversation with Brian and Laura from Hazel for an end, please. Don’t forget to hit that like and subscribe button. Thank you. So. Brian, Laura, thank you so much for meeting me today.
A.J.: It’s a, it’s always a pleasure to come out here and like, thank you. I mean, I’m sure you got a lot of things on your plate, so thanks for taking the time. Yeah. Thanks for, thanks for making
Bryan from Hazelfern: the Trek out and having us. Yeah, most definitely.
Laura from Hazelfern: I can’t wait to find out what. Well, I think
A.J.: in our conversation, it will be, it will be fun.
A.J.: It will be fun. But, uh, before we begin, shall I pour us a little bit of wine? Yeah. All right. So I always come out with a little bit of a blind to kind of start everything off. You don’t have to, uh, analyze it too hard. You don’t have to do a whole bunch. Just enjoy. And have a wine B uh, you know, and an accent to the conversation.
A.J.: So again, it’s up to you, if you want to say
Laura from Hazelfern: anything, or I think he brought this cause, you know, I like sparkling.
A.J.: Yes. Yes. I mean, if I brought anything other than sparkling, I might be in trouble. You might be. Yeah, that’s perfect. Yeah.
Laura from Hazelfern: I was just a guest with, this
A.J.: is if you want to, you can, it’s totally up to you.
A.J.: There’s a zero pressure, a
Laura from Hazelfern: hundred percent.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Okay,
Bryan from Hazelfern: so smart. Sparkling Rosa.
A.J.: That’s perfect. So y’all just got back from Charleston at the wine and food event. Yeah. Um, a couple of weeks ago, it’s at the Oregon Chardonnay celebration. And, you know, we were talking about sparkling and, um, Andrew Davis, you know, was talking about, you know, Oregon being the, um, up and coming region for, um, for sparkling.
A.J.: Yeah. And I asked the question, I’m like, how do we get the, the word out to the bigger wine community about Oregon being, you know, sparkling. And he’s like, you know, writers have got to write about it. We got to get the bottles out of Oregon. So my question to you is how did you end up in Charleston? And in South Carolina, getting bottles out of Oregon, into, you know, different, a different demographic, a different region.
A.J.: Yeah.
Laura from Hazelfern: Have you been to Charleston
A.J.: before? When I was super,
Laura from Hazelfern: super young. Okay. Um, last year nearly was my first year in Charleston and it is one of the most incredible. Just for food and wine city is that I’ve been to so much history. Um, the buildings are incredible. That’s not answering your question. I realized go for it for what an incredible, incredible place it is.
Laura from Hazelfern: And so welcoming of Oregon wines overall. So, uh, I dunno if you want to talk a little bit Brian night, for the most part, we don’t distribute any wines. We’re basically here in Oregon and phew, come and collect from assets here in the. Except for Charleston, South Carolina. Um, and this sort of started because admittedly, uh, we have some family over there.
Laura from Hazelfern: So how can we spend more time over there? We fell in love with Charleston and kind of that whole South Carolina community. And that’s really kind of how it accidentally happened.
A.J.: I think that’s a great answer. I mean, spend more time with family is
Laura from Hazelfern: always great. Yeah. So Brian has some family that, so part of our story of changing our whole lives and, um, after that, uh, unexpected death in our family, Brian’s brother kinda had the same outlook on life and they moved from Boston to the very Southern tip of North Carolina.
Laura from Hazelfern: And so they’re right on the beach and they bought a sandwich shop coffee shop and. We go and spend some time over there and get to bring our love language, which is wine.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And it’s also, you know, we, we have, we’ve been fortunate here in the winery to build a, you know, a big base of followers of our wine.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And a lot of those people were from the Carolina. So we kind of look at like where around the country to people. You know, not only Pinot noir from the Atlanta valley and Chardonnay from the lemme valley, but you know, where are the, where are the Hazel Fern fans out there? And so it just happened to be a big, you know, demographic down there in the Carolinas that combined with family.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And then. Food food is everything for us. Like that’s how we, that’s how we first fell in love with wine. It’s, you know, it’s something that’s on a dinner table it’s meant to be shared. And so we wanted, we, you know, when we think about putting our wines in a few key spots, like we want to be in foodie type cities.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so Charleston Greenville, South Carolina really fit that bill. And so we’re, we’re stoked to be there. That’s awesome.
A.J.: Yeah. Yeah. Wow.
Laura from Hazelfern: Yeah. So that’s why we go to.
A.J.: Yeah, I think that’s a great reason. Did you send like a bunch of wine with you? I mean, did you like travel in the car or how would, how did you get all your wine there?
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah, we have, uh, so our wines, that’s the ones they were at wines distributed down there. So we have a distributor partner and has a bunch of our wine in their warehouse down there. And so we, we combination of that and then we send some special things just for the dinner. So we, so Charleston, wine and food.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Uh, we did a couple events for that festival. It was back after a couple of years off of COVID and we were super fortunate. We were asked to do one of the highlight winemaker dinners this year. And so partnered up with, uh, Delaney oyster house, which is an amazing restaurant in Charleston and a. Shamiel who is the head chef?
Bryan from Hazelfern: There actually brought out one of his buddies from Napa and the two of them cooked a whole meal around our wines. And so they actually went through our whole portfolio and picked which wines that kind of inspired them and what they wanted to pair the dinner with. And, uh, they picked six different wines and then that’s kind of how it came to be.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so, uh, we, we shipped some wine out there. We ran into some weather, getting the wine out there and got stuck in Wyoming for a little while. But, uh, it made it out there and we had a great time.
A.J.: That is amazing. I saw pictures and videos and just looked, I was still
Bryan from Hazelfern: jealous. Yeah, it was amazing. Yeah. Yeah.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And we did that and we did an event called penal envy, which was a complete Pinot noir celebration. And so it was awesome to kind of be there with a few other Willamette valley winemakers kind of holding it down and repping it for the valley. That was nice. And it was like, you know, of course, a lot of people from California there.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so it was, it was fine to kind of be on the team. That’s beautiful.
