At Scout Books, we strive to make the best custom notebooks in the world, and we’re always keen on seeing other examples of organizations succeeding at making something exceptional. That’s certainly the case with REX HILL Winery, which has made producing wines of the highest quality their sole focus. We spoke with sommelier Karen Kissane and director of marketing Keith Scott of REX HILL about creating this wine pairing book as a gift for their wine club members.
Can you tell us about Rex Hill?
REX HILL Winery, founded by 1982 by Paul Hart and Jan Jacobsen, was built around an old fruit and nut drying facility and the new building opened in 1985. The original vineyard around the winery is now all Pinot Noir & Chardonnay except for one row of Muscat left for the sweet delight of harvest visitors. The focus on high quality wines at the gateway to the Northern Willamette Valley makes REX HILL a must-stop on visits to or through wine country. Decanter named it one of the top six vineyards to visit in Oregon.
In 2007, the families behind A to Z Wineworks purchased REX HILL Winery and its vineyards, bringing fresh enthusiasm and energy to the properties strengthening both brands. They also welcomed another Oregon wine veteran, Michael Davies, as winemaker, and partnered with Gregg Popovich (NBA Coach of the San Antonio Spurs).
The group reduced the size of REX HILL by almost 80% to focus only on wines of the highest quality. Now, REX HILL wines represent no more than 3% of A to Z’s total production offering winemakers a rare opportunity to make wines not because they have to, but because they get to. The results have been noticed. In 2017, REX HILL was honored with the inaugural Wine Advocate Extraordinary Winery ‘Under the Radar’ Award.
In summary, REX HILL wines comprise less than 3% of A to Z’s total production but benefit from A to Z’s resources, staff and research. Simply put, REX HILL wines are a joy and a privilege to make.
At REX HILL, we offer a variety of unforgettable experiences to suit any visitor. In addition to our casual daily tastings, we offer seated tastings paired with local cheeses held in our historic tunnels, private tours of the winery to explore the winemaking process, and private events catered by our winery chef. We are open daily from 10am-5pm so stop to see firsthand.
Where did the idea to make a pairing and recipe book come from?
Our winery chef, Amy Griffith, has received a number of requests for her recipes and we thought this was a great opportunity to help educate our guests and club members about food and wine pairing as well.
Why use print instead of an app or a website?
We wanted a tangible gift for our club members to enjoy. Our hope is they will keep it next to their cookbooks at home and reference it often.
The design of these books is gorgeous. Who did the design, and had they worked with print before?
Our founder, Deb Hatcher, works closely with our graphic designer Andrea LaRue of Nectar Graphics on all our designs across print, packaging, and digital. They had a lot of fun with this one.
Do you have a favorite pairing from the book?
This is a difficult question to answer but we’d have to say our signature gougéres and 2014 REX HILL Grand Cuveé. Sparkling. It’s a simple recipe and great for entertaining.
How can people get their hands on one and find out more?
These were gifted to our wine club members in their club shipment. It’s one of our many club member benefits and currently is only available to active members.
Thanks so much to everyone at REX HILL for speaking with us and giving us a teaser for this book! Find more about REX HILL and A to Z Winworks at rexhill.com.
Project Specs
Originally published on November 19th, 2018.