Idyllic Overnight at Hedges Family Estate

Tom Hedges, Trudi Syferd, Cathi Hatch, Dave Syferd

Yesterday after lunch at Goedhart Family (see blog posting HERE), Ken and I travelled back down the hill with Anne-Marie Hedges, our hostess, to her home at the Hedges Family Estate chateau.  Our host, Tom Hedges, had just returned from a week-long wine selling trip to Japan.  Ken and I were invited to join them for an overnight stay along with our other good friends, Trudi & Dave Syferd.

Ken Hatch in front of stone fireplace in kitchen.

We entered the Great Hall of the chateau which is also the tasting room for the winery.  It was filled with wine tasters participating in the "Bottle Your Own" promotion being held that weekend at the winery.  Ken and Dave and Tom immediately began tasting wine while Anne-Marie helped Trudi and me move our things into a couple of the beautiful bedrooms upstairs above the winery.  After unpacking and a very brief nap, necessitated by drinking wine at lunchtime, Trudi and I re-joined the men downstairs.

Trudi Syferd working on our garden salad.

Tony Maki, Tom Hedges, Ken Hatch, Dave Syferd

They had not moved very far, but were still tasting and talking.  Anne-Marie invited Trudi and me to join her in the garden to harvest some vegetables and fruit for the salad she was planning to accompany dinner.  We took our metal wire baskets and big garden shears and walked through the manicured formal gardens in front of the chateau over to the pond which includes an elegant arched bridge over it to the vegetable garden.  The smell of fresh lavendar was in the air and the bluish-purple fronds were swaying gently in the light breeze.  We walked up the terraced stairs and opened the gate and what a spectacular garden filled with all kinds of lettuce, zucchini, cabbage, artichokes, beets, herbs, peas, raspberries, leeks, radishes and dozens of other growing things that I cannot recall.  It was so much fun to eat peas off the vine which reminded me of going to visit my grandfather's farm as a child.

Tony being coached on correct tenderloin roasting
by Deborah Culverhouse and Tom Hedges

We returned to the big French-style kitchen to wash our produce from the garden where Deborah Culverhouse, the Estate Hospitality and Retail Manager, was setting the big table in the center of the kitchen for dinner. The big kitchen was added to the chateau only within the past year and is absolutely charming with black and white granite floors, a stone mantel and a huge table that doubles for prep and service.  Deborah had made roasted garlic soup as a starter and gave us instructions on how to finish the soup before serving including clipping tiny fresh flowers as a garnish out of a flowering pot just outside the kitchen door.

For hors d'oeuvres, Anne-Marie included our recently harvested radishes from the garden, cut in half, dipped in coarse salt, and then followed with a bite of Sarah Goedhart's fresh baked bread smeared with butter.  Yum!  There was also fresh gougeres, smoked salmon and appropriate accompaniments.

Tom Hedges admiring grape growth progress to date.

Some of Tom & Anne-Marie's Arizona friends, Tony & Janice Maki, joined the group for dinner and Tony was immediated designated to grill the tenderloin for the main course under Deborah's tutelage.  As it turned out, Tony did a great job and we feasted on gresh roasted garlic soup, beef tenderloin, roasted potatoes, a spring salad of mixed greens, onion, and raspberries dressed with a traditional French olive oil, Dijon mustard and lemon vinaigrette, followed by a cheese course and chocolates for dessert.  Of course all of the food was accompanied by copious amounts of fine wine!

The view from our bedroom window.

The next morning, Tom took Trudi and me on a two and one-half mile walk (mostly uphill!) around the Hedges Family Estate property and other adjoining property.  Tom showed us the difference in the different grape varietals and was pleased with the growth on the vines that we saw.  Tom also told us that acreage on Red Mountain is going for around $70,000 per acre and that he expects several pieces of property to change hands over the next few months. We saw the location where Tom and Anne-Marie may decide to add a restaurant at some point overlooking the winery below and the area in the valley which would make a perfect wine village with lodging and restaurants and shops to help provide the infrastructure needed in the area.  Though we had burrs in our socks from our walk through the gravel roads and weeds, we returned via the paved front entrance to the property where once again our olfactory senses were stimulated with the charming smell of fresh lavendar.

Following our walking adventure, we sat down on the upstairs terrace for a lovely brunch of fresh home-made quiche, a watermelon and blueberry salad and a fresh tomato and avocado salad with more of Anne-Marie's perfect French Dijon mustard vinaigrette.

It was time to pack up and head home to ZiZi Zinfandel Z-dog.  Ken was pining for her and I actually missed her too.  We filled our car with wine for Kjell's upcoming birthday party and regretfully waved goodbye (for now) from our idyllic stay at Hedges Family Estate on Red Mountain.  Thank you Tom and Anne-Marie!