Oak Cliff Cellars

"Art in the Bottle; Friendship in the Glass"
Home     About Us     Oak Cliff Cellars Wines     OCC Wine Thief Club     Winery News     Purchase     Special Events     Contact Us      

Vol. 1, Issue 1

 

Wine makes a man better pleased with himself.  I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others.

                               -Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

Friendship, “the wine of life,” should, like a well-stocked cellar, be continually renewed.

                                   -James Boswell (1740–1795)

 

 

JR, Maria & friends.

 

 A Nascent Dream

 

Oak Cliff Cellars was born out of the love of good wine and good friends. For nearly two decades frequent gatherings at the Oak Cliff (Dallas, Texas) home of JR Richardson and Maria Machado have provided the opportunity to eat, drink and enjoy –  from Maria's famously authentic and popular Southwestern cuisine, JR’s well-stocked wine cellar and a common store of good friendships.

   

For the past couple of years, JR, Maria and the Oak Cliff gang have been trekking to Napa Valley on President’s Day weekend to taste new wines and meet the wine-makers.  Following close on the heels of Valentine's Day, this annual event includes a long weekend of tasting, good food and robust conversation ... and, of course, fun and romance.  In February 2008, our enthusiasm reached such proportions that we decided to start our own wine adventure – Oak Cliff Cellars!

 

 

Birth of a Winery

 

Our plan is to start small – less than 400 cases in the first year – and to make the best wine possible.  Our initial wines will be ready for bottling, release and sale in 2010.

 

We are starting with two of our favorite varietals:  full-bodied, red Zinfandel and the ever-seductive Petite Sirah.  These wines are less known than other varietals like Cabernet and Pinot Noir and even Syrah, but more approachable young, yet capable of some cellaring and are enjoyable to a wide spectrum of wine lovers. 

 

 

 

  

We’ve found an outstanding consulting winemaker, Bruce Regalia, contracted for excellent fruit from a couple of mature, time-tested vineyards in nearby Mendocino County and are in the process of obtaining necessary permits and licenses for making our wine in  Napa Valley.

 

 L to r:  Oak Cliff Cellars winemaker, Bruce Regalia; James Testa, vineyard owner; vineyard dog; JR and Mark Welch, vineyard manager, inspect 50-yr old dry-farmed vines at Testa Vineyards in Mendocino County.

  October 2008  

    

                           

Choices While You Wait

 

Even though we are more than a year away from our first release, we are eager to get to know you and your wine interests.  Therefore, we have found a few up and coming young winemakers in the Napa area who share our philosopy about good wine and friendship and have arranged to make their wines available to you immediately through our website.  Beginning in November, you will begin to see other small production, high quality wines for sale here.  We hope you'll try them and find them to your liking...as you wait patiently for our own special cuvees in 2010!

 

 

So welcome to our cellar and to the adventure.  While Oak Cliff Cellars is a seemingly placid name for this new winery and label, it symbolizes for us not only our roots, but the start of a "small revolution of big wines"  -- because under each Oak are mighty roots thundering to break free and on every Cliff an opportunity to take the leap from familiar wines of mediocrity to those hard-to-find wines that mark a revolution of the palette – and perhaps of life itself!"        

                   JR and Maria