Napa Wine Made From Old Vine Petite Sirah, The Grape That Once Dominated Napa Valley

Sheep in vineyards
Photo Credit: Jimmy Hayes, JBH Photography

Ten years. Ten years to get a vine just right, according to the heritage way of growing premium wine grapes.

First, the rootstock goes into the soil. Two years later, the vine is grafted onto the rootstock. Six years of getting advice from four well-known viticulturists, one of them a PhD who is a leader in her field of research, with the most experienced vineyard workers meticulously pruning and shaping these bush vines (also called goblet vines because they should be shaped like a goblet cup). Then, after the shape of these bush vines resembles some of the grand old goblet vines of the world, it takes two more years to bring it to an ideal balance of fruit-producing potential through future management in the vineyards.

“In another 30 to 40 years, people will come to the valley and have no idea what old vineyards look like,” explained Palisades Canyon co-owner Steve Rasmussen.

Felicia Woytak
Photo Credit: Jimmy Hayes, JBH Photography

Steve is speaking about the old heritage bush vines that his area of Napa Valley is known for, currently the steward to some of the most precious Petite Sirah old bush vines that top Napa producers have cherished for years. As the old vines around his valley start to get past their prime where they can no longer produce, forcing owners to pull them out, they will be replaced by trellised vines that are more in line with modern practices that help mechanize a lot of the work in the vineyards. But he and his wife, Felicia Woytak, bought their Palisades Canyon property with the primary focus on preserving the heritage style of growing grapes and conserving their 796-acre property as a whole. So, when it came to the vineyards on the property, they would protect those precious, old heritage bush vines but also go through the decade long process of replanting in the heritage style, which would need many years of detailed work to get t796-acre propertyestthe vines to the perfect place, creating an ideal growing zone for the fruit before they could even get the vines where they wanted them for making ultra-premium wine. 

Old Petite Sirah Vine
Photo Credit: Jimmy Hayes, JBH Photography

Steve fully admits that it has been Felicia leading the charge when it comes to taking on the massive challenge of making sure to not only restore the vineyards to what they looked like over 100 years ago, but also, to insist that the new bush vines are not only for show, as she would go to any length to make sure these new heritage vines lived up to their much older siblings. Today their estate, Palisades Vineyard, is only 17 acres, as they would like to keep it small to continue their meticulous work and to carry on the organic management of the whole vineyard.

Palisades Canyon

Whole Vineyard
Photo Credit: Jimmy Hayes, JBH Photography

It has been a long journey for Felicia to find the ideal property, which would incorporate her love for nature, being an adventurous camper and whitewater rafter for decades, her dedication to protecting wildlife and its habitat, her and her husband’s devotion to education and her deep passion for wine. She already had a highly accomplished career in male-dominated industries when she started in the 1990s, navigating herself through Silicon Valley and then making a mark for herself by having her own successful brokerage for commercial real estate. Despite her husband Steve having a very successful career as a mathematics publisher, he makes no bones that Felicia’s incredible financial success makes purchasing Palisades Canyon possible and why they can go to great lengths to keep heritage viticulture alive.

Bush-trained vines during the fog in the Palisades Vineyard
Photo Credit: Jimmy Hayes, JBH Photography

Steve and Felicia moved out to Berkeley in the ‘80s and have been part of the wine community ever since. Noting how well they know Napa, as well as Felicia being well-versed in how the real estate market works with every self-proclaimed “dream” property hardly ever living up to its proclamation, one can imagine that it is saying something that when Felicia first visited the Palisades Canyon property, in Calistoga, she was so overwhelmed with the powerful feelings of falling in love with the property that tears started to stream down her face. And they do not take for granted for one moment how lucky they are to have such a place, as they allow educational programs to give kids first-hand experiences with geology, watershed study, regenerative farming practices and allow them to hike their 15-mile hiking path and meet their goats and llama. They especially like to invite lower-income kids and their families to come and enjoy their beautiful property.

Among all these great achievements and incredible projects that give back to the community, they have some of the most sought-after Petite Sirah grapes—despite once being the most planted grape in Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon eventually prevailed with its association with Bordeaux fine wines in France. Hence, Cabernet Sauvignon is king in Napa today, with very few growers making premium Petite Sirah.

Petite Sirah is not a variant of the Syrah grape; it has been identified through DNA testing as the Durif grape variety found in Southern France. It has small berries and makes wine with lots of structure and deep concentration. The best are multifaceted, extremely complex wines.

A Rare Breed

Steve Rasmussen, Felicia Woytak and Graeme MacDonald in the vineyards
Photo Credit: Jimmy Hayes, JBH Photography

One day, they were introduced to winemaker Graeme MacDonald, who was fascinated by the history of the property which was first planted with vines in the 1870s, thrilled to look at the head-trained, dry-farmed old Petite Sirah vines and to see their “ghost” winery, which is a rare sight, as these wineries were built from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, during the winemaking boom, so very few still exist.

Graeme MacDonald knows about outstanding, historic vineyards as he is a fourth-generation Napa Valley grape grower and winemaker whose grandparents sold grapes from their property, which became part of the legendary Robert Mondavi To-Kalon Vineyard bottling. After spending some time with Felicia and Steve, all three decided that they would collaborate to make Palisades Canyon wines, creating a small amount of the estate Petite Sirah as well as estate Cabernet Sauvignon (blended with a bit of estate Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) and the lesser-known white, estate Chenin Blanc, which are all bush-trained under strict heritage guidelines.

Palisades Canyon’s estate with vines near a creek
Photo Credit: Jimmy Hayes, JBH Photography

Felicia admires the top Chenin Blanc ultra-premium wines from South Africa. She feels that the grapes do well in their valley with a good amount of heat, and the bush-trained vines help to keep an ideal balance of retaining plenty of that crisp freshness that Chenin Blanc is known for.

Considering its lack of prestige combined with the difficulty of growing an ideally ripened Petite Sirah grape, one would have thought that the grape would have vanished entirely from Napa Valley, where Cabernet Sauvignon and other grapes are more of a guarantee and do not need to be babied in the vineyards like Petite Sirah. But it still stands in the magnificent Palisades Vineyard. The same can be said about a woman fighting to carve her path in commercial real estate in one of the most competitive markets in the U.S. when male-owned and run businesses had no interest in hiring a woman for anything other than an administrative assistant. By all accounts, she should have crawled in a hole and just disappeared, yet instead, she was able to get female bankers to give her loans so she could buy those properties herself, work for herself and succeed all by herself.

Some rare breeds are hard to wipe out as they find a way to survive, as important people realize their potential, that they are something special, and ultimately become victorious.

Link to original Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2024/06/28/old-vine-napa-wine-made-from-petite-sirah-the-grape-that-once-dominated-napa-valley/

2021 Palisades Canyon, Petite Sirah
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd
2021 Palisades Canyon, Chenin Blanc
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

2021 Palisades Canyon, Chenin Blanc, Calistoga, Napa Valley: 100% Chenin Blanc from organically-farmed Palisades Vineyard. A serious white wine that shows all the uniquely fine qualities of Chenin with an extremely complex bouquet of honeysuckle, dried hay and intense minerality with deliciously rich flavors of apple strudel and quince paste balanced by mouthwatering acidity. A real stunner!

2021 Palisades Canyon, Cabernet Sauvignon Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

2021 Palisades Canyon, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley: 95.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.6% Cabernet Franc and 0.2% Petit Verdot from organically-farmed Palisades Vineyard. Beautiful nose with lovely violet aromas with blueberry scones and an intriguing underlying note of graphite that has sculpted tannins that are finely pixelated with classic Cab flavors such as tobacco and blackcurrant with a distinctive sense of place with a persistent finish that has lots of finesse.

2021 Palisades Canyon, Petite Sirah, Calistoga, Napa Valley: 100% Petite Sirah from organically-farmed Palisades Vineyard. A profoundly seductive nose that is dark and brooding with blackberry liqueur, licorice and asphalt with a delectably dense palate filled with wild cherry cordial and subtle nuances of baking spices and black tea that has an impressive texture that is round and plush yet delicately etched to give shape and drive to the finish.

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Cabernet Franc Wine From One Of The Most Famous Vineyards In Napa Valley

2021 Lithology, Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, Cabernet Franc
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

The sun gave a warm glow to some of the most precious vines in California, those which safely sit between the sheltering protection of the Vaca and Mayacamas mountains in the historic wine region of Napa Valley. It was planted with wine grapes over 150 years ago  and would eventually be called To Kalon, the Greek name for the ‘highest beauty’. This illustrious vineyard makes some of the most outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon wines in the world and a small section is planted to Cabernet Franc, a parent of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. But like all the greatest vineyards in the world, not all sections are the same. So, many times, different wine producers who are lucky enough to be allocated sections of the prestigious To Kalon vineyard will prefer particular parcels.

Beckstoffer La Piedras Vineyard
Photo Credit: Lithology

Alejandro Bulgheroni, an Argentinian businessman investing in making fine wine of the highest caliber for the past couple of decades, decided to establish a winery named Lithology in Napa Valley. It is aptly named since it refers to the study of the physical characteristics of rocks. Alejandro wants this project to express some of the best terroir (sense of place) in Napa by selecting ideal sections of the best vineyards. He brought on winemaking consultants Philippe Melka and Michel Rolland, living legends with long track records of expressing the top plots’ most outstanding, unique qualities worldwide. And Philippe brought on a relatively new winemaker he met a decade ago named Matt Sands, who lives and breaths these soils.

Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard
Photo Credit: Lithology

The single-vineyard wines that Lithology produces are a who’s who of dream Napa Valley plots such as Beckstoffer Dr. Crane, Beckstoffer Las Piedras and Beckstoffer To Kalon. Vineyard owner Andy Beckstoffer not only owns some of the most prized plots but also knows how to farm them in an ideal way for ultra-superior wines. And so, seeing his name precede the vineyard name gives more validity to the quality of the terroir expression.

