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For 90 years, Harry & David has been one of the preeminent gifting companies in the United States, offering gift baskets and towers that overflow with gourmet charcuterie and cheeses, chocolates, fruit, and so many more mouthwatering treats. Like any business, it wanted to offer more to its customers. So, the Medford, Oregon-based brand decided to create a new product it strongly felt paired well with the aforementioned delights: Wine.
Sure, being in Southern Oregon, one of the world’s best wine regions, helps, but starting a wine program from scratch was a big undertaking that involved building relationships with growers and winemakers, designing labels, and deciding what varietals to bottle.
READ MORE: Infographic | Food and Wine Pairings
But making wine for Harry & David, which has deep roots in agriculture, made sense. "It was a natural progression to start pairing our wide array of gourmet food with regional wines, offering the opportunity for our customers to send the wine and the food together," says Sierra Castellano, Senior Director of Merchandising at Harry & David. "It's an extra touch to their gifting experience."
Looking back
The process to roll out nine different varietals across 10 total wines started in 2012. "We had an aggressive timeline to launch and a large team across the organization working to make it happen,” Castellano says. “We gathered weekly to ensure we didn't derail and showed great collaboration across many departments. It was all worth it when looking back."
Twelve years later, she's proud of how the program has developed. "Our quality has vastly improved as we have gotten more familiar with different terroirs and what grows best where, along with our winemaking techniques," she says. "There's a real sense of accomplishment knowing where we started and where we have come — it's only going to get better, and I look forward to watching the wine program continue to deliver smiles."
These smiles graced countless customers. Wine judges have taken notice, too.
Awards season
The wines shone in 2023 and 2024, winning 14 total awards across three different competitions, including at the 2023 San Francisco International Wine Competition, with double gold going to the 2022 Sauvignon Blanc.
READ MORE: A Wine Lover's Guide to Enjoying Sauvignon Blanc
Other highlights over the past year include winning gold for the 2021 Royal Crest Red blend at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, and two golds at the Oregon Wine Awards for the 2022 Liv & Lil Rosé (which hasn't even been released to the public!) and 2021 Lucca & Sons Cellars™ Cabernet Sauvignon.
Winning awards is nothing new for Harry & David. In total, its wines have won 115 awards over the past 12 years.
Expanding taste profiles
Oregon's Rogue Valley, where Harry & David grows many of its luscious pears and first began sourcing grapes for its wines, was announced as Wine Enthusiast's 2022 Wine Region of the Year. But that doesn't stop Tony Huckabee, Senior Manager of Fruit Acquisition at Harry & David, from experimenting with fruit from vineyards in new regions.
"Grapes from Eastern Oregon absolutely have different characteristics and flavor profiles than what we've worked with over the past vintages in Southern Oregon," he says. “The berries are smaller and more highly concentrated, making them much richer coupled with a more tannic profile."
Harry & David's relationships with premium vineyards in Eastern Oregon and Washington State got off to a great start, he adds. “We're learning a tremendous amount about these new growing areas. We really like where our chardonnay and Bordeaux varietals are going."
Ellen Sorenson, Harry & David Merchandising Manager, Wine, agrees. “We're excited about the growth and expansion of our program. Working with fruit from different AVAs [American Viticultural Areas. AVAs are a type of appellation of origin that lets growers describe the unique characteristics of their grapes to help buyers make the best choices.] throughout the Pacific Northwest has given us the ability to expand our portfolio, creating a diverse assortment that focuses on quality across a wide range of varietals."
Cultivating vines and relationships
Fruit sourcing is extremely critical in a business where consistency in quality is key, Huckabee says. He currently works with approximately 25 vineyards, all carefully selected to meet Harry & David's quality expectations.
"We work with our select group of vineyards to maintain consistency in quality. It's been super exciting over the last couple of years," Huckabee says.
He identifies the vineyards that can supply the varietals and the quality and quantities he needs at harvest time, and says he develops sources in multiple terroirs to bring complexity to the wine. Around May, he begins visiting to check quality and that the vines are properly cared for.
"One of my favorite parts of my job is interacting with the vineyard owners and managers," Huckabee explains. "They're all so passionate about their vineyards and the fruit each produces." As harvest time nears, he says, "We set a final water and harvest plan, with a goal of creating the perfect outcome.
Hitting the sweet spot
Finally, about three or four months after the fruit set, Huckabee and team taste the first grapes. He says the fruit hits the perfect balance of flavors that they're hoping for. "At maturity, we are looking for sugar, pH levels, and flavors that we're targeting for a quality wine."
After the grapes are harvested, they are processed and fermentation starts. Now the expert wine palates come into play, with Sorenson, Huckabee, and the rest of the wine team regularly tasting and adjusting flavors, designing different blends, and making refinements before bottling the perfect wine.
Harry & David offers wines to match all tastes and budgets, Sorenson says. “Wine can be a bit daunting at times, but its popularity has grown and morphed, and so have the consumers," she adds, pointing to the company's deliberately diverse slate of wines that appeal to everyone from novice sippers all the way to wine aficionados.
Once the wines are bottled, Sorenson, a certified sommelier, enjoys using her expertise while working with her team to create a wide array of wine gifts. "In our gift assortment, you will find everything from fun and playful gifting like the Red Wine and Paint-By-Number Kit to gourmet wine and food pairings that have been carefully curated like the Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Pairing Collection," Sorenson says. "We aren't just producing wine; we are creating wine experiences through gifting."
Of course, like any business venture, there are challenges. Whether that's a pandemic or Mother Nature, Harry & David has embraced it.
A booster shot
The increase in demand during the pandemic led Harry & David to expand its wine business outside of Southern Oregon vineyards. Now, it sources grapes from other powerhouse wine regions of the Pacific Northwest, including Walla Walla Valley in Eastern Oregon and the Columbia Valley region of Washington state, where the reds are chosen for their rich tannins and well-balanced acids, perfect for premium wines, and the whites for the beautiful balance of flavors, aromas, acidity, and varietal characteristics, Huckabee says.
Selling wine may have been fruitful for Harry & David, but getting those bottles from "farm to cart" (shopping cart, that is) hasn't been easy the past few years. The team had to deal with climate change, particularly the lack of rainfall. These drought conditions can decrease yield and berry size, but the upside is it can potentially make for intense, concentrated red wines.
Aging well
Harry & David™ wines have become quality competitors, not just at wine festivals, but in the entire industry, and Sorenson says the plan for the future is to build on that encouraging foundation.
Two new parts of that foundation are the Appella™ brand and Royal Riviera® Pear Cider. Appella™ wines, which currently produces a cabernet sauvignon, are the height of luxury and were inspired by the beauty and complexity of Mother Nature. The Pear Cider is a refreshing new take on Harry & David’s iconic Royal Riviera® Pears. Crafted in small batches, this unique hard cider combines the sweet, delicate flavor of the brand’s famous fruit with crisp apples.
In fall 2024, Sorenson and team are launching multiple new wine brands.
"We expect to continue to see success as the program keeps growing and maturing," she says. "Our focus has not only been on growth to meet the expanding business but to also take a strong stance on the quality and consistency of our product."
AUTHOR
Joanne is a freelance writer and editor based in New York City. She's been a storyteller all her life, and she loves sharing glimpses into people's lives. Her writing has been published on Epicurious.com and in Mission magazine.