San Francisco Vintners Market is Back. We will be showcasing top wineries again at Fort Mason Center – Festival Pavilion November 23rd and 24th. That is the weekend before Thanksgiving. We look forward to having you attend our event.
And we’ll be there with 200 other wineries. Stop by our booth and say “hi” and taste the Beat and the Cabernet!
GrapeHeart to Appear at Vintner’s Market
GrapeHeart Vineyards debuts award-winning wines
Daily Republic – Fairfield Suisun
http://www.dailyrepublic.com/news/business-local/grapeheart-vineyards-debuts-award-winning-wines/
SUISUN VALLEY — Ramzi and Isabel Deeik faced an initial, major task when they began making wine with Suisun Valley grapes – coming up with a name for their product.
“It’s so hard to find a name,” Isabel Deeik said. “We thought, ‘Let’s have something to do with the heart.’ ”
They chose the name GrapeHeart Vineyards because it gets to the heart of the matter for them.
Ramzi Deeik is a heart surgeon. He was picked by NorthBay Medical Center to help design its $4.6 million cardiovascular surgery center, the first in Solano County. Before the center opened in 2009, people who needed heart surgery had to be taken to a hospital outside of the county.
The Deeiks brought that interest in the heart to their winemaking efforts. GrapeHeart donates part of its proceeds to the Sister to Sister Foundation, a nonprofit group that works to prevent heart disease in women.
Then there’s the wine itself.
“I’m a big believer in the benefits of wine for prevention of heart disease, as well as a Mediterranean diet and exercise,” Ramzi Deeik said.
Highly extracted wines are high in tannins from the seeds and stems. The resulting antioxidants are heart-friendly, according to some health experts.
“They basically help protect the linings of the blood vessels in the heart,” Ramzi Deeik said.
GrapeHeart Vineyards made its first wines in 2010 and released the results this year. The Beat, a Cabernet-based blend of reds, won the Best of Solano award at the North Coast Wine Challenge and Best of Class and Gold at the International Women’s Wine Competition. The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon won Silver at the U.S. National Wine Competition.
The Deeiks live in Napa, the epicenter of the nation’s wine world. They make their wines in St. Helena in the Napa Valley. But they turned to Suisun Valley for their grapes.
“We really believe Suisun Valley makes great wine,” Isabel Deeik said.
She noted they’re not the only ones from Napa who believe in Suisun Valley. Caymus Vineyards of the Napa Valley recently announced it would open a winery on Cordelia Road in lower Suisun Valley under the name Wagner Family of Wine.
GrapeHeart Vineyards is 40 acres on Suisun Valley Road. The vineyard was planted in 2000 and the Deeiks purchased it in 2009.
Ramzi Deeik was driving the back roads from Napa to Fairfield at the time to avoid traffic, going through Wooden Valley and Suisun Valley. On one of those trips, he saw the Suisun Valley vineyard for sale.
“We’ve always had a passion for wine, even back when we were in Chicago where we met,” Ramzi Deeik said. “We always wanted to come to the Wine Country and start a project like this.”
The Deeiks contacted the Napa wine producer farming the Suisun Valley land and tasted wine made from the vineyard grapes. That helped convince them to buy the land.
“I was very impressed with the quality of the wine,” Ramzi Deeik said.
Newcomers to the world of wine production, the Deeiks got to work. They secured Howard Babcock as their vineyard manager and Fred Delivert as their winemaker.
“We have great professionals around us,” Isabel Deeik said.
GrapeHeart has no tasting room; at least, not yet. People can buy its wine at such restaurants as the Mankas Steakhouse in Suisun Valley and Redd’s in Yountville. They can also go to www.grapeheartwines.com to buy wine.
So far, so good for GrapeHeart.
“This is a dream come true for us,” Isabel Deeik said. “It’s something we wanted to do.”
Reach Barry Eberling at 427-6929, or beberling@dailyrepublic.net. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/beberlingdr.
For Valentine’s Day, Solano Winery Recognizes Women & Their Hearts
Profits from GrapeHeart Wines go to Sister To Sister
Napa, CA, Autumn 2013—GrapeHeart Vineyards announced today they are giving 20% of online proceeds on special wine bottle gift packages to the Sister To Sister (http://www.sistertosister.org/) charity to honor their commitment to heart health. Heart health is a pivotal reason for the launch of this program, and a passion of the founders. “As the wife of a heart surgeon, I’ve learned that the number one killer of women today is heart disease. The statistics will shock you because as a society we tend to think of men as having heart attacks, but women are frequently the victims, and exhibit different warning signs,” explains Isabel Deeik, the founder and proprietor of GrapeHeart Vineyards. “We chose to give 20% of our online sales back to Sister To Sister because we believe so deeply in this cause,” Deeik continues, “and why not focus on Valentine’s Day as a natural time to bring attention to this important topic?”
Timed for February 14, the winery is providing the charitable donation on all wines on the website. These wines include a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Cabernet blend, called The Beat, both sources from the Deeiks’ estate vineyard in Suisun Valley (directly contiguous and southeast of Napa Valley).
For The Beat, the winemaker, Frederic Delivert, crafted a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Syrah and 17% Cabernet Franc into an outstandingly elegant wine which is delicious now and will also benefit from cellaring. The wine’s initial release—the 2010—won a gold medal and “Best of Class” at The Women’s Wine Competition in Sonoma last year; the wine also won Best of Solano County at The North Coast Wine Challenge this summer. The wine is available at www.grapeheartwines.com in 750ml for as well as a magnum with an embroidererd label.
GrapeHeart Vineyards also offers GrapeHeart Cabernet Sauvignon: the current release is the 2010; it is available at http://www.grapeheartwines.com or by calling 707/332-0253. Also made by Delivert, this wine won a silver medal at the 2013 U.S. National Wine Competition this April.
Founded in 2009 GrapeHeart Vineyards is a limited production winery owned by a Napa/Sonoma heart surgeon, Ramzi Deeik and his wife, Isabel. GrapeHeart makes an elegant Cabernet Sauvignon and a Red Blend. The GrapeHeart Estate Vineyard is located in the Suisun Valley AVA, a unique eight mile long valley southeast of Napa. The estate sits on 40 acres, backing up to the base of the southwestern slope of the Mt. George Range. Suisun Valley lies within Coastal area climates characterized by cool moist winds blowing inland from the ocean and San Francisco/San Pablo Bay allowing for perfect, slow ripening and enhancing complexity and intensity in the fruit on the vines.
The winery also offers jewelry inspired by the passion and love of making and drinking fine wine. The bracelet and necklace with the GrapeHeart signature heart and grapes uses Silver with Gold Plated Leaf on an Italian 18” sterling silver bead chain. The jewelry is handmade by famous jewelry designer Kader Yildiz and 40% of all proceeds go to the Sister to Sister foundation.
Follow GrapeHeart Vineyards on Facebook for news of the next public tasting or event where the winery will be pouring its 2010 The Beat and 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon.
Sister To Sister Foundation
The Sister To Sister Foundation, a 501 (c)(3), is the first organization to dedicate its mission to the prevention of heart disease in women. As the leading provider of free heart health evaluations in the United States (?), Sister to Sister has performed 100,000 free cardiovascular screenings to help women understand their personal risk for heart disease, and how healthy lifestyle choices can reduce that risk up to 82%. For more information, visit www.sistertosister.org, https://www.facebook.com/sistertosister, https://twitter.com/sisterhearts, http://www.pinterest.com/sisterhearts/.