Thrillingly, Lithology not only makes a Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon but also a Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Franc.

To Kalon Vineyard

Michel Rolland and Philippe Melka in the vineyards
Photo Credit: Lithology

Of course, not everyone gets offered sections of Beckstoffer’s To Kalon because there is more than just money on the line, as Beckstoffer has an impressive reputation built on the fact that all the wines that have his name on their label can distill the exquisite qualities from his envious sites, or another way to say it, he has to make sure a wine producer doesn’t mess up his precious grapes in the winery. It comes down to trust and relationships, and he certainly can trust two living legends he knows so well, Philippe Melka and Michel Rolland, and he can also trust Philippe’s recognition of Matt Sands as a winemaker with great potential.

Matt is a very forthright winemaker who hesitates to talk about things in the vineyards that are still unknown. Still, he has undoubtedly spent a significant amount of time for almost a decade walking these sites and making wine from them under the guidance of the greats in the industry. He notes that the section they mainly source from in the Beckstoffer portion located “in the heart” of To Kalon has a “great rock to dirt balance” and that the fog comes in earlier in that Beckstoffer’s section and leaves later in the day, so there are more cooling influences compared to what he has witnessed in other areas. Also, year in and year out, he realized that in much of the section they work with, the vines grow slower than the more vigorous ones surrounding them. It was surprising to him that they consistently harvest their To Kalon vines anywhere from two to three weeks later than their St. Helena vineyards.

Matt Sands in the vineyards
Photo Credit: Lithology

Matt is always struck by the overall harmonious quality and depth of complexity of the wines he has made from Beckstoffer’s sections, as the grapes have a much longer time to slowly ripen on the vines creating silky tannins, rich concentration with multilayered aromatics.

During 2021, they worked with eleven blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon and two blocks of Cabernet Franc in the To Kalon vineyard. Through time, they passed over blocks and picked up other ones given up by other producers to finally collect the To Kalon parcels that work for them. Not that some are better than others but they are trying to find complementary parcels to produce wines that find that delicate balance between elegance and power.

Regarding the 2021 Lithology Cabernet Franc from this incredible site, he talked about allowing some of the herbal characteristics to come through but fleshed out by the “fruitfulness” that To Kalon can bring out in this grape.

Undiscovered Gem

When it comes to Matt’s wine journey, he is just as refreshingly honest as he is about the wines he makes. He is a native of New Zealand’s Waiheke Island and found his way to California through snowboarding. Although he received a fantastic education at the Eastern Institute of Technology, his real education was working for David Evans at Passage Rock Winery on Waiheke Island, a pioneer in Bordeaux-blend and Syrah wines, which has a small, devoted following of wine drinkers. Matt has done every job in the vineyards and the winery for four years and he considers it his boot camp, working with a small production, fine wine producer.

Cabernet Sauvignon vine in Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard
Photo Credit: Lithology

He decided to work in California during his downtime as the Southern Hemisphere, where New Zealand is located, has an opposite growing season to that of California in the Northern Hemisphere and he decided to send out about 100 emails to a range of Napa producers. He had no contacts and didn’t go to a world-renowned school such as U.C. Davis. Moreover, he came from an island with a population of less than 10,000, so only ten people responded to his emails; seven told him no. Still, three gave him offers to work the harvest and one of those came from the original cult wine, Screaming Eagle where he would end up working, and the following year, he would spend a harvest at Bryant Family Vineyard. Bryant was awarded two 100-point scores for their Cabernet Sauvignon from the Wine Advocate, and is where he met Philippe Melka.

There are some things that can’t be taught, that are just innate in a person, and so some have the theory that it is better to look for those qualities instead of trying to check off boxes of skills on a resume, making sure the person went to a particular school or came from a certain place. Philippe saw something in Matt, and when Alejandro Bulgheroni’s Lithology project started in 2015, he recommended Matt as the full-time winemaker.

Lithology only makes a minuscule quantity of each single vineyard bottling. For the most part, it is sold directly from the winery. Still, they make around 1,600 cases of their Napa Valley blend Cabernet Sauvignon that will be available in select retailers and restaurants. When asked if Lithology is still looking for other exceptional vineyards to make a more comprehensive selection of single-vineyard bottlings, Matt says they are always looking for great sites. Still, it is an “internal struggle” as those vineyards have an extremely high bar to live up to, considering they need to be of the same stature as the extraordinary ones currently making up their single vineyard selection. But they look at the known and unknown sites, tasting and making wine from various plots, hoping to find the next superstar in the lineup.

Ideally, it would be wonderful if they found an undiscovered gem. Just like Philippe Melka recognized innate gifts in Matt even though he lacked a superficial pedigree, the same could be true for a Napa Valley vineyard that has not been given the love and attention that it deserves; another iconic vineyard – another To Kalon – but with a different expression of terroir, that has been overlooked for all these years. It just takes the right people to find it, and perhaps Philippe and Matt are the ones who will do it.

Link to original Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2024/06/20/cabernet-franc-wine-from-one-of-the-most-famous-vineyards-in-napa-valley/

2021 Lithology, Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, Cabernet Franc
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

2021 Lithology, Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, Cabernet Franc, Oakville, Napa Valley: 81% Cabernet Franc and 19% Cabernet Sauvignon. Delightful, fragrant aromas of blooming violets, Morello cherries, fresh tree bark and hints of smoldering cigar, all laced in an intense stony minerality with lush raspberry liqueur flavors balanced by an undertone of blackcurrant leaves with a very velvety texture reminiscent of big silky ribbons caressing the palate with a superb length of flavor.

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One Of The Best Wines In A Classic Region Improves A Lesser Known Estate

Sunset at Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Photo Credit: Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

“Calm down, stop growing. Focus on ripening the fruit.”

These are the words that winemaker Nicolas Glumineau tells some of his vines, the ones with too much vigor – placing too much energy into growing leaves at the expense of neglecting the grapes. But he doesn’t communicate it with words or music or give it artificial chemicals. Only one teaspoon, four grams, of natural sand called silica is needed to spray two-and-a-half acres and, like magic, the results are immediate: the vine relaxes and stops growing the canopy so it can place all its efforts giving energy to ripen grapes in a balanced way, including the skins and seeds, to turn these grapes into outstanding fine wine. It is a communication between the farmer and the vines that is beyond the scientific knowledge that Nicolas has gained over decades, as he hasn’t found one scientific book that explains this process.

How does it work? Just don’t ask. I just don’t know,” says Nicolas.

Making a Top Wine Better

As a young man who was determined to learn everything he could about the science of growing wine grapes and winemaking, working his way up through top châteaux in Bordeaux, he could have never guessed that he would one day surrender to employing practices that he could never understand. But with age, one goes beyond knowledge and comes into wisdom, letting go of the idea that everything needs to be understood. He is happy as long as he sees the improvement in the vineyards with his own eyes and, more importantly, tastes the improvement in the finished wines. He is unsure if he will ever understand why a tablespoon of silica, a biodynamic preparation, can communicate with the vines in such a direct and precise way.

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande during the day Photo Credit: Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Nicolas, general manager as well as winemaker at Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (a Second Growth also known as Château Pichon-Lalande), in the world-famous appellation of Pauillac in the region of Bordeaux in France, has been able to achieve over the past six reviewed vintages, 2016-2022, four 100-point wines for this incredible château, that has made great wines before Nicolas. Still, somehow, he has consistently brought the wines to the next level. Part of it is a new winery facility where they can practice more artisanal practices by fermenting smaller plots from the vineyard. Still, the precision in the vineyards is remarkable, staying on top of every tiny section of their vineyards to give each vine exactly what it needs while becoming organic in the process, and now, practicing biodynamics- something Nicolas, at one time, could have never imagined that he would be a part of.

Château de Pez

Château de Pez and its estate vineyards
Photo Credit: GUNTHER VICENTE

The owners of Château Pichon-Lalande, the Rouzaud family, also owns Château de Pez, located in the appellation of Saint-Estèphe, north of Pauillac in the Left Bank of Bordeaux. The area hasn’t had a long, illustrious history like Pauillac, which is known for some of the most outstanding wines in the world, as there are a couple of problems. First, the main road that goes up to all the grand chateaux in the Left Bank ends in the area of Pauillac. One has to turn onto a tiny side road to even get to the estates in Saint-Estèphe, so it is off-the-beaten-track, but most notably, as many drink these wines without ever visiting Bordeaux, the fierce structure with higher acidity and lots of rugged tannins, that traditionally was kindly referred to as “sinewy,” was an unpleasant aspect for some wine drinkers.

Nicolas Glumineau trying grapes in the vineyard Photo Credit: Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Nicolas Glumineau has taken the same extraordinary practices for Château Pichon-Lalande and brought them to Château de Pez, refining them for the different terroir (weather, soil and aspect) to ideally match that estate, and has been able to bring a significant improvement to wines that are an utter bargain on the market and introduced a 2nd selection of Château de Pez simply called “2nd Pez” with a modern label which would have also been unheard of for a traditionally minded Bordeaux wine producer. But at this stage, Nicolas and his team are challenging themselves to make the top wine in the region as well as having a better connection to a wider range of wine consumers.

