Dominus Estate
My favorite vineyard love story is the one Christian Moueix told me maybe twenty years ago. In his 20s, having recently graduated from UC Davis in the late 1960s/early 70s, the nearby region of Napa Valley caught his eye. This was back when Napa was a one-horse town, and Yountville wished it had a horse.…
Read MoreHeitz Cellar
In 1961, Joe Heitz and his wife Alice purchased a small winery and vineyard in St. Helena and established their Heitz label. A protégé of André Tchelistcheff, Joe Heitz became one of Napa Valley’s most legendary figures, helping to build the region’s reputation today. He was the first to put the name of a single…
Read MoreMacDonald
Few vineyard names in Napa Valley are as well-known as To Kalon. One of the first sites planted to wine grapes in the region, parts of the vineyard have consistently produced wine for more than a century. Established from 1868 to 1899 by H. W. Crabb, the purported original boundaries consist of over 400 acres—roughly…
Read MoreDalla Valle Estate
Purchased as a virgin piece of land by Gustav and Naoko Dalla Valle in the early 1980s, Dalla Valle’s vineyard is one of the most enviable sites in Oakville. It’s perched on a geological bench of red, iron-rich soils within the Vaca Mountains’ foothills on the valley’s eastern side, at an altitude of 400-500 feet.…
Read MoreHillwalker Vineyards
In 2017, Wall Street banker Kevin Morrison bought a house and 25 acres of land in a remote, forested location on Mt. Veeder in Napa Valley. It included five acres of Cabernet Sauvignon vines. “I have always been happiest outdoors but, ironically, spent the past 35 years in planes, New York City, or other large…
Read MoreFortunate Son
“When I build a wine, I think about its balance. I think about its ability to resist time. You want wine to live beyond your own generation, but it also has to be delicious and complex straight out of the gate.” – Jayson Woodbridge Fortunate Son is owned by Jayson and Helen Woodbridge…
Read MoreContinuum Estate
I can’t let sorrow Try and pull ol’ Frankie down Live for tomorrow I have found you I’m going straight up to the top Up where the air is fresh and clean – Tom Waits “You know why Baron Phillippe de Rothschild wanted to do Opus One with my father?” Tim Mondavi recently…
Read MoreHundred Acre
“When I create something, the wine tells me what to do. I don’t tell the wine what to do.” – Jayson Woodbridge “I’m a direct descendent of Jacques Cartier, the cartographer,” Jayson Woodbridge tells me, seemingly apropos of nothing. But nothing is random or out of context with Jayson. For example, he describes Cartier…
Read MoreColgin Cellars
For those that know Ann Colgin—a highly discerning art expert and philanthropist with a no-nonsense Texan drawl—her namesake estate was destined to go big from the moment she put her mind to founding it in the early 1990s. A former director of Sotheby’s West Coast Wine Department in Los Angeles, Ann’s inaugural releases from Colgin…
Read MoreEisele Vineyard
Eisele Vineyard is a key piece of Napa Valley history. Located off Pickett Road in Calistoga, within the gentle slopes extending from the Vaca Mountains foothills, the vineyard was first planted to vines in the 1880s. It weathered the devastating phylloxera outbreak and prohibition, finding a new lease of life when it was purchased in…
Read MoreMayacamas Vineyards
It begins to rain as I drive up Mount Veeder along Lokoya Road. From where I’ve come, down on the valley floor, it’s a bone-dry March day. Rain was not in the forecast, but mountains have minds of their own. Before long, the narrow, potholed road turns to a slurry of slick rocks and thick…
Read MoreBlankiet Estate
Land has an ability to evoke emotions. It can conjure a sense of tranquility, inspire joy, instill foreboding, awaken memories. This is partly why a wine of singularity draws me to its source. Not that a vineyard’s vibe directly translates into the character of the wine, but it helps build the picture, enriching the sensory…
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