A.J.: That’s awesome. I’m glad you were able to
Laura from Hazelfern: do that. Yeah, we’re I mean, we have some big ideas, hopefully that we can help bring back here. Some of the value that we can make a bigger presence from a peanut and water standpoint with all of our friends from here from the valley next
A.J.: year.
A.J.: I can’t wait to hear what, uh, what’s in the works. Yeah. Yeah.
Laura from Hazelfern: It’s going to be fun. So, yeah, Charleston’s a great, great place. I keep joking people. I should be employed by. Charleston, because I, all I do is talk about Charleston in the tasting room, but it’s a cool place. Interesting.
A.J.: Yeah. Oh, coming back here to Oregon, uh, when you taste here, you know, you’re in the barn and I’ve heard, you know, stories about the barn, you know, that, um, the previous owner spent like three years building it, you know, for horses, but never used it.
A.J.: How did you even hear about the barn? Like how did it even come up on you?
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah. Do you want to, you want to kind of share the story from the beginning and how it led us here? Yeah.
Laura from Hazelfern: So, um, Brian, they started making wine in 2006 in our basement in Northeast Portland. Um, kind of in partnership, our, I don’t know how you would describe it.
Laura from Hazelfern: Uh, pressuring very kind pressuring from Brian’s aunt and uncle who are, um, about 20 years older than our. And, um, started making wine, fell in love with it. This is sort of our pipe dream. That one day we would do this full time. Um, but we had corporate jobs and we had kids and a family and a mortgage. And, um, so fast forward time went on, we were still making wine.
Laura from Hazelfern: Um, and then in 2014, our cousin, Annie, she was 27 at the time. And it’s actually the anniversary of her passing away was actually just two days ago. Um, she had beat cancer kind of really understood that life is short. So she moved to Hawaii to pursue her dream of working for a farm there in Hawaii. She was setting up a farmer’s market and those white tents.
Laura from Hazelfern: So on her first day on the job and a truck went through her tent and we were on a hike that day when we got that call and we just decided, what were you waiting for? And. So kind of there’s little parts of the story where for years we’d been sending kind of, because this was our pipe dream properties back and forth from, you know, to one another, and Brian would send things.
Laura from Hazelfern: I joke that had like a moat, you know, you know, thousands of acres, things that were not attainable for us. And. So when Andy passed away, all of a sudden the properties we were sending to each other became really realistic. Right. And, um, we, I happened to ponder upon this property and I sent it to Brian while he was at work.
Laura from Hazelfern: I was home with our little ones and, uh, he was like, let’s go see it. And we’d been sharing these properties back and forth and we literally bought it cited on scene. We’re like this.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah. I mean, we did see the site before we bought it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A.J.: Well, yeah. I figured that.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah, we w but it was, it was really the barn.
Bryan from Hazelfern: So like we saw the pictures of the barn on the, on the listing. And the first time we ever came out here, walked into that barn before we ever even came into the house. And we were like, this is it. Like, this is where we want to make wine. This is where we want to share wine. Uh, it was just such a unique space.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And I mean, they did a beautiful job building. And I mean, I knew from like a vineyard standpoint, there’s some incredible vineyards right here on the hill. So I knew we were in a good spot to plant a small vineyard and it was really just that barn. Again, we saw the barn and we were like, that’s it like, let’s go, let’s make Hazel from.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so let’s do it right here in this barn. And then we came into the house, um, and sat down and I think Laura, Laura cried. Cause I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s amazing. We love the house, but it is like this, an old farm house, you know, and needed some work and things like that. But again, our, our dream, we were here.
Bryan from Hazelfern: To bring Hazel for in the life and to share a wine. And so it was really like the moment we walked into that bar and we were like, this is so different. Like, let’s do it.
A.J.: Well, you’ve been doing it for a while now. I mean, how does it feel to like, be living your dream?
Laura from Hazelfern: That’s so funny. I hit a lot of people ask that question and we, I think that having that conversation always like helps bring it into perspective because.
Laura from Hazelfern: Brian and I have the personality like, oh, we need to get out. We need to do this today. We need to be out in the vineyard. And it’s almost like you think of all the things you need to do versus like, oh my gosh. But we do. I mean, this year, probably the last two years, um, candidly, we were like pinching ourselves that we get to do this every day.
Laura from Hazelfern: Right. And it is hard work, but worth everything. When we were traveling, we’re like, we get to. For a living like,
Bryan from Hazelfern: yeah. And they know that we created it from nothing, which is really, really cool. It’s like a, it’s like a child. It’s like our third child and we love it and like our kids. Right. And, uh, it’s, I mean, it really is, like Laura said, it’s one of those things where you just have to pinch yourself and you’re not really aware of it in the moment, because again, every day we’re just working on getting better, making better ones.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Uh, building the brand, getting it out to more people. And so when you’re in it every day, you know, you kind of forget to look back and think what you created, but we’re, I mean, we’re super, super fortunate that has affirms where it’s at, that the people have supported it in such a way. And then we get to do it full time.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Like it’s, it really is a lot of fun and it’s rewarding because it is like this child that we raise it’s. It’s cool to see it. Yeah.
Laura from Hazelfern: It’s cool to hear that. Interactions with like Hazel for and outside of here too. That’s really where I pinch myself. Like, we’ll meet people like we were in Charleston. Like we’ve been following you guys for years and like, we’ve had all your wines.
Laura from Hazelfern: It’s so great to meet you. And you’re like, oh my gosh, that’s so flattering. Like, and it’s so cool to see it. Just go out into the world and living its own life in a way. Yeah.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And people making it their own. And then that’s, I mean, that’s what we, that was the whole spirit of. Hazel Fern was like, like when I talk about it’s like food on the table, like Wyness something that connects people from all around the world.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so it is cool to see. Go out there and the world and have people grab Hazel Fern and bring it to life on their own, through different forums online or through Instagram or, you know, around their dinner table. Like I love, you know, Thanksgiving time. It’s so awesome because it’s so fun to see people sharing those wines and, and what it means to them.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Right. And it’s cool. Cause again, it’s like our it’s like this child has kind of grown up. And we’ve sent it off to college and now it’s like, you, you hope it’s doing well in the world. That’s fun to see it, like interacting with people in a way that the people want to absorb it and interact with it.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Right. Exactly.
