They made it on the grapevine

Eight years ago Dale and Hugh Morris packed their bags and swapped their island life in Bermuda for the vineyards of California.

Their dream of creating a unique and successful brand of wine in the Pasa Robles valley has quickly taken shape.

It has seen hundreds of bottles of Wild Hogge shipped back to Bermuda, while the US label of the same wine, Jade Moon, has taken the west coast by storm.

And just last month, the couple’s 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon beat a host of top names to pick up a Silver Medal in the central coast wine tasting competition in San Luis Obispo.

Mrs Morris told the Bermuda Sun: “It is very exciting for us when our wines come out on top ahead of some of the real big names in the wine world.

“We have had our wines in big international competitions too and we have only won Silver or Gold, which is pretty good considering we are up against wines from throughout the world.

“We strive for quality and have been fortunate to had some success there.”

Mr and Mrs Morris met in Bermuda where he worked as an anesthetist at the hospital and she worked on organizing a Master’s partnership for the Department of Education with a US college.

They lived together in Bermuda for a decade before leaving the island in 2005 to pursue their winemaking dreams.

Mrs Morris said: “My heart is still in Bermuda.

“We both loved our time on the island and we love the fact that we supply the Wild Hogge to the island and that it can’t be bought anywhere else in the world.

“These days we send around 300 to 400 cases of the Wild Hogge to the island every year and it has done well.

“But we are fortunate too as our local brand has also made quite an impact in the local market and many restaurants have now chosen to stock it.”

Mr Morris added: “It started off as a very small venture but has gone a lot better than we anticipated.

“Harvest is always a busy time and we are lucky to have a beautiful climate here.

“We have also been fortunate that our wines have done very well in the local competitions.”