He may be going out on a limb here, but Judd Finkelstein believes he is the only Jewish winemaker in Napa Valley who also plays ukulele in his own Hawaiian band.
Finkelstein and his wife, Holly, represent the second generation of fun-loving Finkelsteins. His parents, Art and Bunnie Finkelstein (he a former architect, she a school teacher), left their sedate L.A. existence back in 1979 to start Whitehall Lane, a Napa winery that flourished in the 1980s and 1990s.
Now the family runs Judd’s Hill, a winery that specializes in micro-crush wines. Micro-wha? It’s the Finkelsteins’ way of democratizing winemaking: Anyone can come on down and custom-make their own barrel or two using Judd Hill grapes.
“We are the only folks who do it on this scale,” says Judd of their micro-crush business. “We do a half-ton minimum, equaling one big barrel or 24 cases, on up to eight tons.”
Some clients come out and crush the grapes themselves, adds Holly. “They can be involved to whatever level they choose. They get involved with the packaging, they design their own label. There are a lot of steps.”
The Finkelsteins make their own wines, too, and will throw a party March 11 to celebrate the release of the new Judd’s Hill Cabernet, Petite Sirah and Pinot Noir vintages. Providing musical entertainment at the shindig will be the Makai Gents, a Hawaiian band led by the couple, aka Iuka Grogg and the Mysterious Miss Mauna Loa.
The Makai Gents don’t play the ancient chants of the native Polynesians, nor do they play the mellow noodlings of modern-day slack key guitarists.
They play the straight-up hookielau and grass-skirt melodies circa 1940. Put on the band’s debut CD, “The Wiki Wiki Grog Shop,” and you half-expect Japanese fighter planes to buzz overhead or Don Ho to stroll by with a mai tai in hand.
“I was throwing a luau for my 30th birthday,” recalls Judd, 33, of the band’s origins. “I said to my buddy, ‘Let’s learn a few Hawaiian tunes.’ We played and Holly danced. Everyone loved it, and the resort asked us back. So now we have a steel guitar player and we play winery events and bar mitzvahs.”
And they recorded their CD, which features 17 Hawaiian standards as well as few originals (songs that he says offer “a romantic vision of Hawaii’s golden age of tourism”). Included in the liner notes are recipes for a couple of rum-laced drinks guaranteed to knock you down faster than the trade winds atop Mount Haleakala.
For Makai Gents concerts, Holly, 32, dons a grass skirt when she assumes her Mauna Loa persona (named of course after the still-active volcano on the Big Island). She is an accomplished hula dancer, having studied privately.
The Finkelsteins clearly take their multitasking seriously, and that includes their involvement with the local Jewish community. Judd spent most of his youth in Napa, with the family belonging to Congregation Beth Sholom. Holly grew up in Orange County, but the two met at a retreat for Jewish young adults at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute near Los Angeles.
She was an MBA candidate hoping to go into the world of nonprofit organizations. He was a wine brat who grew up in the vineyards, yet studied for a career in television production. After they met and fell in love, they chucked everything for the world of the noble grape.
“After I met Judd,” she recalls, “I began going up to Napa, educating myself in wine.”
He remembers those days well. “Holly took a week vacation from work and came up for harvest,” he says. “We put her to work. She was on the sorting table pulling leaves, sorting grapes, helping us crush and press. We had her on the back of a trailer shoveling out pumice in 100-degree weather, saying, ‘This is so fun.'”
The couple moved to Napa in 2004 to help expand the family business. They say now is a great time to be in the region due to a “resurgence in interest in wine.”
Though based in St. Helena for the past 16 years, the family business is relocating to a new facility on Napa’s Silverado Trail. It includes a new winery and a 20-acre vineyard, mostly of Pinot grapes. The new Judd’s Hill winery will be open for visitors by appointment only. (“That’s the only way to get a permit,” Judd explains. “There are high barriers to new people in this business.”)
The couple remain active in the Jewish community, especially at Congregation Beth Sholom and with Holly on the Brandeis-Bardin board. They have no kids yet, but with all that grape crushing and hula dancing, who has time for babies?
“We are passionate people with great spirits of adventure,” says Holly. “We love to experience as much of life’s excitement as we can possibly squeeze in.”
“The Wiki Wiki Grog Shop” CD by the Makai Gents is available for $15 at www.juddshill.com.
Judd’s Hill new vintages release party, with the Makai Gents, takes place 2 p.m. Saturday, March 11 at the Vintner’s Collective, 1245 Main St., Napa. Tickets: $25. Information: (707) 255-7150.