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At about the end of December I came across an interesting item on the Wine Spectator Web Page that brought back some memories for me. Joe Heitz, one of Californias early and leading winemakers died on December 18th. The reason for my interest is that, believe it or not, I met him on two different occasions. The first was right here in what is now Billys Bar and Grill. A lady named Helen Cutter DeLong bought and restored this building which was originally The Jackson Hotel after it had stood empty for several years. She studied cooking and wine here and in France before opening a real honest-to-goodness gourmet restaurant right here in Anoka. One of her promotional events was a wine tasting featuring wines from Napa Valley with Joe Heitz and his wife as featured guests. My wife even persuaded me to get his autograph. We were all immensely impressed at the time and foresaw great things for the restaurant. Those expectations disappeared when Mrs. DeLong died during a heart operation. If I remember correctly, there were two or three intervening ventures in the space before Billys
began and became the success that it is today.
My other encounter with Joe Heitz was at his own winery. Cheryl and I and another couple visited Napa one October in the early 80s. We had written ahead to arrange a visit to the Heitz Winery since it was not open regularly for tours and tastings like so many others were. We arrived at the appointed time and were guided through the tour by his daughter. Along the way our friend Denny lagged behind the rest of us a bit to look more carefully at some aspect of the process. Suddenly he was confronted by Joe Heitz who brusquely ordered him to move along and get back with the rest of the group. We eventually learned that we had simply found out first hand what everyone in the wine industry already knew. Joe Heitz was a grumpy impatient old goat in spite of his reputation as an outstanding winemaker.
Nevertheless, the Jackson Hotel restaurant was wonderful during its short existence and I wouldnt have missed seeing the Heitz winery and tasting those amazing wines for anything.
 
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