A.J.: You know, and the brand that you’re building, it’s, there’s like a coolness factor to it. There’s a unity between the two of you, um, Ballantine. Yeah, I posted a picture and, you know, I would love a little bit of the backstory behind it. Right. So, Brian, you know, you were looking into Laura’s eyes, you had a microphone
Bryan from Hazelfern: and I was like, what was the picture?
Bryan from Hazelfern: I
A.J.: know. Oh yeah. You know, so I don’t have the picture handy, but like what you all convey online? It’s like you two are just two peas in a pod and happy and wonderful. And just like you are living your dream, you’re having a blast. But like, if, you know, like I, I assume one of your daughters was taking the picture or, you know what I mean?
A.J.: Do you have any backstory for that picture?
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah, so, so the picture is of us sitting in the barn and there’s a couple of barrels there and we’re like singing into a microphone. And that, that was actually, if you go to Hazel front deck, Uh, we have some different music videos that were shot in the barn and that that photo was taken during those like music video shoots.
Bryan from Hazelfern: So it was a, we, we had like a whole music video crew. I don’t know what you call them. Like videography crew, like professional crew from Portland’s.
Laura from Hazelfern: Uh, the acoustics in the barn are incredible. So somehow this opportunity came along and they’re like, can we shoot this video in your barn? And we were like, sure, why not?
Laura from Hazelfern: Brian are there just as like, You’re an audience and there’s photographers and they’re like, Hey, why don’t you guys jump up there on the, and take a picture? And it was so like, it was like a super silly picture, but it was, I think what you got out of it is totally
Bryan from Hazelfern: us. And it’s funny goofing around between the sets.
Laura from Hazelfern: Yeah. And Brian was being, and it’s what was the song? That was,
Bryan from Hazelfern: I don’t know that we were lip-syncing to something. So it was nineties music.
Laura from Hazelfern: It was girls just want to have fun. Yeah. And Brian was like, belting it out. And it was just like, in that moment, it was just, that was pretty, I’d say authentic.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah. We were just being us. Yeah. Yeah. But. We were so excited to, to do the music. Cause that’s kind of like when we think about Hazel, from the things that are important to us, wine, food connection with other people, great stories. And then music is a big part of it. You know, whenever you, whenever you come to Hazel Fern in the barn, uh, we always play our music pretty loud and that’s on purpose.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Like we love. You know, good fun tunes. Like it really adds to the whole vibe and the experience. And, um, you know, we, when we used to eat at different restaurants and stuff in Portland, like I’m that guy in the restaurant always like, how much does I am? Like, what song is that? Because it’s just part of the whole experience, like with your friends and with the food and the wine, it’s a whole feeling.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so we, we always wanted to create a brand. That music was a part of. Uh, so that was, I mean, it was so fun to be able to bring artists out here, share wine and then have them like shoot videos was on.
A.J.: That is awesome. I’m gonna have to look on that. I’m gonna have to look on the website for the videos.
A.J.: Yeah, that’s super cool.
Laura from Hazelfern: Yeah. I would say, yeah, that’s that picture very accurately describes our relationship.
A.J.: Yes. No, I would totally agree. And speaking of your relationship, I know that you all met, you know, when you were at like a marketing agency or whatever, but like at what point while you all were dating, did you all figure out that you had the same birthday?
A.J.: Oh, we do before he dated.
Laura from Hazelfern: Okay. Yeah. So we had, no, I can’t. I hate, I’m trying to remember how that came about. Um, but we weren’t dating. I worked for another agency, but Brian and I had worked together and I think I had invited him to my birthday party
Bryan from Hazelfern: and I was like, well, that’s my birthday.
Laura from Hazelfern: Yeah. Having the same birthday.
Laura from Hazelfern: That’s the only thing I wish we could change Brian. Doesn’t like,
Bryan from Hazelfern: yeah, I, I prefer it because I don’t like all the attention, you know? And so for me, it’s nice because it’s like, oh, it’s a shared birthday. I don’t know if it’s like, have all these calls and stuff like that. But Laura hates it because she likes the attention on her birthday.
Laura from Hazelfern: I liked the calls. I liked the texts. I liked the messages, Brian like turns out. He liked turns his Facebook off turns his phone. He’s like, can you actually just respond for the two of us? Yeah. So I like my birthday and he does not. So we’ve discussed, people are like, oh, one of you should celebrate your half birthday.
Laura from Hazelfern: And we’re both too stubborn to move our birthday. So we just, we actually get two separate. We pick what each other, like our kids think. It’s so funny. That is funny. Yeah. I will always pick what I want, which is usually like a red velvet cake or like white cake, white icing type thing. Carrot cake or chocolate
Bryan from Hazelfern: chocolate carrot
A.J.: cake.
A.J.: Sounds
Bryan from Hazelfern: great. Yeah.
A.J.: Sounds good. Oh yeah.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Lots of bubbles for sure. Cream cheese frosting.
Laura from Hazelfern: And this is how it, this is how it goes on the birthday
A.J.: and the banter going back and forth is just perfect. Yeah. Yeah. You were talking about music and Hazel from, um, this past year when you did the Willamette valley.
A.J.: Peanut auction. Yeah. You did a new kids on the block kind of theme and process. I mean, the picture that you have for that is just, again, just perfect. But how did you come across? I mean, what did, were there any other, uh, possibilities in the running for the label name or it was like, no, it’s just new kids.
Laura from Hazelfern: So you were sitting where a lot of these ideas happen. Um, but I’ll let you take the,
Bryan from Hazelfern: yeah, that’s a, that’s a fun, that’s a fun question. So we, so, you know, we, I mean, we, we, we knew we wanted to do something really fun and sign. It was really Hazel from, um, you know, it’s, it’s a very, it’s a serious auction.
