Grapevine reaching out
Thirst for a Cause raises money for hospitality community.
When Thirst for a Cause kicks off its 10th anniversary celebration on Aug. 15, Tricia Bump Davis will be there for the 12th consecutive time.
Yes, the event actually started two years before the now-official name, and Davis, general manager of Darms Lane winery, has never missed a year.
“We love being a part of Thirst for a Cause,” Bump Davis said. “It’s a great cause and we’ve been proud to be involved from the very beginning.”
Bump Davis is the daughter of Larry Bump, a Tulsa resident who worked most of his career in the oil pipeline business. Born in Fairfax, Larry Bump’s father worked the oil field, so the vocation seemed a natural choice for his son. The younger Bump worked a year off and a year on for eight years, attending and graduating from Oklahoma State University in the off years.
“After school, he went to work for H.C. Price Company — the company that has the Frank Lloyd Wright tower in Bartlesville,” Bump Davis said. “He was assigned overseas, and that’s where our family really encountered wine.”
Bump worked many years overseas, and his family traveled extensively, especially in Europe. Bump Davis remembers wine being on the table often, not as a means to overindulge or party, but just as a component of the dining experience.
In 1990, Bump had a chance to buy into a Napa Valley property, and he joined in a partnership to acquire Crichton Hall Vineyard, now known as Darms Lane, after the half-mile street in Napa’s Oak Knoll district on which it is situated.
“I think growing up in Oklahoma gave my father an appreciation for farming, for the agricultural life,” Bump Davis said. “Our family loved wine, but I do think the farming aspect attracted him to the decision to get into winemaking.”
By 2003, the Bump family had acquired full ownership of Darms Lane by buying out previous partners. It was the same year that current winemaker Brian Mox joined the team.
He has been making Darms Lane wine ever since, and the property, once home to only chardonnay vines, now produces cabernet sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot as well.
The red wines under the Darms Lane label are all made from grapes grown on the family’s estate. The chardonnay is a blend of estate fruit and fruit acquired from neighboring Trefethen Family Vineyards. In 2010, the family started producing a Russian River Pinot Noir under the Darms Lane label.
“We make about 400 cases of Pinot a year, and that’s mainly because my father likes to drink Pinot Noir,” Bump Davis said. “We’ll be pouring the 2015 Pinot at Thirst for a Cause this year.”
In addition to the Pinot, the 2016 chardonnay and 2014 Bon Passe cabernet sauvignon — the signature wine of the estate — will also be available at Thirst for a Cause. So, too, will Fortune 1621, a cabernet sauvignon made under the winery’s second label. The name is an homage to the first Bump in the “New World,” Edward Bonpasse, who arrived at Plymouth on the Fortune in that same year. The Fortune was the second ship to arrive at Plymouth, after the Mayflower.
“Every year, we have some cabernet sauvignon that has a different flavor profile than what goes into Bon Passe Cabernet,” Bump Davis said. “I used to sell it off, but I kept seeing it on shelves under different labels, and I realized we might as well use it for our own second label.”
Darms Lane will be one of more than 40 wineries and import portfolios at this year’s Thirst for a Cause, held at 4040 N. Lincoln Blvd. Ten local restaurants, including Boulevard Steakhouse, Café 7, Cafe 501, Canvas, Paseo Grill, McClintock Saloon and Chophouse, Packard's New American Grill, The Pritchard, Sushi Neko, and Vast, will serve food at the charity event.
Proceeds go to help members of the hospitality industry who have urgent medical needs. The fund is administered by the Oklahoma Restaurant Association. Tickets for the event, which runs from 6:30 to 9 p.m., are $75 in advance ($89 at the door) and can be purchased at www.thirstforacause.com.