Well-Versed Wines Complete with Rhymes

Winemaker Katy Lovell and her partner Joseph L. Naegele are kindred spirits finally united in a fairy tale romance that combines practicality with passion. She's the hands-on, do-everything winemaker who drives the trucks, picks the grapes, runs the destemmer, adds the yeast, punches down, crushes, forklifts barrels, racks and tops off. He's the attorney and educator by day (Santa Clara University), and the poet by night: he pens the poems that grace the back labels. We should mention that Katy also bottles, designs and prints her own labels: custom holiday labels are available for personal and corporate gift-giving. She is also an accomplished Oberlin-trained concert flutist, as well as a fabric artist, a craft she still practices when not blending, attending wine events or pouring in the tasting room. A mother of three teens, two at Los Gatos High, Katy is thrilled her son, Zac, enjoys helping out in the winery.

Poetic Cellars is Katy's lifelong dream: built into the mountain with a cool, natural earth-controlled climate, the winery combines barrel storage, lab, offices and tasting room. Here, you are surrounded by, not isolated from, the incubator vessels of nascent wine. It's not your every day barrel room: the custom mahogany counters and cabinets are beautiful master crafts pieces. Works of art adorn the walls and a colorful display of serving ware, complete with new port-infused truffles from Shelley's Biscotti, beckons shoppers.

Step up to the bar and be delighted by the Chestnut Hill Chardonnay, golden and baked apple bread pudding-rich, with notes of vanilla whipped cream. Her signature Mourvedre, from vineyard holdings in Livermore, displays smoky, sexy earthiness with unmistakable animale aromatics. It's one captivating wine. Nobody else makes one remotely like it in California. Katy also makes a Sampson-like sinewy Syrah, powerful with tar, leather, tarragon and game. It calls for lamb seasoned with rosemary and dried Arbol chiles.

Fans of Petite Sirah will thrill to an operatic rendition of this baked blueberry pie with ginger-clove graham crust. Her new blend, Quatrain, weaves a complex four-act play of fruity Zin, sinewy Syrah, mysterious Mourvedre and muscular Merlot that continues to make curtain calls in your mouth long after the last swallow. It was made exclusively for Well-Versed Wine Club members.
The sun-drenched courtyard and grassy meadow make a delightful setting for a wedding or private party. Here, you can delight in the sound of the wind in the oaks and willows and watch hawks circling high overhead. Be sure to consider Poetic Cellars when planning your next event: the tranquility alone will have you reciting poetry.

Wine and verse are a lovely couplet, but nothing makes Katy happier than finding that perfect wine and food pairing. Be sure to visit Poetic on Passport days or for her new release parties, occasions that always marry the two disciplines. And when you add some live music, art  jewelry and perhaps a poetry reading, you are in for a romantic treat that could be found at Poetic Cellars.