Bryan from Hazelfern: It’s very fun to go to it. It’s an amazing, amazing event. Um, and we knew we wanted to kind of. You know, there’s so many serious lots from like really amazing producers. And so we were really proud of the wine, but we wanted to have like a ton of fun, you know, with kind of the story of the wine. And so we are children of the eighties.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so we, we love, you know, music from the eighties. And so we had this, w we, in 2019, we had a completely farmed EML Springs vineyard for the first time, like the whole site on our own. And so we had all these like blocks that we had never worked with before. And so, uh, there’s a block of one 15 clone Pinot noir there.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And we just thought like, oh my gosh, this is so cool. Like it’s different than what we had ever done from that site. And so. W we wanted to make that the auction wine and those spines were planted in 1988. And so we wanted to do like a whole tribute to the 1980s. And so that’s how we ended up with a glamour shot of Laura, but it was kind of this idea that we were all born in the eighties, both the vineyard, the block that that came from and us.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so it was kind of a celebration of the eighties. Right. Uh, and, and there was another concept that, uh, that is going to come to life actually. It might have actually just been announced actually yesterday. I think it went live, but we’re going to, we’re participating in the Willamette valley wineries.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Zachary’s consumer auction this year for the first time. And so the original concept for a new kid, new kid on the block was a wine called back to the future. And so we have a new wine coming out. It’s going to be a Chardonnay and it’s going to be completely themed around, uh, back to the future. So. You can see over there, we’re working on it, right.
Bryan from Hazelfern: It’s going to be coming in the case. So it’s set up the flux capacitor, like, you know, instead of the, the plutonium, it’s going to be Chardonnay bottles. And so we’re super excited about that. So everyone can bid on that because the auction last summer was only open to the trade. Right. Uh, this is going to be a consumer-facing online auction.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so we’re super excited. Start sharing more details around back to the future.
A.J.: That will be nice. And I’m just going to publicly say right now, Amy, hands-off this one’s mine. That’s
Bryan from Hazelfern: so funny when we make this stuff, we think of you guys too. So these guys began to, but uh, the reason we’re calling it back to the future is this is a Chardonnay lot.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so right from the same vineyard, it comes from me and whole Springs. And there was a, an old block there that was, uh, used to be Chardonnay back in 1988, when it was planted, they tried to graft over it to pay. I’d never really took, so they still have this old school Chardonnay. And so that was kind of the, you know, the old Wenty clone and it got rejected.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And now, now it’s all about the John clones here and anyway, with warmer weather and that, that old windy clone is ripening. And so we made a Chardonnay from that and we were so geeked out about Chardonnay that we wanted to kind of take a look back, to look to where we’re going in the future, which is all about Charlotte man.
Bryan from Hazelfern: So that’s, that’s the whole theme. It’s all around being planted in unit. The movie back to the future. That was just huge for us. Like as kids. Yeah. That’s right. Exactly. And then looking to what we’re excited about, you know, we, we think there’s so much potential for Chardonnay and the future of the Willamette valley.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so it’s kind of this looking back at the old school clone to look forward. That’s awesome. Yeah. It’s going to
A.J.: be fun. So you teased us again on Instagram with a picture of another label that’s coming out, you know, it’s a. First gen. Right. And it has a gold foil on it. Yeah. And if you look, it doesn’t follow the exact, like, um, no capsule, you know, on, you know, so I, you know, at first I was like, oh, that’s a peanut, but no.
A.J.: Then you start looking and diving deeper into it. I think it’s, you’re sparkling. Isn’t it? Um, no,
Laura from Hazelfern: it’s not sparkling yet.
Bryan from Hazelfern: It is our it’s gonna be. It is a wine that we have bottled. So that was a label concept and it will be the ideas it’s going to look like what we posted, but that was kind of the prototype of it.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And it’s first gen and it was our first wine from this vineyard right here, our first Pinot noir. And so we want to do something different than our normal labels. Um, we, and we also want to do something different than calling it our estate. Um, it’s just, there’s classic wine words that from a Hazel from standpoint, we like to cook.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Just evolve. And, and so we liked the idea of being like, we, you know, we planted this thing. This is, this is the first line that literally we put those grapes into the ground and, and raised them since babies. And so, uh, that’s why we’re, that’s, that’s at least in concept right now calling it first gen, because it really represents like all those pieces of us that has made this story for the first time ever.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Uh, the, the pattern that you saw in there was, is actually like a raised version of our fingerprints. So we’re excited about it, but that’ll be a, that’ll be a release, uh, maybe early summer next fall.
Laura from Hazelfern: Yeah. I think, you know, every people don’t realize, you know, it was stirring nap times that I would like till the soil to get ready for the planting and like everything we did here.
Laura from Hazelfern: It was just the two of us working together. You know, we didn’t really have any outside resources or pieces. This is all from like literally
Bryan from Hazelfern: nothing. Yeah. From five gallons in our basement and just doubling every year and just putting everything like, you know, work working those day jobs were, I mean, 2018 was our first year that we actually got to do harvest during daylight.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Like we, we, all those harvest before that. Literally go to work all day down in Portland to come back home process fruit at night, like we would go in our like hot tub and planning. We
Laura from Hazelfern: didn’t have a hot tub yet. That was actually the best events investment ever, because like four o’clock in the morning, we get the hot tip.
Laura from Hazelfern: If we’re going to bed for two hours work. So Brian would work during the day. He had a position in Portland and I did all the, um, in essence, Kid handling while hauling fruit and cleaning equipment. So like the line would be set up when you’re ready to go. And so when Brian would come home with his extra hands, so to speak, um, so I would literally show up to like preschool pickup with like truck, you know, trailer loads of fruit and be like, Hey, I’m here to get my child.
Laura from Hazelfern: Totally normal.
A.J.: Totally normal. I mean, it’s Oregon. I mean, Oregon.
Laura from Hazelfern: Um, and so. Put our kids to bed and we would make wine from 8:00 PM till 4:00 AM for
years.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s that’s, that is what first gen to us. That’s what it’s all about. It’s like, like we said, like literally putting those plants in the ground, like with our hands, like tip, tilling, tilling the land to get it ready with like babies on your shoulder.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Like it’s, it’s a lot of hard work and that’s the one that represents
Laura from Hazelfern: that our youngest who’s now. There’s a lot of pictures of her, just which I think is the Oregon story. And a lot of like the original pioneers of Oregon babies on their backs. And, you know, I remember when the vineyard was grown up, I was on a tractor one more one day and you have to be the really like visible to school bus.
