ABOUT

Byron and Dana Dooley Byron Dooley and his wife Dana toiled for years in the technology industry, working their way up the ladder in various Silicon Valley companies. But their passions lay elsewhere, and when the Internet bubble burst in 2000, they sold their house and moved to a 140-year-old, one bedroom cottage in Napa County’s Howell Mountain appellation.

While earning his viticulture and winemaking degree at Napa Valley College, Byron planted a vineyard on the property (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot), interned at respected Pinot noir producer Williams Selyem, and made his own Bordeaux-style wine from two successive vintages of Napa fruit. Meanwhile Dana launched a chocolates business based on recipes and techniques she’d developed over a 20-year period.

Byron Dooley tasting grapes from his vineyard As Byron’s graduation approached, the Dooleys began to look for an area with the potential to make outstanding wines, but still cool enough most of the year that chocolate wouldn’t melt. They were drawn to Oregon’s Willamette Valley for its beauty, climate, and world-class Pinot noir. In spring 2004 they found a property in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA with favorable slope, orientation and soil composition.

Byron planned and developed the 12-acre vineyard to take full advantage of the features that make the site so attractive for Pinot noir, while enhancing the extraordinary natural beauty of the location. At the same time he contracted with select vineyards in nearby appellations with the goal of creating a portfolio of limited production very special wines reflecting the distinct characteristics of those appellations and vineyards.

How the name 'Seven of Hearts' came to be

How the name 'Seven of Hearts' came to be

The Dooleys chose the name Seven of Hearts for this labor of love. The label on the bottle, which resembles a medieval-style playing card in the hearts suit, symbolizes Byron’s passion for the traditional Burgundian style of Pinot noir. The label’s center features a heraldic cat, representing Seven, the owners’ cat.

Dana from Honest Chocolates Meanwhile Dana opened Honest Chocolates in McMinnville, making and selling her traditional-style chocolates on the premises. In response to local demand, she developed a line of wine tasting chocolates designed to complement Pinot noir and other favorite Pacific Northwest varietals. A second Honest Chocolates opened in Newberg at the end of 2007, and the candymaking kitchen opened in Carlton in 2008, where it shares space with the Seven of Hearts tasting room.

Byron and Dana hope you will join them for the next chapter of this great adventure, by enjoying a glass of wine that reflects a very special place, the pursuit of a dream, a little luck, and a lot of heart.