Intense care in the vineyards
Photo Credit: Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

But a few estates in Saint-Estèphe have, in recent times, learned to tame those sinewy tannins. Certainly, Mother Nature has helped with warmer temperatures, making sure that all the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are fully ripe, as opposed to in the past, when it was impossible to ripen one of the main grape varieties for the Left Bank, leaving under-ripe skins and seeds that gave green notes and tough texture in the wines. But today, some in Saint-Estèphe, such as Château de Pez, have been able to bring a finer quality to the structure of these wines and allow the special attributes of this area, such as an intense spiciness and minerality, to come through the wines making them no longer a Bordeaux wine that one bought because it is a lot less expensive, but instead, a wine that some drinkers prefer because they love that spicy, mineral quality and the lower price is just an added benefit.

Even though getting the right lovely quality of tannins involves not over-extracting too much from the grapes’ skins and seeds, a major factor goes back to the vineyards. Again, the intense attention to detail paid to the vines and what each one tells Nicolas and his team is the primary key to making a harmonious, balanced wine with aromatic complexity and exceptional quality tannins.

Nature Has the Answers

Günzian gravel in vineyards formed during the Günz Glacial Stage around a million years ago Photo Credit: Château de Pez

“We are very close to the ocean, and we are very dependent on tides, the moon cycle, and there is something to that cycle that affects the vines,” says Nicolas, with a slight look of astonishment that these words are coming out of his mouth. He has studied with some of the most legendary teachers in Bordeaux and is part of growing up in an age of rigorous scientific research that has made discoveries beyond his grandparents’ imagination. But he has witnessed with his own eyes what the vines have shown him in terms of what works and what doesn’t.

And so, instead of forcing the vines to his will, manipulating their cycle with unnatural means, he tries to speak to them in the most natural ways possible, trusting that if he gives them what they need to be a balanced, healthy plant, they will produce the best fruit possible. And he has shown the world how well it works, first with the already outstanding Château Pichon-Lalande, displaying that even greatness has room for improvement, and then Château de Pez, who was hiding beneath a mountain of rugged tannins, and now, as those tannins have taken on a more silky quality, a wealth of beauty can shine from these wines.

Link to original Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2024/06/16/one-of-the-best-wines-in-a-classic-region-improves-a-lesser-known-estate/

2019 2nd Pez & 2019 Château de Pez
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

2019 2nd Pez, Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux: 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot. The second wine, the second selection of Château de Pez. Pretty nose of anise seed, blackcurrant leaf, and exotic spice box with fine tannins with blackberry compote, crushed stones and bright acidity with a long finish leaving a note of saline minerality.   

2019 Château de Pez, Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux: 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. An elegantly complex nose of smoldering sandalwood incense, violets, wet stones and juicy cassis flavors is balanced by fresh tobacco wrapped in silky tannins and a very long, vibrant finish.

2015 Réserve de Pichon Comtesse, 2014 Château Pichon Lalande & 2010 Château Pichon Lalande Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

2015 Réserve de Pichon Comtesse, Pauillac, Bordeaux: 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. The second wine, the second selection of Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. This wine is breathtaking for its overall finesse, especially considering it is a second wine. An enchanting perfume of wildflowers, warm raspberries and cocoa powder that opens to succulent fruit and manicured tannins laced with a minerality that has a gorgeous finish that makes one want to drink the whole bottle.

2014 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac, Bordeaux: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot. Multilayered complexity with rosehips, graphite and upheaved earth all intertwined with a well-integrated structure that gives a supple quality and a very focused finish with tremendous energy.

2010 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac, Bordeaux: 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. A nose that transports with sea spray, rainforest after a storm and a cooling breeze bringing faint aromas of pine with rich raspberry liqueur flavors and is tinged with fresh leather with a superb length of flavor, sensuous with its velvety texture.

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Small Champagne Wine House Saved By U.S. Couple Makes Stellar Bubbles

Glass of Champagne Leclerc Briant
Photo Credit:
Champagne Leclerc Briant

Soft light started to brighten the enchanting snow-covered slopes, causing them to shimmer with hints of sparkles that were seen throughout the entire majestic landscape. Even though children can imagine magical worlds in the most common places, this little girl living within this winter wonderland, who grew up on her family’s ski resort in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, didn’t have to imagine magic as she witnessed it every day. She understood the valuable lesson of working to create the ideal escape for her family’s guests who needed refuge from the daily grind of their lives.

The girl, Denise Dupré, grew up wanting to find her own way, first going through the rigors of higher education by attending Dartmouth College and later Cornell University; despite studying hospitality management, she carved out an independent way by going into advertising. Fate had other plans for her though, as she was assigned to a major restaurant chain and it only intensified her passion for hospitality and her intense drive to give people “life-changing” moments created by places, food and wine. She then worked for a hotel consulting firm and taught hospitality management at prestigious universities such as Boston University and Harvard.

Denise Dupré and Mark Nunnelly
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

Denise Dupré married Mark Nunnelly, who is not only the former managing director of the private equity firm Bain Capital but also has the same passion for the unwavering dedication to hospitality that Denise had built her life on. He also shares her love for incredibly soulful wines that can transport one to a better world.

Bubbles with Soul

It is not surprising that if Denise and Mark were drawn to wines that could transport the drinker, they would adore Burgundy wines. That adoration led them to buy the Clos de la Commaraine estate in the Burgundy village of Pommard, with a historic monopole vineyard around nine acres. But they also have great affection for the bubbles of Champagne and were in a position to purchase a tiny, pioneering Champagne house, unknown to the U.S. as it was mainly consumed in France. It was in danger of being taken over by a large conglomerate company that would most probably disregard the name of the Champagne house – a family name that has made Champagne wines for over a century, since, in global marketing terms, it had very little worth.

But the house’s name, Champagne Leclerc Briant, has tremendous value to Denise, who understands what a family sacrifices to build a business whose sole purpose is to give life-altering experiences, assuring there is no compromise on quality. As she delved into the history of Leclerc Briant, she realized that the fourth generation of the estate, Bertrand Leclerc, had been employing organic practices since the 1960s, which was extremely rare in Champagne during that time, and even further, he produced single vintage, single vineyard bottlings of Champagne in the 1970s, another unorthodox choice. His son, Pascal Leclerc, was one of a few pioneers in the Champagne region to use biodynamic practices, starting in 1990.

Hervé Jestin
Photo Credit: Champagne Leclerc Briant

Pascal Leclerc passed away in 2010, and the transition was complicated with the next generation as considerable taxes were due and his children did not have the financial resources. Of course, they knew that a much bigger company would swoop in as they were desperate – so desperate that they would be forced to end their family’s legacy. But fate was on their side as Denise and Mark completely fell in love with Champagne Leclerc Briant, and they would do everything in their means to not only live up to the Leclerc legacy of generations before but allowed the estate to live up to its full potential, beyond the family’s wildest dreams. And so, Frédéric Zeimatt was brought on as general manager, having 20 years of experience at one of Champagne’s top houses, and Hervé Jestin became chief winemaker, a man described as “one of Champagne’s best winemakers” by wine critic and Champagne expert Peter Liem. 

Champagne Leclerc Briant vineyards
Photo Credit: Champagne Leclerc Briant

Hervé Jestin’s theories about biodynamics can even seem mysterious to other winemakers who practice it as it is challenging to understand concretely how he is getting such brilliant results in the bottle. Pierre Baptiste Jestin, Hervé Jestin’s son, who is the director of operations at Champagne Leclerc Briant, talked about his father’s focus on “bioenergy” in terms of considering how it relates to biodynamic practices and the concept is to recognize that nature is perfect and people feel the power of that perfection when they are in nature. And so, Hervé Jestin’s aim, according to his son, is to “wake up a deep emotion” when the Champagne wines from Leclerc Briant are drunk because it evokes an all consuming feeling that transports the drinker to the experience of being surrounded by such perfection. But there is no training manual for producing bioenergetic wine, and he has been on a mission to carve out a road that doesn’t exist. 

Champagne Leclerc Briant bottles being taken out of the sea
Photo Credit: Champagne Leclerc Briant

Significant work was being done in the vineyards of Leclerc Briant when it came to growing grapes containing a tremendous amount of bioenergy. Still, Hervé knew there needed to be a lot more work in the winery to increase this energy from Mother Nature. Despite biodynamic practices being mainly rooted in the vineyards, Hervé Jestin has spent over a quarter of a century working with biodynamic principles in the winery and he is considered to be a leading expert when it comes to using the practices in this way. For example, he has been aging Champagne Leclerc Briant bottles in the sea, below, around 200 feet deep, and since there is “a permanent water dynamization,” he claims, the energy in the bottle is 30% more than the same bottle that has been aging in their cellar. He also used a stainless steel barrel lined with gold to increase solar influence during the first fermentation. And there have been many experiments and many more to come.

Passion, Purpose and Perseverance

Glass of Champagne Leclerc Briant Photo Credit:
Champagne Leclerc Briant

Denise Dupré has already laid down an impressive legacy with her incredible career but it was far from complete; if anything, it was a new beginning as she and her husband not only purchased two historic wine estates but she also founded Champagne Hospitality, a design and development venture dedicated to redefining luxury travel, incorporating sustainability and innovation as she understands that needs to be the future for European wine regions that do not have the hospitality infrastructure such as a Napa Valley. She has also ensured that each hotel and vineyard contributes to their local communities by uplifting the people and economy as well as protecting the environment.

And she couldn’t find a better chief winemaker than Hervé Jestin who has four decades of working with Champagne wines, the first half with a big house and the second half on his own as one of the most respected specialists of biodynamic winemaking working with a range of Champagne houses. But with Champagne Leclerc Briant, he has been able to reach for the stars as Denise and her husband always tell their team that their ideas are not big enough, that they shouldn’t be afraid to think beyond what they didn’t think  is possible. And so, a historic Champagne house about to fade into obscurity is now one of the most exciting projects watched closely by Champagne experts and connoisseurs alike.

