Dark Horse Comics, in collaboration with the Stoller Family Estates Winery in Portland, Oregon, presents the 2011 Hellboy Reserve Pinot Noir, set to hit our palettes and adorn our homes this Halloween, with pre-orders available right now.
Press Release: MILWAUKIE, Ore., (October 3, 2016) -- Dark Horse Comics and Portland, Oregon’s Stoller Family Estates Winery have collaborated to create the 2011 Hellboy Reserve Pinot Noir, which will be available on Halloween and is available for pre-order now.
“I can’t imagine a more fitting drink to both celebrate Mike Mignola‘s creative legacy and honor his most famous creation,” said Mike Richardson, President of Dark Horse Comics. “And it’s only fitting that the first time that fans can raise a glass of Hellboy Reserve Pinot Noir will be on Halloween.”
“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Dark Horse Comics on the special Hellboy wine,“ said Gary Mortensen, President of Stoller Family Estate. “It’s quite an honor to share our wine with such a passionate fan base and to be associated with the amazingly iconic character Hellboy.”
The 2011 Hellboy Reserve Pinot Noir is a limited edition and will only be available domestically in the United States.
About the 2011 Hellboy Reserve Pinot Noir
This is a Pinot Noir, cultivated and crafted with the same passion and intensity that Mike Mignola has brought to the creation ofHellboy for over two decades. The perfect wine to pair with the next issue of the iconic Hellboy. This special bottling is the first in theHellboy series. Our Reserve Pinot Noir is sourced from a selection of our best vineyard blocks and barrels in the cellar. It is barrel aged in French oak for 10 months prior to bottling and carefully blended from individual lots to articulate the vintage.
Vintage Overview
The 2011 growing season was one for the record books– a true miracle harvest producing age-worthy wines with remarkable color, vibrancy, and balance. Oregon’s Willamette Valley experienced the coolest spring and summer on record, so for a time it looked as though ripening would be a challenge. September brought warm, dry weather, which allowed the grapes to reach the final stage of ripening. We began harvest on October 13 and completed our latest harvest on record in early November.
The wine label for the 2011 Hellboy Reserve Pinot Noir features an illustration by legendary HELLBOY creator Mike Mignola and Eisner Award-winning colorist Dave Stewart which originally appeared as the cover for the classic comic book HELLBOY: THE SLEEPING AND THE DEAD #2.
About Dark Horse
For thirty years, Dark Horse Comics has proven to be a solid example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and establish a small, homegrown company as an industry giant. Founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson, the company is known for the progressive and creator-friendly atmosphere it provides for writers and artists. In addition to publishing comics from top talent, such as Eric Powell, Mike Mignola, Geof Darrow, Brian Wood, Gail Simone, Stan Sakai, and Guillermo del Toro, and comics legends, such as Will Eisner, Milo Manara, Kazuo Koike, Neil Gaiman, and Frank Miller, Dark Horse has developed its own successful properties, such as The Mask, Ghost, X, and Barb Wire. Its successful line of comics, manga, and products based on popular properties includes Dragon Age, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens, Conan, Tomb Raider, Halo, The Witcher, Serenity,Game of Thrones, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Today Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent comic-book publisher in the US and is recognized as one of the world’s leading entertainment publishers.
About Bill Stroller:
Bill Stroller was born here on the property and raised on the family farm outside of Dayton, Oregon. He received a degree in business and economics from Pacific University, as well as an MBA from Portland State University. In 1983, Bill co-founded Express Employment Professionals, currently the largest privately-held staffing company in the world, with over 600 offices in four countries. Additionally, in 2001, he founded Xenium, a human resources outsource company. This business success has enabled Bill to pursue his passion of wine and to contribute to his community. Bill's most prominent civic commitment was to his alma mater, as the former chair of the Pacific University Board of Trustees.
True to his Oregon upbringing, Bill sees himself as a custodian of the land he loves, and cares deeply about sustainability and environmental protection. Driven by these values, he sought to create a business that would last for the next two centuries and beyond.
When Bill acquired the family property from his cousin in 1993, many considered it to be marginal farmland at best. But Bill recognized that the rocky, well-drained Jory soil, the elevation between 300 and 650 feet, and the land’s south facing slope were all ideal for growing wine grapes.
Bill, already a veteran of the wine world thanks to his co-ownership of Chehalem Winery, planted his first ten acres each of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in 1995. He leveraged the experience of consulting viticulturists but also adapted many newer vineyard techniques in order to maximize the fruit quality.
As an ardent preservationist, Bill built from the ground up a business he could one day entrust to his great-grandchildren. This drive for sustainability earned the vineyard the first-ever LEED Gold certification in the world.
About Stoller Family Estates Farm
For Bill Stoller, purchasing the family property brought his connection to the land full circle.Having worked the land in his youth, Bill understood that the sloped, rocky terrain with its low-yielding soil, would be ideally suited for a world-class vineyard.The farm had been in the Stoller family since the 1940s when Bill’s father and uncle purchased the land to raise turkeys. Throughout the next five decades, the farm grew from a small family operation into one of Oregon’s largest. When the family farm ceased its operations in 1993, Bill seized the opportunity and acquired the land.
A Land Made for Wine
Bill’s decision to transform the family farm into a vineyard stemmed from much more than wishful thinking. With the help of Burgundian winemaker Patrice Rion and local vineyard consultants, Bill confirmed that the very factors that made this land a poor choice for turkey farming were perfect for an award-winning vineyard.Bill knew that growing vines often contradicted conventional farming logic. The rocky terrain that broke discs and plows when tilled, the southern-sloped ground that made growing wheat difficult, and the low-yielding Jory soils were all sought-after ingredients of a successful vineyard.
In 1995, Bill planted 10 acres each of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, combining the experience of consulting viticulturists with innovative vineyard techniques in order to maximize the grape’s quality. Today, in addition to these signature varieties, the vineyard also grows Pinot Gris, Riesling, Tempranillo, Syrah, and Pinot Blanc.
Tamika hails from North Beach, Maryland, a tiny town inches from the Chesapeake Bay.She knew she wanted to be an actor after reciting a soliloquy by Sojourner Truth in front of her entire fifth grade class. Since then, she's appeared in over 20 film and television projects. In addition to acting, Tamika is the Indie Spotlight manager for Daily Dead, where she brings readers news on independent horror projects every weekend.
The first horror film Tamika watched was Child's Play. Being eight years old at the time, she remembers being so scared when Chucky came to life that she projectile vomited. It's tough for her to choose only one movie as her favorite horror film, so she picked two: Nosferatu and The Stepford Wives (1975).
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