Business partners and father son duo Alex and Craig Haarmeyer. (Craig Haarmeyer / Courtesy)
Craig Haarmeyer. Haarmeyer Wine Cellars mostly focuses on producing high-quality Chenin Blanc. (Craig Haarmeyer / Courtesy)
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Business partners and father son duo Alex and Craig Haarmeyer. (Craig Haarmeyer / Courtesy)
West Sacramento has always been the ideal location for Craig Haarmeyer and his family to learn winemaking and establish their own label, Haarmeyer Wine Cellars, a family-owned winery that produces a unique selection of organic wines with little to no intervention.
Haarmeyer has been immersed in the food and wine scene almost his entire life. His parents owned several restaurants in Old Sacramento, and in the late 1970s, they also opened their own wine shop above one of the restaurants.
“I grew up in my parents’ restaurants, and so my introduction to food and wine and spritz and beer started early, and I was always fascinated with that,” Haarmeyer shared.
Haarmeyer also got his first taste of commercial winemaking in the late ’90s. After returning from art school, he had the opportunity to help his friend Charles Myers at Harbor Winery during harvest season. Harbor Winery has since closed and is now home to Haarmeyer Wine Cellars.
“I didn’t really take it seriously, actually, until I started helping out here at the old Harbor Winery, which is where I got my first taste of commercial winemaking,” Haarmeyer said. “And after seeing that, I realized, ‘Oh boy, I could definitely make wine, even on a larger scale.”
In 2008, Haarmeyer Wine Cellars officially began custom crushing fruit from a vineyard in Lodi, producing wines made mostly from Spanish and Portuguese varieties.
Haarmeyer explains that they have a very minimal intervention process for their wines, doing as little as possible to correct or alter them by adding anything else. They like to treat all the wines equally.
“In other words, we don’t correct, and we don’t correct any of the chemistry when the fruit comes in. So it’s critical that the fruit is raised properly and that we get it off the vine at what we think is the right time,” Haarmeyer explains. “We process the fruit here, which means destemming or not destemming, crushing or not crushing, putting it through the press, or with reds, those don’t go in the press up front.”
Haarmeyer shares that he loves the West Sacramento space at 610 Harbor Blvd., as it has a lot of history.
“I love the space because there’s a lot of great winemaking history in this building, and the microbiome that lives here definitely puts its stamp on all the aromas and flavors of our wines in this building,” Haarmeyer says.
Haarmeyer Wine Cellars also offers a unique tasting experience, where patrons can taste directly from the barrel. Haarmeyer shares that he enjoys opening up his doors for tastings, as it is a way for people to really understand what they do.
“It’s the best way for folks to really understand what it is we’re doing. Frequently, we taste from the barrel, and people get to experience firsthand how good our wines are,” Haarmeyer said. “I think a lot of folks understand that wines of this quality can be made here and are being made here in West Sac. It can be eye-opening for a lot of folks to just witness first thing what it is we do here and hear our story, and understand that world-class lines are possible from the fruit of the Central Valley and the Foothills.”
Haarmeyer Wine Cellars is a Chenin Blanc-focused winery. Haarmeyer shares that they have five to six vineyards dedicated to Chenin Blanc production: three in the Sacramento River Delta, one in eastern Lodi, and two in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
In addition to Chenin Blanc, they also work with Wirz Vineyard in San Benito County to make a unique Riesling, produce two Zinfandels from Lodi plantings, and work with three sites for Nebbiolo. They also began working with Mokelumne Glen Vineyards to make Blaufrenkisch and a Gemischter Satz. Haarmeyer noted that they are committed to using a “low intervention” process and only working with farmers who grow their fruit organically.
However, even with all these great varieties, Haarmeyer said his favorite variety to drink is Chenin Blanc, noting how it handles oxygen and its texture.
According to Haarmeyer Wine Cellar’s website, Chenin Blanc’s naturally high acidity and its ability to handle oxidative aging make the wines “refreshing and sour in their youth and nutty and complex in their old age.”
“We have some of the highest quality Chenin Blanc being made in this country,” Haarmeyer said. “We are all over the East Coast, West Coast, middle of the country, Canada, and the UK. We produce some really light, expressive, handmade wines. We are just making the highest-quality wines we can with as little intervention as possible. They’re delicious wines and some of the best Chenins you’ll find around here.”
Haarmeyer wine products are available throughout the United States and internationally at several restaurants, bars, wine shops, and specialty stores. Locally, they can be found at Corti Brothers and Taylor’s Market in Sacramento, Nugget Markets, the Davis Food Co-op, and various wine bars in the area. In the last year of business, Haarmeyer shares that they have also been able to add new markets in places such as Colorado, Ohio, Connecticut, and Kentucky.
While there have been many benefits, for Haarmeyer, one of the best aspects of being in the wine industry is the people he gets to surround himself with. As he looks to the future, Haarmeyer said he hopes one day he can watch his kids take over from him and find it just as fulfilling as he does.
Haarmeyer Wine Cellars is open on Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. for any walk-ins and tastings or by appointment. For more information or to see the complete list of where you can find their products, visit their website at https://haarmeyerwinecellars.com/.