An excellent partnership between two extraordinary people who, instead of thinking that their time shaping the world has ended and stepping to the side, decided to come more front and center with their wealth of experience and knowledge. “Transformative power,” as Denise states, comes from the combination of passion, power, and perseverance, and the wines of Leclerc Briant are already starting to transform how consumers and experts view the multifaceted potential of Champagne.

Link to original Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2024/06/12/small-champagne-wine-house-saved-by-us-couple-makes-stellar-bubbles/

NV Champagne Leclerc Briant
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

Champagne Leclerc Briant owns 24.7 acres of vineyards that are all organic and biodynamic. They are situated between the Premier Cru villages of Cumières, Hautvillers, Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Bisseuil in the Vallée de la Marne, Villers-Allerand and Rilly la Montagne in Montagne de Reims and the Grand Cru village of Le Mesnil Sur Oger in the Côte des Blancs. Leclerc Briant also holds long-term contracts with another 19.7 acres of organically farmed vineyards.

NV Champagne Leclerc Briant, Réserve Brut: Even though they label this Champagne as a Non-Vintage Réserve Brut, it is entirely from the 2018 vintage with only 4.5 grams per liter of residual sugar (g/l rs), technically making it an Extra Brut as it has less than 6g/l rs making it drier than a typical Brut. But they want it to be positioned in the market as a Non-Vintage Brut since that is the most popular category. Hervé Jestin has chosen only a single vintage for all their selections since he wants the bioenergy from a particular moment in time to be captured from the vineyards. 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Meunier and 20% Chardonnay. An exquisite array of aromas with blood orange zest, strawberry tart mingled with hazelnuts and crushed limestone with gentle bubbles that caress the palate with a touch of creaminess.

2017 Champagne Leclerc Briant,
Le Clos des Trois Clochers
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

2017 Champagne Leclerc Briant, Le Clos des Trois Clochers Single Vineyard, Brut Zéro: 100% Chardonnay with only 1g/l rs from the Le Clos des Trois Clochers vineyard located in the Premier Cru village of Villers Allerand. This vineyard is located in the red grape dominant area of Montagne de Reims, and so, a 100% Chardonnay, a.k.a. Blanc de Blancs, is very rare, and Hervé Jestin wanted to show the expression of this terroir, sense of place, through the Chardonnay grape. This is a wonderfully voluptuous wine with expansive, rich stone fruit flavors intermixed with baking spices and hints of croissant laced with an intense minerality that brings elegance to this richness with a fierce vibrancy along the highly expressive finish.  

2018 Champagne Leclerc Briant,
Les Monts Ferrés
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

2018 Champagne Leclerc Briant, Les Monts Ferrés Single Vineyard, Extra Brut: 100% Chardonnay with only 1.4g/l rs from the Les Monts Ferrés vineyard located in the Premier Cru village of Vertus. This 100% Chardonnay is from the cooler area of Côte des Blancs, which is known for mainly Chardonnay plantings, unlike Montagne de Reims. This vineyard is located in a particular area named the “Iron Hills” because the soil is chalky like much of the Champagne region but it contains a large amount of iron. Lots of tension and electric energy with lots of saline minerality with very fine notes of white flowers and lemon confit with a touch of pastry cream that has a great drive along the extraordinarily long and expressive finish with mouthwatering, racy acidity.

NV Champagne Leclerc Briant,
Extra Brut Rosé
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

NV Champagne Leclerc Briant, Extra Brut Rosé: 93% Chardonnay from Chouilly and Montgueux and 7% Pinot Noir from Les Riceys in the Aube, entirely from the 2019 vintage with 3.5g/l rs. Bursting with so much delicious life as raspberry coulis, white cherries and orange blossom intermingled with almond cookies and a creamy body that turned the fine bubbles into silky ribbons with lively acidity and lots of vitality.

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Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Vineyard Site Revived Almost 100 Years After Uprooting Vines

Some ran while others hit the ground and many screamed as two loud bangs rang out at the train station; once the panic subsided, those in the immediate area realized two men lay dead on the ground. And then, the realization that JC Weinberger, an important figure in the local community, was one of those men and someone had to tell his wife and daughter what happened. This incident, although extremely tragic, created a situation in the late 1800s that allowed a woman, Hannah Weinberger, to take her husband’s place as the director of the Bank of St. Helena, in Napa Valley, and, most importantly, to become the first recognized female winemaker in California who would tend to the olive tree grove and vineyards planted on their steep, terraced hillsides. 

In 1889, Hannah traveled to Europe to attend the Paris World’s Fair and won a silver medal in a wine competition. She was very successful as a businesswoman and winemaker, never remarrying, yet she had to pull her vines out in 1920, during Prohibition. 

Almost 100 years after the vineyard was grubbed up, a couple looking for a site with the potential to make stellar Cabernet Sauvignon with an authentic, rich history planted vines in 2019. Although it has been a long, arduous journey, first purchasing the property in 2013 and waiting for a permit that didn’t go through until the end of 2018, it was a thrilling prospect to be able to revive a great vineyard, which allowed a woman to thrive during a time when her gender made her a second class citizen, and continue the legacy of the first woman in Napa Valley to make great wine.

Hidden Vineyard Gem 

Caren and Nick Orum
Photo Credit: Thomas Heinser

Caren and Nick Orum are the married couple who took on this Herculean task and they do not shy away from a challenge. Both are from the South, Caren, born in rural Arkansas, and Nick, from Austin, Texas, and moved to New York City in the early 1990s and eventually made their way to San Francisco, where they sought to fulfill Nick’s dream to make great wine as he was a longtime Bordeaux wine lover.

So, they searched until they came upon a property near two Napa Valley vineyards that have received seven perfect 100-point scores from Wine Advocate, Vineyard 29 and Colgin’s Tychson Hill Vineyard- north of the town of St. Helena. They brought in vineyard engineers to test the soils and other aspects of the site to ensure if the potential for outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon was indeed possible. Every result assured Caren and Nick that the site did live up to its lofty neighbor’s potential. 

That is when the idea for their wine, Arborum, was born. Arborum is a name that combines the word ‘arbor’ to represent how they want to protect the nature on their property with their last name. 

Arborum Hidden Key Estate Vineyards
Photo Credit: Thomas Heinser

The authentic history of the site also drew them to this property as there is a rustic home that was initially built as a hunting cabin, seamlessly integrated with the forest on their land, and today, they live there with their three children. Surprisingly, within that forest was a grove of over a century-old olive trees that have handmade square nails in them with old metal stamps indicating that they were planted back in the 1870s, some as high as 50 feet tall. Since these olive trees had been neglected for so long, they have become part of the forest. So, Caren and Nick had no idea until they took on the demanding task of clearing the underbrush on their 20-acre property with a 26% degree slope that they had these rare, heritage olive trees. The estate backs up to Spring Mountain, which provides a natural spring that flows through the property and has a wide range of biodiversity – hawks, owls and beneficial insects mitigate any issues with harmful pests. 

Arborum

Caren and Nick meticulously take care of their 2.5 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, which ranges from 500 to 800 feet in altitude, by hiring Oscar Renteria and his team at Renteria Vineyard Management to practice precision vineyard management having a hands-on approach for each vine, becoming certified organic in 2021. Still, eventually, they knew they needed to find the ideal winemaker who could express the unique qualities of their historic site. 

Winemaker Andy Erickson
Photo Credit: Thomas Heinser

Caren said they reached out to an impressive list of eight Napa Valley winemakers, all of whom were eager to meet with them as the history and proximity to outstanding vineyards intrigued everyone. But they decided to go with highly respected winemaker Andy Erickson, who has had 25 years of winemaking experience in Napa Valley, as he takes a holistic approach as he is a winemaker who spends a lot of time in the vineyards, focusing on site expression and he has a wealth of experience of overseeing Cabernet Sauvignon vines on many premium sites in Napa Valley. Andy calls the Arborum estate “a real sweet spot” and talks about that feeling of walking certain pieces of land where he senses “something magical can happen,” knowing he can create a wine that reflects that “special place.” 

Unlocking the Past 

It has been over a century since the remarkable Hannah Weinberger won a silver medal in Paris with her wine from this incredible property. Yet, unfortunately, the glory of her vineyards was short-lived as Prohibition forced her to rip out the vines. Then, over time, it became overgrown, seeming more like a natural reserve than a once highly prized vineyard. Even Nick jokes that in his next lifetime, he will buy a property that already has a vineyard as they could not really initially appreciate the time and work it would take to plant a high-quality vineyard. But then that has been the issue with this special estate because it was too big of a mountain to climb for anyone to take on such the challenge of restoring it until Caren and Nick Orum came along. 

When they first bought the property, Caren noted there was this old magnificent oak tree in the middle of their circular driveway, as the property has many oak trees, and immediately, her children, who were four, seven and ten, found it to be the ideal place to play. One day, their middle child ran in, and she said, “Mom and Dad, I found a key!” Lo and behold, she had found an old key in a hidey-hole in the oak tree. The key didn’t fit into the old hunting lodge they used as their home but it looked like it came from Hannah’s time. Hence, they decided to call their estate vineyards ‘Hidden Key.’ Unfortunately, two days later, the oak tree spilt in half right where the hidey-hole was located, which was devastating to Caren and Nick since every aspect of the history of their property is precious to them. 

As they stood there looking at the place where the majestic oak tree once proudly stood, knowing that it had lived through so much and seen so many changes, a feeling came over Caren. It was a sign. It was a sign that the property was making the transition to them, as they had been handed the key, and Hannah’s legacy would not be forgotten as they would take it from where she left off, almost 100 years later. 