Laura from Hazelfern: And our daughter just started kindergarten. Literally like pedals and metal on the, on the tractor. Cause I saw the school bus coming up. They don’t see, they won’t leave the kid there. Right. And I’m like waving I’m over here on the tractor, but like pedal to the metal down to the row on the tractor. But like that’s, that’s the stuff that, that’s the stuff that like, I love, like that’s the stories of us and like our life together and the life that we’ve been trying to build and build.
A.J.: That’s great. Yeah. Going back to planting seeds of sparkling. Yeah. When can we expect some Hazel from sparkling?
Laura from Hazelfern: I think you have a little bit of time. Of course. I know it takes time. Um, so going into the 22 harvest, we will be making.
A.J.: Okay. So maybe like 20, 27? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Well, let’s build up the anticipation a little bit, build up the hype and you’ll sell out in like two minutes.
A.J.: Yeah. Yeah.
Laura from Hazelfern: So in three years, four years, four years,
Bryan from Hazelfern: something like that. We’ve got to grow the fruit this year.
A.J.: Yeah. Okay. That’s fair. Yeah. Um, you, you know, you’ve talked about juggling life. Um, you know, you have the constant barrage of like social media messages, customers. Business partners. Uh, how in the heck do you find a chance to turn off or do you,
Bryan from Hazelfern: um, we, yeah, we, I don’t know. We, we don’t really, but that’s where I, I I’ll speak for myself. I feel really fortunate that. We have created something that we love to do. And so it never feels like work, you know, like, so when we’re doing social media or we’re sharing our wine or we’re making wine, like again, that’s, we just love doing that.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And that’s probably what we’d be doing. If we weren’t doing wine, it’s just, you know, that’s just us. And so a lot of times that, you know, it’s not, it, it we’re doing a lot of work, but it always feels like fun. And. We again, I’m speaking maybe for myself, but we’d love to work together. That’s how we met, you know, and that’s how we met and we fell in love.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And, uh, I, I always appreciate having a project, like, you know, a vision, the vision of Hazel for, and the type of wines that we want to make and being on the same page together, like something that we get to do everyday together. And so it never like it’s, we don’t have to turn it off. It just is us, which is a lot of fun.
Laura from Hazelfern: I would agree with that. Um, I will say that most people would think I’m a solid extrovert, but I’m actually an extrovert introvert. So I do like to, at the end of the day shut when the kids are in bed, I do like to shut kind of everything out certain times of the year and then watch shows. And that’s like my recharge.
Laura from Hazelfern: And I’d say like, yeah, it’s kind of like, I mean, we have so many moments that we get to, like, we love what we’re doing. I mean, you love what we’re doing. So like, it doesn’t feel like work. Yeah. There are parts of it that you, you know, like anything that you’re like, Ugh.
A.J.: Yeah. I don’t want to do all this
Bryan from Hazelfern: billing.
Bryan from Hazelfern: I don’t do the invoicing.
Laura from Hazelfern: Yeah. That’s stuff, the paperwork stuff, but now I’m fun stuff. I would love to not do that. But, um, yeah.
Bryan from Hazelfern: It’s also like it’s a cool business from the standpoint of like, winter is very, very quiet, you know, that’s, we’re through with it, we’re done with harvest. The wines are resting and barrel.
Bryan from Hazelfern: There’s not a lot going on in the vineyard. You know, we do do some pruning, but, uh, that’s really our time to kinda turn it off. And, you know, that’s also like we closed the winery like all winter long. And so we’re just kind of waking up out of that. But, uh, we do definitely in the winter, it gets some time to just hang out.
Bryan from Hazelfern: We were in Costa Rica a few weeks. And then we went to Disneyland and then Charleston. And so it’s, it’s been a good, you know, w we do get some time to take it where it can in the winter. That’s good. Yeah. So that’s
Laura from Hazelfern: good. Yeah. Um, yeah. There’s ebb and flow. Yep. Yes. You have to. I like working with you. Yeah.
A.J.: Yeah. I’m sure when you started making five barrels or five gallons, you know, in your basement, you weren’t even thinking about. Legacy, right? Yeah. Are you given any thought in now as your two daughters are growing older? Like what legacy might look like?
Bryan from Hazelfern: Wow. I mean, I think based on how we just reacted. No,
A.J.: no, no, that’s fair.
A.J.: That’s fair. It’s an interesting question. I, you know, for me, uh, as I’ve been doing these podcast, I didn’t really give a whole lot of thought about legacy. Yeah, but I sat down with Andy Lytle and he was like, you know, I just reached a point in my life and I’m like, and he was like, I got a lot to do and I want to get it done.
A.J.: And I want. You know, leave something for my family. And, you know, ever since that interview, I’ve just been thinking about it and just like kind of planting the seeds and the people that I’m interviewing and just, you know, see what their take on legacy is. Yeah, I
Laura from Hazelfern: think so you would probably answer this differently than I would.
Laura from Hazelfern: Someone said to me a long time ago, and I can’t remember who it was, but has really kind of stuck with me is that this is ultimately our job. Right. And this is afforded our family and our girls such amazing experiences. But I think for me, it’s never been the thought process that the girls will one day run Hazel affirm.
Laura from Hazelfern: If they do, that would be awesome. Right. But like pursuing this to be, this will always kind of be our dream. Cause I think. You know, it can kind of be a mixed bag. I think of like maybe an obligation that, you know, kids feel to continue on the work that their parents began. Um, for me personally, I want them to make their own choice.
Laura from Hazelfern: Right. And if it is this that’s great, but you know, maybe we can help them from all the things we’ve learned in the last, you know, by the time they’re older. Um, can we help them? Set them up for success in terms of starting something that they’re super passionate about or so
Bryan from Hazelfern: it would be their choice if it’s part of their
A.J.: story.
A.J.: Right? Yeah. And I think it’s just kind of interesting, just taking a step back, you know, cause if you look at all the houses and France and everything, and you know, you have, you know, generation upon generation upon generation yeah. In Oregon is still so young in that regard. And just to kind of think about it, it’s just, just to take a second.
