Mar 24, 2008

Vintage year

Wife plants vines to fulfill paralyzed husband's dream

By Kristina Peterson / Daily News Staff Writer

Each spring, the tallest plant in Jane and Henry Evans' Palo Alto Hills garden is an unwieldy clump of rhubarb.

But the family's backyard also produced 53 bottles of wine this year, the first vintage from Hevans Winery -- a name that combines Henry's first initial and last name.

"We were really expecting cooking wine," Jane Evans said. So when the family tasted their first crop of wine, the result surprised them with its smoothness.

When the Evans donated six bottles to a fundraiser for St. Nicholas school in Los Altos, along with tickets for lunch on the Napa wine train, the package sold for more than $5,000 in the live auction.

"It was the hit of the night," said family friend Liz Frazier.

For years, Henry Evans had wanted to grow his own wine. But when a sudden stroke in 2002 left him mostly paralyzed from the neck down, he let the idea fade away, his wife said.

"Henry's dream was always to have a winery," she said.

So Jane Evans called up Thomas Fogarty Winery, located in the Santa Cruz Mountains, to see if they could help.

Winemaker Mike Martella said when he first came to visit their house, he thought the site would be too difficult.

"I tried talking them out of it, but Henry wouldn't take no for an answer," Martella said. "He's extremely passionate about growing grapes."

Prevailing over Martella's doubts, Jane enlisted the youngest two of their four children to help plant the small plot with vines of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, gewurztraminer and most recently, petite sirah grapes.

Fogarty viticulturist Julio Deras came by the house often to check on the grapes and advise the family when to pick them. In October, the Evans had their first harvest.

"It was small enough to do by hand," Henry said, communicating by looking at letters on a translucent board, which Jane quickly translated into words.

The wine fermented in five-gallon tanks inside their house, where they also bottled the wine and marked the bottles using Office Depot labels with a photo of their backyard, shot by Jane.

"It's all [due to] her," Henry said.

As a gift to his wife, last year Henry ordered 2,000 daffodil bulbs and enlisted local children, his parents and family friends to plant them for Jane, who loves flowers.

"When we were first married, Henry would say flowers are a waste of money," she laughed. "Now, he's already seeing the spots where he wants to order more."

The couple, who will have been married for 21 years in May, met in high school in St. Louis, Mo.

"I'm an identical twin and she kept on telling me, 'I think he's the one for you,'" Jane said. The couple dated while she attended convent school where "we were never allowed to sit on a couch alone together."

They got engaged on Henry's birthday "so he would never forget the date," Jane laughed.

The Evans moved to California so Henry could attend Stanford's Graduate School of Business. He later served as the chief financial officer of several start-ups, while Jane worked in public relations. In 2002, Henry was suddenly paralyzed in a stroke caused by an unknown birth defect.

After emerging from a coma, Henry used a skill he picked up during his time abroad as a student to play a small prank when experts tried to see if he could still communicate.

"I said 'He's not gone, he's just talking in German,'" Jane said, as Henry chortled.

Frazier, a nurse for 25 years, said she has rarely witnessed a couple who has weathered such vicissitudes.

"It's so tough and yet they're a joyous couple to be around," she said.

When Henry disagrees with her, Jane teases him, "Yep, you see the stroke affected your brain."



E-mail Kristina Peterson at

kpeterson@dailynewsgroup.com.