***Link to original Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2024/05/11/napa-valley-cabernet-sauvignon-vineyard-site-revived-almost-100-years-after-uprooting-vines/

2022 Arborum Proprietary White & 2021 Arborum Proprietary Red
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

Arborum will have their inaugural release this Fall, in 2024, and the two wines that will initially be released are below, 2022 Proprietary White and 2021 Proprietary Red, with a 100% Estate Cabernet Sauvignon planned for release in a few years. They intend to make around 500 cases of wine annually. 

Caren and Nick Orum are committing to donate one million dollars ahead of the launch to kick off their mission to give back to their community and protect the environment. Then, in the future, 100% of Arborum’s net earnings will go to charitable causes. They will divide it between 50% of people who live and work in Napa Valley, as they recognize that the wonderful wines that come out of Napa happen through hard work from people who struggle to survive, helping with social services and safety nets. The other 50% will be allocated to environmental causes with a conservation focus.

In regards to the environmental practices on their own property, besides doing all the soil studies and slope reports for data that is helpful for their vineyard management assessments, they also conducted several environmental studies, some required and some not required, going as far to ensure that there were no endangered northern spotted owls on the property, because if these owls had a habitat they wanted to make sure to protect it as Caren noted that they want their property to be kept as a “wildlife thoroughfare” as there are not a lot of properties in their area as heavily forested as they have left their property. 

Also, the Arborum wine labels have a tiny golden key in the middle as well as a key on the top of the capsule to reflect the connection to the old key found in the oak tree. There is also a wood cut impression at the bottom right of the label that is an impression of an old petrified stump found in their Hidden Key vineyard.

2022 Arborum, Proprietary White, Napa Valley, California: 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Semillon sourced from cool climate vineyards in Coombsville. A lovely bouquet of honeysuckle, white peach and crushed rocks with fleshy fruit on the palate that is lifted by notes of lemon peel, marked acidity and a saline minerality. Release price $125.

2021 Arborum, Proprietary Red, Napa Valley, California: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon from Arborum’s Hidden Key Vineyard and 5% Cabernet Franc from Pritchard Hill. A vibrant wine with beautiful purity of fruit that ranges from rich black cherries to bright red cranberries intermixed with blackcurrant leaves and cocoa powder with lots of energy on the palate balanced with dense black raspberry flavors with hints of forest floor and volcanic rock knitted together with fine tannins with a long finish that lingers with enchanting violet aromas. Release price $265.

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Celebrating A Famous Wine Woman’s Legacy And Love For Chilean Wines

The fierce storm caused tremendous turbulence for even the large commercial airplanes that descended into Bordeaux City in South West France, as torrential rains and a torrent of winds battered the metropolis, keeping everyone indoors for fear of getting violently hurt by objects blowing around. Yet a woman in her mid-60s, who was the epitome of joie de vivre, filled with the enjoyment and happiness that the adventures of life brought her, would not be stopped by some “silly storm” to the dismay of her adult children begging her not to attempt a landing. After being tremendously relieved that the matriarch of their family, a shining beacon of light for all of Bordeaux and the wine world, had landed safely, her children insisted she stay there, in the city, and rent a hotel room for the night as it would be a treacherous hour long drive out of town, through the forest, to get back home to the region of Pauillac. She, however, wanted to sleep in her bed and was delighted to take part in another adventure and although that hour’s trip turned into four hours, arriving past midnight, she was glowing with excitement after having such a thrilling journey back home.

Many have referred to this fantastic lady as Wine Nobility, which would probably be too stuffy of a title for her, as she was away living life to the fullest and certainly didn’t take herself that seriously, according to her son. One of her greatest gifts was her ability to connect with people, no matter their background; she could make someone feel like they were on cloud nine after meeting her, as she loved people and was curious about everyone. Her love for people would have her family invest in a very unorthodox project in a faraway land in Chile, to the shock of all those around her.

Baroness Philippine de Rothschild

Baroness Philippine de Rothschild
Photo Credit:
Courtesy of Baron Philippe de Rothschild

She was Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, part of the prestigious Rothschild family known for some of the most famous fine wines in the world.

In the 1990s, she was very curious about the wines they were making in South America. Since Chile specialized in Cabernet Sauvignon, like the wines of her region, she decided to take a trip to visit with a bunch of producers. Of course, it was atypical for those in Europe to be interested in South America during that time and even though Baroness Philippine de Rothschild was known as one of the most adventurous people in Bordeaux, many thought that this trip was crazy, even for her, as it was so far away, in another hemisphere.

Her son, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, remembers that she came back exhilarated from her trip to Chile, as not only did she like the Cabernet Sauvignon wines she tasted but she fell in love with the people, exclaiming that they were “great” and “so much fun” and she loved getting a chance to speak Spanish. And that made it a done deal because, yes, Chile had all the practical components to make great wine such as vineyards, climate, good logistics and it was very organized, noted Philippe, but the idea that his mother loved the people was the most important thing to her, and so, to the utter shock of their neighbors and the world, the Rothschilds were going to make wine in Chile.

Escudo Rojo 

The Escudo Rojo vineyards in Maipo, Chile Photo Credit:
Courtesy of Baron Philippe de Rothschild

In 1999, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild founded a winery in Maipo, Chile that she named Escudo Rojo, the Spanish translation of the German name “Rote Schild” (or red shield). She wanted to give the winery her name because she believed in the wines of this beloved country that had won her heart.

When someone tells Philippe that his mother was a visionary, as Cabernet Sauvignon made in Maipo Valley, Chile, is celebrated worldwide today, he says his mother would have never called herself one because she was curious and it was as simple as that; she wanted to visit them, talk to them, see how they lived, and become part of their world, as she was always interested in people who would expand her horizons.

The Rothschild family did bring their knowledge of working with Cabernet Sauvignon from their prestigious estates, such as Château Mouton Rothschild and Château Clerc Milon, to Chile. Still, Philippe humbly expressed that they knew there was much to learn from the Chilean families working in vineyards there for generations. It is a true melding of their cultures, their way of lives and their experiences, and to further that symbiotic relationship, they have a work exchange program where Chilean employees come to Bordeaux to work at their estates to further their education and French employees go to Chile to work at Escudo Rojo to further their knowledge as well. Philippe noted that the French employees fall in love with the Chilean way of life just like his mother did, and they deeply understand how the people and the place captured her heart.

Philippe Sereys de Rothschild with his sister Camille Sereys de Rothschild and his brother Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild
Photo Credit:
Courtesy of Baron Philippe de Rothschild

Unfortunately, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild passed away in 2014 and even though she lived to the beautiful age of 80, it seemed like she would live forever because of her vibrant and joyful personality, and hence, it was shocking for the world of wine. Her son, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, took over the family wine business in 2014 after several decades in the executive business world. With his sister Camille Sereys de Rothschild and his brother Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, he knew that he needed to make a wine in her honor that would show the excellence of the land and people who took her breath away, so they bottled an ultra-premium wine called Baronesa P., using the Spanish word for Baroness as she loved everything Spanish, and most of all, the people who spoke the language.

When such a person passes away, the world seems dimmer as their bright, luminescent light is no longer there. Yet her children are ensuring that she lives on, keeping her way of life alive. In a world where divisive forces are tearing people apart more than ever, there needs to be an appreciation of differences as an opportunity to grow hearts and minds. Baroness Philippine de Rothschild knew the best way to do that was over a lovely glass of wine.

Link to original article on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2024/04/25/famous-wine-womans-legacy-honored-by-celebrating-her-love-for-chilean-wines/

2021 Baronesa P., Maipo Valley, Chile
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

2021 Baronesa P., Maipo Valley, Chile: 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, 5% Syrah, 5% Petit Verdot and 4% Carménère. Deliciously delightful aromas of black cherry, cocoa nibs and baking spices balanced by complex notes of gravel and tobacco leaf with seamlessly integrated tannins that are silky along the sustained finish with lots of pristine, juicy fruit and fresh acidity.

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Italian Wine Estate Making Wines For Over 500 Years Showcases Old Vine Vertical

Feudo Montoni vineyards
Photo Credit: Feudo Montoni

The baby vine had everything it needed in its peaceful, ancient sanctuary protected by surrounding mountains, the highest reaching over 8,200 feet, in an area of the Italian island of Sicily where time has stood still for over 500 years on the Feudo Montoni wine estate. This baby Nero d’Avola red grape variety, known as Calabrese in this isolated Mediterranean paradise, was created directly from its mother by an old technique called “layering,” which has taken place under the care of the same family since the late 1800s, and the layering technique probably goes back much further than that time. This means that there is a direct connection between the DNA of the baby vine and its ancestor plants, which go back centuries. When one drinks Feudo Montoni wines, he is drinking the wines written about with praise in the late 1500s. He truly gets to taste this historic grape without it being altered by purchasing vines from a nursery, as grafting vines keep the lineage of these ancient vines alive, and the extreme technique of layering keeps that lineage as pure to the source as possible.

The province where this wine estate lies is called Agrigento and it is featured with great love and devotion by the Academy Award-winning Sicilian director Giuseppe Tornatore, known best in the U.S. for his Oscar-winning film Cinema Paradiso. Although Giuseppe Tornatore was born in the more urban, energetic metropolis of Palermo in Sicily, his nostalgic feelings for the Sicily of the past brought him back time and time again to shoot his films in Agrigento as it is an untainted area that still keeps its beautiful native beauty and way of life alive. 

Fabio Sireci, the multi-generational owner of the Feudo Montoni estate, is fiercely committed to “the mission” of keeping the old ways alive in his isolated paradise. He states that it is in his “blood” and his “reason for living.”

A Dying Art 

Feudo Montoni estate
Photo Credit: Feudo Montoni

Buying baby plants from the nursery is the most efficient option when a wine producer needs to plant new vines. Yet, in this isolated area within the province of Agrigento, in Sicily, the wine producer Feudo Montoni only works with “wild vines,” as they will either graft the vines or layer them. Both techniques are incredibly time-consuming and require a great deal of skill.