A.J.: Pause, I think is always an interesting thing
Bryan from Hazelfern: to think about. Yeah, no, that’s, I mean, that’s, it is amazing. The old world provides such an amazing perspective on things like legacy again, right? All those old vineyards and families. And I mean, you know, eight, nine more generations, like it is, it is crazy and nuts.
Bryan from Hazelfern: I think it’s hard to think about that here on the west coast, because it is so young, you know, and even just going to Charlotte. You know that the history is there. It’s like, oh, these buildings were built in the 17 hundreds. And you know, we don’t, we don’t have that here. No, no. So we’ll have a valley as a young wine growing region that we’re also a young part of the world.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Like in general, like our architecture is not old. There is not a lot of generations. And so it’s, yeah. It’s an interesting perspective. Yeah, it is.
A.J.: Speaking of like Oregon, you know, the wine country. Oh, you got to bring in the community for Oregon wine. Uh, you’ve given so much, you know, to the community, you know, during 2020 you did, uh, you know, a bunch of, uh, fundraising for black lives matter.
A.J.: Uh, but like, do you have a particular story where the community reached out to you and helped you over these last years? That kind of like stand out the story
Laura from Hazelfern: that always just always comes to my mind is, um, harvested 17.
A.J.: Yeah. Okay.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah. Our harvest is 17. Uh, we ha so 2017 vintage. Uh, we still had the full-time job and we reached a point in that vintage where, uh, all the rains were coming in, like mid-October.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so there was one that was like our biggest harvest ever at that time. We, we have, you know,
Laura from Hazelfern: we grow every year. We could’ve done that, but at the time now,
Bryan from Hazelfern: but like in 2017, anyway, we, we had like just a mountain of fruit coming in because we had to pick every single vineyard, like on the same day to allow them to be all the weather that was coming in.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Right. And so we. I just completely overwhelmed. Like how are we even going to process? I mean, it was like, it would still be a big day for us fit 15 tons of fruit all coming on the same day. And it was like, just us. And so we, we had, uh, had a friend, Andrew Garrison, who is a chef in McMinnville and he was hosting a harvest party and, uh, our friends, Devin and Kristin who have.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Little hell’s like that, that vineyard that, you know, they’re all part of the same friend group. So they were all going to go to McMinnville for this harvest party. And we were supposed to go, and I remember I messaged Andrew on, on Facebook and was like, Hey man, like, we wish we could come, but like, we’re literally buried in harvest today.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so we’re not gonna be able to make it, like, we just have so much fruit. Like there’s no way we can make it down there. And he wrote back and he was like, he was like, well, he was like, this is a harvest party. Like we should bring the party to the. Well, he was like, what if I like round up like 20 people in the community and we come help you guys.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And that’s exactly what they did. And, uh, it was incredible. We had, uh, Sonny who was the chef at the Alison, he and Andrew, like did a, like literally did a salmon bake and the parking lot set up the fire, like had all of the same lousy, complex, like a whole spread. Uh, and then we had like S like 17 people helping us process all that fruit, and we got it all knocked out and.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And I mean, it was absolutely amazing and I know it was mid-October cause it was also Ava’s birthday that day. So it was October 15th and Ava, we just felt so bad because it was her birthday.
Laura from Hazelfern: Pretended like it wasn’t her birthday. Cause we couldn’t.
A.J.: Yeah,
Bryan from Hazelfern: you couldn’t. So, and someone brought a bunch of cupcakes and stuff for the whole dinner spread.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And so it turned into like, we just made that Eva’s like cake. And then, so the whole thing turned into like a big party with everyone singing to Ava. And when she went to bed that night, we were all so tired and she was literally like, that was the best birthday I’ve ever had, but it was the whole spirit of collaboration, uh, that, that makes this valley.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And it was on display that day. And were we were so thankful. Cause I mean, that was the two of us trying to get through that much fruit would have just been ridiculous. Yeah. I imagine that was
Laura from Hazelfern: now I’m like we actually frequently have done 1510s in a day, but our equipment’s different in are different, but I remember that I was like, oh, we’re just looking at it and be like, we are going to be up for days, days.
Laura from Hazelfern: But it was such a cool and we had so much fun and we drank so much sparkling and yeah. Yeah. It was such a cool.
A.J.: Yeah. Well that’s uh, so I, I learned something new that Ava’s birthday is on October 15th and that’s the same day as my daughter’s birthday.
Bryan from Hazelfern: That’s cool. Yeah. It’s great day. It is a great
A.J.: day.
Laura from Hazelfern: I know we joke because when I, she was my harvest baby of 2013.
Laura from Hazelfern: So Brian was. I mean, I was totally fine with that. It’s like, you go, you go out and you take care of parks. I’ll just hang it and got this cute little baby in the hospital. Have a bunch of people take care of me. That’s great. You have the story that we never told my mom is that two days before I gave birth to Ava, Brian, where did you go?
Bryan from Hazelfern: Uh, it was up getting some Seraph from the Frenchman Hills, way up north. He said Yakima.
Laura from Hazelfern: Oh my goodness. He’s like, don’t tell your mom and she
A.J.: will kill me. In-laws can have that effect. Yeah.
Bryan from Hazelfern: But I mean, that’s like, like we said, you know, Hazel Fern has one of our babies. So breaker, that may be too. Of
A.J.: course.
A.J.: So I gave you all, some, some questions before we started. Do you want to pull out those questions when kind of go through those
Laura from Hazelfern: who goes first? What’s the format?
A.J.: What kind of figured it out? So, you know, um, Yeah, I thought that was the way that you all work together all the time. Right. And you all just have so much fun.
A.J.: I thought it’d be cool to like, just shuffle things around a little bit. So like do a little bit of a newlywed style questionnaire and whoever gets full four points first wins. Okay. And you know, there is a tiebreaker, if we. So, I mean, whoever wants, I mean, if somebody has a preference of going first, you can, it’s
Bryan from Hazelfern: up to you.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Um, I’m very competitive. So I just want to make sure I understand the rules. So she’s going to read the question and if, I guess what she answered for me, I get the point. Correct. Okay. I’m going to win.
Laura from Hazelfern: All right. Just see you now. He cannot win.
A.J.: Oh, downtown.
Laura from Hazelfern: So wait, do I ask the question and you answer,
A.J.: well, what I’ll, I’ll ask the question, right? You have it written down. Okay. And so, um, okay, so I’ll start with Laura’s question first for Brian. So Brian, you have the day off and it’s an empty house, which I know like hardly will ever, ever happen.
A.J.: Yeah. But, uh, how do you spend that? Well,
Bryan from Hazelfern: man, that’s a good question.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Um,
Bryan from Hazelfern: I would say working out
Laura from Hazelfern: and the answer is the answer is he’ll start the day. We’re going in the hot tub with coffee and then long answer. And then he’ll head up to the vineyard. And have his headphones and a beat tinkering on, oh, I don’t know what, like he’ll just be out there. That’s probably more accurate.
A.J.: Yeah. Well, it’s been on the spot.
A.J.: I mean, that, that’s part of the fun of all this. All right. So Laura, okay. So right now the score is zero zero. Here comes, uh, your question. What is your guilty pleasure?
Laura from Hazelfern: I mean, I don’t want him to win.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Wait, do I get the point? If you
A.J.: get it right? No, Lori gets the point. So you got
Bryan from Hazelfern: to get it right? Oh,
Laura from Hazelfern: okay. Um, watching TV shows
Bryan from Hazelfern: close, but not it’s watching Tik TOK videos.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Oh,
A.J.: okay. Well the score is
Bryan from Hazelfern: still zero to
A.J.: zero. All right, Brian. Here is your car. Uh, you grab Laura’s hand and you pull her to the dance floor and say, and you say to her, the DJ is playing your song. What is the song?
Laura from Hazelfern: Oh,
A.J.: yeah, on the
Bryan from Hazelfern: dance floor. That’s a tough one. I I’m like, first of all, I don’t know. I would S I would say, I would say ranking by counting.
A.J.: Accurate. Boom. Nice. All right. Well, let’s score is Brian one, Laura zero. Let’s see if we can tie it up for one-to-one. Uh, Laura, where did your first kiss happened?
Laura from Hazelfern: I also don’t remember our anniversary frequently. Um, it was at your.
Bryan from Hazelfern: That’s right. I wrote down, uh, it was in my condo in Portland, uh, after we shared a couple bottles of wine, but specifically a cavernous saw from either Argentina or Chile. I can’t remember, but south nights off
A.J.: that’s I love the detailed answer.
A.J.: Yeah. It’s one to one. It’s one to one. All right, Brian, what, uh, what was your worst date?
Laura from Hazelfern: Like with me. Yeah. Yeah.
A.J.: I should’ve specified date. That’s fun. This one will be tough. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like there weren’t very many,
Bryan from Hazelfern: I don’t know. I haven’t been, this is probably not what’s on your card. It’s just hard to think of. But I remember when we used to work together back in the day, From that time period.
Bryan from Hazelfern: We used to travel a lot together for work. We would do a lot of, a lot of work in New York. And so I remember after we had been dating, um, for many months, probably like nine months, Laura was very much like that there was another coworker in the office that was very much in your mind about like, why hasn’t Brian asked you to marry you.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah. And so you were, we went to this very fancy steakhouse in the. And it was supposed to be this really amazing date. And it ended up being Laura very upset and considering potentially moving on because I hadn’t proposed yet. And so it was kind of not the date that I expected.
A.J.: I don’t remember that at all.
A.J.: Oh yeah, that happens.
Laura from Hazelfern: It’s not the one I had mine is. I don’t know if it’s like, you could consider it a date, but would it be in when we went to the counting crows concert when I was eight months pregnant with Ava, that was rough. Yeah. I was the designated driver with a car full of people. And Brian overindulged
A.J.: went to a
Laura from Hazelfern: concert and I remember, and not none of those things mattered, but I remember I was pregnant.
Laura from Hazelfern: So he went into like some restaurant, it was like fast food. I was like, you must get me food. I am starving. And he comes in. And he sits next to me and starts seeing, I was like, what did you get for me? And he was like, oh, I didn’t get you anything. I was like, you didn’t get your pregnant wife who was driving you.
Bryan from Hazelfern: I was just trying
A.J.: to survive. That’s fair. That’s fair. Okay, Laura, so the score is still one-to-one. Uh, what is the one thing that, um, that you have that Brian would love for you to get her. I haven’t,
Bryan from Hazelfern: this is new. This is turning into like
Laura from Hazelfern: therapy. I know.
A.J.: Um, that’s why there’s the resist. There’s only like, you know, nine questions.
A.J.: Otherwise we might need therapy. I don’t know. Okay.
Laura from Hazelfern: Um, my road,
Bryan from Hazelfern: well, that’s a good point. That’s all I wrote down.
A.J.: All right.
Bryan from Hazelfern: But what I wrote down is your phone. Hm. I like addicted to her phone. So at night she goes into a Tik TOK is for guilty pleasure. Right. And just disappears. It’s good. Therapy is
Laura from Hazelfern: good therapy. Right? What Dan said, like make funny videos.
A.J.: Right. And just kind of turn off and unplug. Yeah. Yeah.
Laura from Hazelfern: Thank you.
Laura from Hazelfern: Feeling my
A.J.: feelings now I gotta, I gotta work. I can’t be partial here. What’s the score. It’s still one-to-one. Gosh, this is tough. All right. Um, Brian, oh, between the two of you who is the bigger pack rat?
Bryan from Hazelfern: Uh, me accurate.
A.J.: Oh, And now the score is two to one in Brian’s favor.
Bryan from Hazelfern: I did, but he liked the point. I knew what you would write down.
Laura from Hazelfern: I know exactly you were hooked on that one. Okay.
A.J.: Um,
A.J.: so Laura, you asked Brian to go to the store to grab you a treat. What does he buy you? Um, and it can’t be
Laura from Hazelfern: sparkling. No, he would by me.
Laura from Hazelfern: And what the point
A.J.: got to tie it up? Cause we gotta, we gotta tiebreaker.