Most of their plants are grafted, initially planting “wild vines” from the area to establish themselves for one year in the soil and then carefully taking a piece of wood from one of their old vines, a.k.a. the mother vine, inserting it into the wild plants so it will take on the characteristics of vines that go back for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, this technique is a dying art as only a few people still use it on the island of Sicily. So, the family owner of Feudo Montoni, Fabio Sireci, said that the highly skilled grafter they use is an 80-year-old man and recently Fabio had 17 acres grafted and it took this grafter over a month to do it. Fabio says that he fears in 20 years or less, it will be impossible to find a highly skilled grafter who will not kill the mother plants in the process of grafting so he is trying to accomplish all the grafting he will need in the near future as soon as possible.

The layering technique
Photo Credit: Feudo Montoni

Grape vines can asexually reproduce; if a shoot from an existing 70-year-old vine is buried right next to it, the buried shoot will grow roots from the buds dormant in that shoot. Through time, that baby vine will grow and be an extension of that century-old vine. And when it comes to cutting the “cord” between the mother and baby, Fabio Sireci’s wife Melissa Muller, says that after the first few years they have to “cut the cord” from mother to baby as that is the only way that the baby vine will take off.

An aristocratic Spanish family built this baglio, an ancient Sicilian building with a courtyard, in 1469, which is part of the Feudo Montoni estate today. Photo Credit: Feudo Montoni

Of course, Fabio Sireci, the third generation of his family overseeing this ancient estate, and hopefully, one of his kids will be the fourth, cannot say what the vineyards were like over 500 years ago. Still, there is proof that there were vineyards on the estate and that they were highly regarded. Not only did a Spanish aristocratic family purchase the estate in 1469 and plant vineyards but then in 1595, one of the first treatises in Italian on the cultivation of vines was written by Andrea Bacci, who praised the growing tradition and the quality of wine made from this estate. 

Close to the Heart

When Fabio’s wife, Melissa, spoke more about having to “cut the cord” from the mother vine to the baby vine, she said it was an idea close to her heart. She and her husband want their children to grow into strong, independent adults, just like the baby vine cut off from its mother. But she also hopes that, in the future, her children will appreciate that they are part of something bigger than themselves: keeping this isolated paradise from getting corrupted and tainted by the constantly changing outside world and altering trends.

Most things in life are temporary but the love of this family that has taken on the mission to protect such a precious place has been represented for over a century with these vines and, hopefully, for many centuries to come.

Link to original article on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2024/04/20/italian-estate-making-wines-for-over-500-years-showcases-old-vine-vertical/

Vrucara Vineyard, Nero d’Avola vertical
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

The Feudo Montoni has a vineyard named Vrucara, a 150-year-old, pre-phylloxera vineyard planted with the Nero d’Avola red grape using the layering technique.

2018 Feudo Montoni, Vrucara Vineyard, Nero d’Avola, Vrucara, Sicily, Italy: 100% Nero d’Avola from the Vrucara vineyard. Thrilling nose of licorice and eucalyptus with lots of vitality with concentrated, fleshy blackberry fruit and a supple texture with complex notes of tobacco leaf.

2014 Feudo Montoni, Vrucara Vineyard, Nero d’Avola, Vrucara, Sicily, Italy: 100% Nero d’Avola from the Vrucara vineyard. Multifaceted fruit with dried cherries and wild mulberries that has dried herbs and savory spices with mouthfilling fruit flavors with a bright acidity and tannins that caress the palate like ribbons of silk. 

2010 Feudo Montoni, Vrucara Vineyard, Nero d’Avola, Vrucara, Sicily, Italy: 100% Nero d’Avola from the Vrucara vineyard. Impressively complex while also being still very youthful with notes of violets and crushed rose petal with juicy black cherry fruit and finely etched structure with a long expressive finish leaving wildflowers in one’s head.

Feudo Montoni wines
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

Also, Feudo Montoni showcased how well their white wine, Grillo, can age, as well as their other Nero d’Avola vineyard, Lagnusa.

2022 Feudo Montoni, Grillo della Timpa Vrucara, Sicily, Italy: 100% Grillo. Enchanting nose of honeysuckle and white peach with a stunning purity enhanced by intense mineral notes.

2016 Feudo Montoni, Grillo della Timpa Vrucara, Sicily, Italy: 100% Grillo. Like liquid gold with a golden color that is followed by the most delectable notes of dried apricots and orange marmalade with hints of lilacs and zingy lemon zest on the palate with a mineral edge and long finish.

2018 Feudo Montoni, Lagnusa Vineyard, Nero d’Avola, Sicily, Italy: 100% Nero d’Avola from their Lagnusa vineyard. The Lagnusa vineyard translates into “lazy” in Sicilian because it doesn’t produce that much fruit, it is a very low-yield vineyard on the hill. Deeply concentrated, delicious wine with flavors of plum pie and blueberry tart with baking spices and plush body balanced by fresh acidity.

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Pinot Noir Made By Wine Collector Who Discovers Ideal Soil For Greatness

Rhys Mt. Pajaro Vineyard
Photo Credit: Rhys Vineyards

There is nothing as thrilling as seeing some of the most famous Pinot Noir vineyards in the world right after being lucky enough to taste the heavenly wines made from these Grand Cru Burgundy vineyards. The most outstanding Pinot Noir wines in the world have ethereal aromatics that transport the drinker to another realm and in the best vintages, the flavors and textures on the palate are just as exquisite as the nose. No other wine on the planet can compare to these wines, and hence, why Burgundy wine collectors are a breed of their own, who have such an intense obsession with trying to relive another experience of tasting an otherworldly bottle. Their obsession is so strong that they are willing to get their hearts broken multiple times – just like when Pinot Noir is great, it is in a league of its own but when it is bad, the only thing that one can do is dump it down the drain. Since the weather can be drastically inconsistent in Burgundy and even range greatly among the microclimates of various areas, single-vineyard bottlings can be dramatically different depending on the vintage.

Kevin Harvey in the vineyard
Photo Credit: Rhys Vineyards

One man had a mission to find those different expressions of “minerality, tension and complexity” that he loved about Burgundy Pinot Noir wines and remarkably, he found them in a more consistent climate that would always be ideal for Pinot Noir year in and year out. That man is Kevin Harvey – born in California, raised in Houston, Texas and found his way back to California as a software entrepreneur who sold his first upstart company in the late 1980s. Since it was for a relatively small amount of money, as software was not the big business then that it is today, he thought about moving back to Houston as even back then, the cost of living in San Francisco was extraordinarily high. But fate had him meet his future wife who was California through and through, and so, he formed roots in California, pursuing other software ventures as well as delving into his passion for Burgundy wine.

Kevin was never personally impressed with the richer, more plush California Pinot Noir wines that were fashionable when he first got serious about collecting wine, so he kept going back to the outstanding vineyards of Burgundy, spending lots of time with wine producers (who had become friends) explaining what was so special about the top Grand Cru vineyards of their illustrious region: what they call “terroir.” Then, his passion for these stellar wines had him delve into the research of soil depth, composition, structure, chemistry, hydrology and climate, to name a few.

Eventually, he planted a vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which, to his surprise, seemed like the ideal soil for great Pinot Noir.

Santa Cruz Mountains

Mt. Pajaro Vineyard in Santa Cruz Mountains Photo Credit: Rhys Vineyards

It is not easy to impress a Burgundy wine collector as they are some of the most loyal wine drinkers on the planet and no other place can compare. Yet Kevin was intrigued by his research and he knew that it would take years of making one barrel of wine from his planted vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California, to see if it was even close. He knew that making this wine in his garage with no background as a winemaker or vineyard grower would not show the site’s full potential and he would be lucky if the wine was even drinkable but it was good and improved over time; he couldn’t believe it. As someone already mindful that living in California was costing him a great deal of money, he was certainly in no hurry to spend significantly more by starting a winery.

Yet he discovered that much of the land where he could plant vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains has around 20 inches of clay soil with fractured rock such as decomposing limestone, with a high cation exchange capacity, allowing nutrients to become available to the vines. These plots were similar to the soils in the Grand Cru sites in Burgundy, where Kevin found the most complex and interesting wines. And since he loved the different expressions of various excellent sites in Burgundy, he was also intrigued by the idea that two vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which were only 400 yards away from each other, could be remarkably different because there have been millions of years of movement between the Pacific Plate, the North American Plate and the Farallon Plate in the area. Hence, the soil is like a layer cake with tens of millions of years of difference between those layers. For example, one vineyard could be on the part of the layer one million years old while another was formed 30 million years ago.

The idea that Kevin could have discovered a place that had the ideal soils, the ability to express a wide range of terroir of “various geologies of the soil,” and an ideal cool mountain climate was too tempting not to take the leap. In 2004, he founded Rhys Vineyards, and by 2007, he had five different Santa Cruz Mountains vineyards in production; today, he has six. During his early Burgundy collecting days, he could have never imagined that not only could he find a place in California that would have the same level of “minerality, tension and complexity” as his beloved Burgundy wines but these vineyards would be able to produce that high level of quality year in and year out, as there were none of the extreme spikes in vintage variation that unfortunately plagues Burgundy.

The True Test 

Rhys Mt. Pajaro Vineyard redwood tree and fog Photo Credit: Rhys Vineyards

Almost 30 years after he planted his first plot of land in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the mission that drove him all these years has been finally ascertained as he wanted his vineyards to get to an age where they would be in their prime, and therefore, he could finally see if they were capable of having multifaceted varied nuances from site to site. Also, it took time to learn how to manage his vineyards, which are 100% organic today, and he dry farms four of his oldest sites and is currently in the process of converting the others.