Laura from Hazelfern: Um, he would buy me nerds.
Bryan from Hazelfern: I wrote down nerds, Mike and X are Airheads.
A.J.: Okay. All right. Well, it’s two to two. We have a tiebreaker. So this is to both of you and I guess there’s still a chance that it could be a tie and nobody wins, which it’s okay.
A.J.: Um, so the question to both of you, what is each other’s worst habit?
A.J.: You go first?
Bryan from Hazelfern: Um, probably just being messy. That’s what I think you would say. You know,
Laura from Hazelfern: I love that you’re answering these things this way. This is a good therapy. Um, no, that’s all.
A.J.: Mm
Laura from Hazelfern: Brian’s. Worst habit is that Brian has an inability for peripheral vision. Like he’ll be out in the vineyard and like normal people from afar.
Laura from Hazelfern: If you’re leaving your hands or I don’t know, this is just in life. They can see like that you’re waving your hands. Brian know you have to like, go get right in front
Bryan from Hazelfern: of him. Laser-focused that’s right. Laser focused on what she doesn’t know is I can say, oh, maybe he
A.J.: didn’t want to say that. So what did you write down,
Bryan from Hazelfern: Brian?
Bryan from Hazelfern: Um, well, so yeah, now you have to guess.
Laura from Hazelfern: Uh, he would say, um, being organized, like always trying to clean up after everyone. And it probably turns into more of a fight and related
Bryan from Hazelfern: to that related, but not that. So you don’t get the point. Um, your worst habit is so I have to be careful because Laura does love to clean up all the time. So Laura’s always cleaning.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah, which is amazing, but her worst habit is she loves to vacuum.
Bryan from Hazelfern: the way it’s always right in the middle with the cord across the house. Always.
Laura from Hazelfern: Yeah. I had a court, this one, but then I ran the battery died because I used it so much go, but it’s not a bad
A.J.: thing. There could be way worse. There could be way worse.
Laura from Hazelfern: Yeah. I should get the
Bryan from Hazelfern: point. I’m not good.
Laura from Hazelfern: It’s still kind of related back Hume. I’ll give you half a point. Okay.
A.J.: Sure. All right. Uh, we’ll kind of end things out with some quick rapid fire questions. Nope. All right. Uh, favorite favorite artists during harvest date? Did I say that right? Favorite artist during harvest
Laura from Hazelfern: Reese recently would be.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah, I agree with that. Taylor swift. Um, but we, we listened to a ton of stuff, so it just depends on the day. Uh, we love because we love music. So it’s always hard for me to pick up. I know that’s so hard to pick a favorite. So I would say like lately, like Taylor swift, like, um, like I will say that she’s I need to get was
A.J.: amazing.
A.J.: The guys at king, north Kings north. Yeah. They’re Taylor
Bryan from Hazelfern: swift as well. Yeah. I it’s like she’s so talented. It’s just like, I’m so impressed by her, which is awesome.
A.J.: Favorite indulgent.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Chips and salsa. Yeah. I would say chips and salsa. Although lately I know it’s supposed to be rapid fire. I love like just sushi, like salmon. And I told Laura, I was like, that’s almost for me as good as chips and salsa.
Laura from Hazelfern: This
A.J.: rapid fire just needs explanation. Okay. If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?
Laura from Hazelfern: Oh, Lots of Laura’s.
A.J.: That would be amazing. I love that. Um, among the
Bryan from Hazelfern: super power, I don’t know.
Bryan from Hazelfern: I don’t know. I
A.J.: don’t know. That’s fine. Yeah. Harvest notes. Are they digital or handwritten?
Laura from Hazelfern: They’re all in his head. I don’t know.
Bryan from Hazelfern: And then they become, they become. But in the, in the moment in my head, and also we write a lot, we write a lot,
Laura from Hazelfern: I spoke pieces of paper, usually all around the forklift.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah. Or like taped on bins, things like that.
Bryan from Hazelfern: So we write, but then it all, we have like a whole system that everything gets uploaded to digitally, but on the fly it’s in my head. Yeah. On notes. You know, when you have a thought, you just write it down and just tape it to that for a minute or two, the forklift.
A.J.: Yeah. No, it’s amazing how many people are like, they are all handwritten and they’re just like stuffed in pockets or Ziploc bags or whatever, and told her, yeah.
A.J.: Favorite superhero,
Bryan from Hazelfern: wonder woman, Batman, boom.
A.J.: In the last book that you read.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah, I can’t. Okay. I can’t think of one
Laura from Hazelfern: pass and books on tape.
A.J.: Yeah. Yes. Okay. So last book on tape
Laura from Hazelfern: becoming Michelle Obama’s book.
A.J.: Oh
Bryan from Hazelfern: yeah. For me it’s podcasts. Do you have a favorite podcast that you enjoy? I mean, I, I listened to the daily every morning. Okay. Yup. Just to, I love news and current events.
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah. All right.
A.J.: Shall I reveal the wine?
Bryan from Hazelfern: Yeah.
A.J.: So you’re still going a hundred percent Oregon. I don’t know. Should I, well, I don’t know. Should you,
Laura from Hazelfern: Ooh,
Bryan from Hazelfern: interesting. Is there a reason that you chose this?
A.J.: Yes. There’s always a reason. Yeah. So at the Oregon, uh, Chardonnay celebration, uh, Friday night was a sparkling. Right. It was all sparkling. Yeah. Uh, this producer was there. Uh, and of course, uh, her and Amy made friends. Yeah. And then on Saturday, you know, w we actually got another bottle of this and it was just, it was great.
A.J.: It was wonderful. And I believe they’re going to be at IPNC. Yeah. So, you know, it’s all coming back to Oregon and has some relationship to, to Oregon. Yeah, that’s
Bryan from Hazelfern: what I figured. The reason I asked that I figured there was some Amy involvement because she texts me. I think probably when you guys were all together about this label, there you go.
A.J.: All right. It’s delicious. It is good. It is so good. All right. Well, I want to thank you all for your time today. I know it’s, you know, it’s the answering the questions and the therapy. That was a little bit different, but I appreciate it so much. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Okay.