After spending all those years standing in the middle of the prestigious vineyards of Burgundy, noting how plots near each other could make wines with entirely different expressions of excellence, he is finally experiencing that for himself with his own vineyards in the much lesser-known area of the Santa Cruz Mountains. A place that will never have that many vineyards with only 1,500 acres planted, compared to Sonoma’s almost 63,000 acres, due to much of the Santa Cruz Mountains being protected by open space trusts and, according to Kevin, one cannot “farm economically” there since it is a patchwork of tiny plots, not making it appealing for big wineries to come in as they can’t have a contiguous 100-acre vineyard.

It is often impossible to see where life is heading as Kevin could have ended up back in Houston after selling his company for a relatively small amount in the ’80s, living an easier life with a lower cost of living. He would have had much more time and money to spend in Burgundy and build an impressive collection. Yet, love for his wife kept him in California and led him to the seemingly impossible: discovering an excellent situation in which he could make the wines he cherished yet with terroir expressions of their own. It hasn’t happened overnight and he didn’t know if the day would ever come, but it is here, and he is far from easing up on his mission as he is ready to take it to the next level.

***Link to original Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2024/04/07/pinot-noir-made-by-wine-collector-who-discovers-ideal-soil-for-greatness/

Bearwallow Vineyard in Anderson Valley
Photo Credit: Rhys Vineyards

Rhys Vineyards has also acquired a vineyard in Anderson Valley, California, a place prized for its cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to make vibrant still wines and top sparkling wines on par with Champagne. Unlike the vineyards he purchased in the Santa Cruz Mountains, this plot of land already came with six acres of Pinot Noir already planted but he planted an additional 25 acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. His vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains have been planted with carefully selected clones of the grapes, as that was another facet of top-quality wine he learned from Burgundy producers. Then, he used a field selection from his vineyards in the Santa Cru Mountains to plant the rest of the Anderson Valley plot.

2021 Rhys Vineyards, Chardonnay, Anderson Valley AVA, California: 100% Chardonnay from the single vineyard Bearwallow, so even though it is listed as a regional wine, it is actually a single vineyard. Pretty floral notes with a wonderful mineral streak with lemon curd and peach cobbler flavors and a tangy acidity.

2021 Rhys Vineyards, Bearwallow Vineyard, Chardonnay, Anderson Valley AVA, California: 100% Chardonnay from the top grapes coming from Bearwallow vineyard. Bright lemon zest on the nose with a fierce stony minerality that has lots of drive and focus on the extremely long finish, leaving notes of sea spray and broken slate in one’s head.

2021 Rhys Vineyards, Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, California: 100% Chardonnay coming from three of the Rhys vineyards in Santa Cruz Mountains. More fleshy stone fruit flavors that are beautifully balanced by the electric acidity with hints of baking spices that has a wonderful expression of purity of fruit that is wrapped up in an overall elegance.

2021 Rhys Vineyards, Mt. Pajaro Vineyard, Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, California: 100% Chardonnay from Mt. Pajaro vineyard. A stunning Chardonnay that gives an exquisite expression of the exotic yet refined structural quality of a white orchard with aromas of citrus blossom, green mango and passion fruit with lots of tension and verve.

2021 Rhys Vineyards, Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley AVA, California: 100% Pinot Noir from the single vineyard Bearwallow, so even though it is listed as a regional wine it is actually a single vineyard. Effusive bouquet of aromas emanate from the glass with lilacs, shaved nutmeg and fresh morels with bright rhubarb flavors wrapped in very fine tannins.  

2021 Rhys Vineyards, Bearwallow Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Anderson AVA, California: 100% Pinot Noir from the top grapes coming from Bearwallow vineyard. Deep, multilayered wine with tree bark and forest floor that has rich flavors of black cherry and more substantial tannins and an alluring silky texture.

2021 Rhys Vineyards, Mt. Pajaro Vineyard,
Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

2021 Rhys Vineyards, Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, California: 100% Pinot Noir from six of the Rhys vineyards in Santa Cruz Mountains. An aristocratic wine that still has lots of generosity with layers of juicy red and black fruit with deliciously delectable notes of cocoa powder and candied wild violets yet it has an addictive savory quality that is brought over the top by the finely etched tannins.

2021 Rhys Vineyards, Mt. Pajaro Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, California: 100% Pinot Noir from Mt. Pajaro vineyard. A wine that leaves one speechless as it has an incredible depth of concentration with a mid-palate filled with brambly fruit that is multi-dimensional with sage, anise seeds, crushed limestone and smoldering earth dancing about in one’s head with an extraordinarily long, expressive finish that is lifted by marked acidity.

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100-Year-Old Wine Producer Makes Rioja Wine From Old Vines

The tiny, precious hands of the little girl were shaking as she held on to the trunk of a baby Tempranillo grape vine while her grandmother pushed dirt into the hole where the young vine was being held so they could plant this vine together, as for many generations, it has been passed on from grandmother to granddaughter. The little girl was always in awe of her grandmother’s beautiful hands, which were strong yet gentle, depending on whether she was laboring in the vineyards or stroking her granddaughter’s hair. She hoped that one day she could have such hands, the hands of a superhero, as there was no one else as amazing as her grandma.

In 1882, the wine region of Rioja, Spain, enjoyed a boom in wine sales as French producers were buying the wines of Rioja to help supplement their own demand, as many of their vineyards had been destroyed by the pest, phylloxera. So, the multi-generational grape growers in Rioja planted more vines of their cherished native Tempranillo red grape variety. It was a very exciting time; the grandmother told her precious little grandchild that the incredible vineyards of their people were finally receiving the glory they deserved and that her granddaughter would have a much better life that would be unimaginable, even to her grandmother.

By 1893, phylloxera had made its way down to Rioja a few years earlier and this pest started to feed on the roots of locals’ beloved Tempranillo grape vines, where it would either kill or stunt the growth of some of the vines. It seemed that the hope for the region had plummeted overnight and the grandmother passed away from the intense stress, leaving her 18-year-old granddaughter alone as the sole guardian trying to protect their small plots of vines as her parents wanted to rip out the vines so they could plant grain instead. With tears running down her face, she begged her mother not to pull out the one vine she had planted with her grandmother but in the end, it was torn out of the ground, destroying the most precious memory she had of her childhood with her hero. A local young man who had been courting this 18-year-old lady for years saw his opportunity to comfort her. He asked her to marry him and to move to Madrid for better opportunities. Overwhelmed with grief and the great disappointment of her parents killing something so precious, she went to Madrid with this young man. She married him, feeling at that moment that she would never return home again. 

During this time, a man named Ramón Bilbao from a small town called Etxebarri in northern Spain, around 60 miles north of Haro—the main town of Rioja—moved to Haro to start his own business. He open a grain warehouse as well as planted vines in 1914, which was a gamble considering that something else, like the devastation of phylloxera, could happen again in the vineyards. 

Ramón Bilbao

Sign of Ramón Bilbao
Photo Credit: Ramón Bilbao

Unfortunately, in 1929, five years after the winery, Bodega Ramón Bilbao, opened,  Ramón passed away, leaving his son Enrique to fulfill his dream, which he did with Bodega Ramón Bilbao becoming a very successful wine producer in Rioja, celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. Not only do they own their own vineyards but they have had a long-term partnership with multi-generational grape growers in the area to expand their sourcing of grapes from a wide range of small plots that include Tempranillo grape vines that are 80 to over 90 years old. No other wine showcases that beautiful partnership as does their wine, Mirto. 

Harvesting grape bunches by hand
Photo Credit: Ramón Bilbao

The first vintage of Mirto was in 1999, when the technical and general director, Rodolfo Bastida, joined Bodega Ramón Bilbao. He had been walking through the vineyards with a local grower in the sub-region of Rioja Alta, discussing the 1999 vintage, and the grower said to him, “Año de mirto año de vino,” which translates into English, “year of myrtle, year of wine.” Then he pointed to all the myrtle plants growing on the edge of the plot. It is a local expression that means thriving myrtle plants are an excellent sign for the vines and when the myrtle is great, the wine will be great. So Rodolfo decided to make a 100% Tempranillo wine sourced from multiple old vine plots and call it Mirto and the 1999 Mirto was a lovely wine out of the gates and after many years of cellaring, still impresses.

Rodolfo Bastida
Photo Credit: Ramón Bilbao

Mirto is just one of the projects that Rodolfo is spearheading as Ramón Bilbao founded a winery in 2019 called Lalomba (translating to hill), which is devoted to the exploration of a single vineyard estate called Lalinde which is located on a hill in the most eastern sub-region named Rioja Oriental. A section of the vineyard makes an ultra-premium rosé wine that is a field blend of the local red Garnacha grape and the white Viura grape made from vines that are almost half a century old. It makes a concentrated rosé wine with lots of freshness and minerality that improves with age.

Rodolfo is a native of Rioja and a multi-generational winemaker as his father and grandfather were also winemakers. He feels that he has come full circle with spending most of his time in the vineyards as he knows that thinking back to the 1800s, locals who made wine in Rioja lived in the vineyards and as more professional wineries started to become established, there was a change as his grandfather spent all his time in a lab with his white lab coat as it was crucial for Rioja to develop modern practices in the winery, analyzing samples to make sure they produced commercially viable wine. Then, his father spent half the time in the lab and half in the vineyards; as Rioja had established itself as a fine wine region globally with sound practices in the winery, there was a resurgence of appreciating the vineyards again. And now, Rodolfo spends almost all of his time among Rioja’s most precious jewels, those old vines planted so long ago that have been protected by generation after generation.

Nothing More Important 

It took many years before that young woman, who left Rioja in the late 1800s, spoke to her parents again and by the time she was in her mid-40s in 1938, she had her own daughter and granddaughter. The Spanish Civil War had been raging for a few years, with Madrid massively bombed by rebel planes; her husband was dead, her daughter’s husband was dead and it was only the three of them now. She knew a friend who lived in Madrid who was going back home to Rioja and she asked her to bring a letter to her mother telling her that she was bringing her daughter and granddaughter to visit them.

Then, there she was, in front of her parent’s house on their family’s piece of land in Rioja, where, to her surprise, they had started to replant vines. Her mother opened the door with a stoic look, staring at her daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter with an expressionless face and then walked past them with a bucket in her hand, making her way to her vineyard. The woman followed her mother, motioning for her daughter and granddaughter to follow her, racking her brain about what to say to her mother as she knew she had abandoned her parents for decades and didn’t know how to apologize. Then, her mother placed the bucket on the ground near a hole she had already dug. She beckoned for her granddaughter and little great-granddaughter to kneel next to her as they would plant a grapevine together. As they all started to push the earth around the trunk of the vine, the woman looked up at her daughter, who stood there in shock, and smiled at her as tears rolled down her eyes. She knew at that moment that there was no forgiveness needed as nothing was more important than family.

And that is what Rodolfo Bastida sees every day when he walks through the vines to make his wines for Bodega Ramón Bilbao – all the stories of the generations that came before him and how his mission is to honor those stories. 

***Link to original Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2024/03/21/100-year-old-wine-producer-makes-rioja-wine-from-old-vines

Lineup of Ramón Bilbao Mirto wines
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd
Lalomba by Ramón Bilbao
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

Lalomba by Ramón Bilbao

2017 Lalomba, Finca Lalinde, Monte Yerga, Rioja Oriental, Rioja, Spain: A blend of 90% Garnacha and 10% Viura from the single vineyard estate named Lalinde. A stunning rosé with a pale pink color with highlights of copper with grapefruit and lemon zest aromas with creamy lemon meringue and candied violet flavors on the palate with bright acidity and intense minerality.

2022 Lalomba, Finca Lalinde, Monte Yerga, Rioja Oriental, Rioja, Spain: A blend of 90% Garnacha and 10% Viura from the single vineyard estate named Lalinde located on a hillside on the Yerga mountain range. An intriguing rosé with smoky minerality and a bouquet of wildflowers on the nose with delicious mixed berries and juicy white peaches that has a refreshing finish with notes of wet river stones.  

Mirto by Ramón Bilbao 

1999 Ramón Bilbao ‘Mirto’ Villalba, Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain: 100% Tempranillo. From plots in the village of Villalba near the town of Haro with old vines around 70 years old. A multifaceted nose with smoldering cigar, fresh tobacco leaf, touch of bacon fat and broken earth with rich blackberry flavors intermixed with exotic spice and very fine tannins that caress the palate.

2006 Ramón Bilbao ‘Mirto’ Villalba, Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain: 100% Tempranillo. From plots in the village of Villalba near the town of Haro with old vines around 80 years old. Beautiful fruit aromas on the nose with hints of licorice and fresh herbs that has fleshy black cherry fruit flavors with a broad body. 

2010 Ramón Bilbao ‘Mirto’ Ábalos, Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain: 100% Tempranillo. It comes from plots in the village of Ábalos near the town of Haro with old vines around 80 years old. Wafting notes of espresso and cocoa nibs entice with its delicious aromas, plush texture, generous fruit flavors, and complex cigar boxes and tar notes.

2016 Ramón Bilbao ‘Mirto’ Cuzcurrita, Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain: 100% Tempranillo. From plots in the village of Cuzcurrita near the town of Haro with old vines over 90 years old. An enchanting bouquet of violets on the nose with delectable blueberry tart flavors on the palate with very silky tannins that are finely sculpted and has a long, flavorful finish.

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Meet The Italian Wine Outsiders Who Raised The Quality Of Chianti Wine

As the teenage boy reclined on the white limestone rocks under the bright sun, the gentle sounds of the pristine turquoise sea gently lapping at the grotto near him, one would think that his passionate gaze was transfixed on the young Mediterranean women who seemed like goddesses in the golden rays of sunlight. Surprisingly though, something very different gripped the mind of this young man. As he stared out to the Adriatic Sea, he craved something more than the stunning raw beauty around him. Despite his home being a paradise, it was a poor area with minimal opportunity for work prospects and it seemed things would only get worse in time. He was an adolescent who had his back to the wall; food was scarce and the future seemed bleak for the wine-grape growing family in Puglia, the southern Italian region that experienced bleak times in the 1950s and 1960s.

Despite things being hopeless, this young man, Antonio Mario Zaccheo, came from a family that never gave up as they continued to experiment in the vineyards even though it seemed pointless as Puglia didn’t exist for the rest of the world. So, their grapes were worth very little.

Antonio, at 19 years old, received a professional wine certification after a couple of years of schooling as that was common over 60 years ago, and he then met Giovanni Carlo Sacchet, a young Italian man from North Italy whose family made gelato. Together, they formed a partnership that focused on achieving the dream of producing high-quality wine in Tuscany. They were outsiders who challenged the Tuscan wine aristocracy to make the great Chianti Classico wines wine drinkers know today, which was unheard of at the time as many were satisfied to keep it a humble, quaffable wine. 

Carpineto

Carpineto vineyard
Photo Credit: Carpineto

These young entrepreneurs purchased an estate from a church auction in the cooler climate section of Chianti Classico, in the tiny town of Dudda, in the area of Greve. They called their winery Carpineto, taking its name from the Greek word “carpos,” meaning fruit, which has always been their primary focus, growing the highest quality fruit from the beginning. This focus is evident in their native Sangiovese grapes which express themselves beautifully and elegantly. The journey to change Chianti for the better started for Antonio and Giovanni when they founded Carpiento in 1967.

Like much of Europe, Italy is a country where people associate themselves with their region, sometimes just their town, more than their whole country. So Tuscany is a country within itself and Antonio, coming from the South, and Giovanni, from the North, were treated like foreigners who were missing the privileges that a long-standing family would be given, especially considering that the majority of the vineyard owners back in the 1960s were the multi-generational noble families who, many times, placed a famous ancestor on their wine labels. 

Antonio and Giovanni didn’t have noble roots; on the contrary, they were both from humble backgrounds. Yet they had innovative minds and neither shied away from hard work. But when they bought the estate, they found a print of the painter Rubens in the corner of the building and since Rubens himself was a very distinguished-looking gentleman of stature, they placed him on their wine labels.

Sticklers for Quality

From the very beginning, Antonio and Giovanni were always about showcasing the native varieties of Chianti, mainly Sangiovese with a small amount of the other grape Canaiolo, which still holds true today and went to great lengths in the vineyards, such as lower yields and overall maintenance that required much more man hours, that was costly and simply exhausting, while still having to keep prices extremely low for decades as Chianti was seen only as an easy-going wine, not worth a higher price. This horrified their neighbors as they had a formula that worked: make lots of cheap wine that sold in large volumes; that way, one could make a decent profit.

Sangiovese grape bunch in a Carpineto vineyard Photo Credit: Carpineto

But these young men were going to prove that people would eventually pay more for great Chianti Classico wine and they did not have the baggage of a multi-generational Tuscan family holding them back. So their intense, youthful passion was unfettered, allowing them to push the limits of quality, even if it meant they went bankrupt. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain so they were not afraid to flip the industry on its head.

As all Italian wine lovers know today, Chianti Classico is an incredible success and Tuscany as a wine region is one of the most sought-after and prestigious in the world. That young man from Puglia eventually had a son, aptly named Antonio Michael Zaccheo, who ended up getting an MBA from U.C. Davis, worked for a multinational U.S. company and learned to speak five languages, all before he came back to help run Carpineto with Giovanni’s daughter, Caterina Sacchet, the head winemaker, and other family members on both sides who work for the company.

Today, Puglia is a popular tourist destination that brings people from all over the world to bask in its natural splendor; its current popularity is a heartwarming thought to Antonio Michael Zaccheo, knowing how hopeless things were for his father and grandparents in Puglia, back in the ’50 and ’60s. Even though he would not wish their tough lives on anyone, he knows that tough beginning in life was the key for his father to build a remarkable Tuscan wine empire, which today also includes estates in Montepulciano, Montalcino and Maremma, as well as being a key to his own successful experience in the U.S. that is now an asset to his family’s company.

And so, even though it is undoubtedly beneficial to be born into a family with wealth and prestige, the lack of such things didn’t stop Antonio and Giovanni; if anything, they used it to their benefit. And that fearless drive for quality was passed down to their children as they are the inheritors of that path that was carved out decades ago by their fathers, who changed the course of Chianti wines, rebuilding its foundation on quality that reverberated across the Tuscan region.

Link to original Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2024/03/09/italian-wine-outsiders-who-raised-the-quality-of-chianti-wine

2019 Carpineto, Chianti Classico Riserva
Photo Credit: Cathrine Todd

2019 Carpineto, Chianti Classico Riserva, Tuscany, Italy: 80% Sangiovese and 20% Canaiolo. Pristine red cherry fruit notes are simply breathtaking in this wine with hints of spice and floral notes, complex layers of limestone and smoldering earth that has silky tannins with a long, expressive finish.

2019 Carpineto, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva, Tuscany, Italy: 80% Sangiovese and 20% Canaiolo. Rich, brooding fruit with blueberry and blackberry that has espresso and cocoa nib notes in the background with a full body and refreshing acidity.

2019 Carpineto, Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy: 100% Sangiovese. Enchanting nose with rose oil and wild lilacs that has hints of minerality with crushed rocks and river stones with marked acidity that lifts the juicy fruit and finely etched tannins.

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