We’ve been making Sauvignon Blanc since 2002 and this is likely our best so far. Our Sauvignon Blanc always balances citrus and melon flavors; this year the citrus side is stronger, with primary flavors of grapefruit, key lime pie and Meyer lemon, followed by cantaloupe and honeydew melon. The grapes for this wine come from a vineyard with gravelly alluvial soils in the Oak Knoll district north of the city of Napa, on the Napa Valley floor. At this site, warm sunny days and cold nights lead to concentrated flavors while preserving the wine’s freshness and acidity. The wine has a soft, ephemeral feel on the palate and a long finish, which comes from aging in used barrels cycled down from the Chardonnay program as opposed to stainless steel tanks which are used for most Sauvignon Blanc wines and give the wine a harder feel. The oak flavors are gone by the time the barrels are filled with Sauvignon Blanc.

$35/bottle (124 cases produced)

Our 2019 Chardonnay from the Charles Heintz vineyard is a beautiful lustrous gold color, with primary flavors of crisp apples, pears and marzipan, and complex secondary notes of citrus, brioche and minerals. Our white wine program is based on the expertise and vineyard relationships of our winemaker, Robbie Meyer. Robbie is a scientist who in 1998 started his career at the Peter Michael winery, one of the originators of the modern, opulent, expensive style of California Chardonnay. Robbie has been working with the Charles Heintz Vineyard for more than two decades. This is a famous Sonoma County property founded in 1912 near the town of Occidental. The vineyard is on a ridge 900 feet above the Pacific Ocean which lies six miles to the west, so the site is cool and sunny. In the wine, this location provides an elusive combination of rich flavor with a feeling of lightness on the palate.

$45/bottle (56 cases produced)

Our 2019 Russian River Chardonnay from Sophia’s Vineyard is a deep gold color. Of the five vintages of the Sophia’s Chardonnay that we have released (starting in 2015) this vintage achieves perhaps the best balance between richness and elegance. It is loaded with flavor and has a polished, rich texture and a long finish without being heavy. The flavors and aromas include honey, white flowers, Anjou and Bosc pears, a spectrum of yellow and green apples, and subtle hints of beeswax and almonds. The fruit for this wine comes from the seven-acre Sophia’s Vineyard, located ten miles from the Pacific Ocean near the town of Graton, where the Coast Range slopes down to meet the Santa Rosa/Russian River plain. The vines are the Old Wente clone of Chardonnay, planted in the 1970’s by Sonoma viticultural pioneer Warren Dutton. Compared to the Charles Heintz Vineyard, this vineyard is in a warmer climate but foggier in the morning, another combination that leads to a rich but balanced wine.

$45/bottle (112 cases produced)

The Cuvée Mahalia is our red wine with the widest appeal. Serious wine people like it because it is delicious and complex; there is a lot going on in the glass. Casual wine drinkers love it because it is delicious. Cuvée is the French word for a wine blend and Mahalia is our oldest daughter’s middle name. The blend for the 2019 Cuvée is 66% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Although the Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon make up a third of the blend, they offer stronger flavors than the Merlot, so the wine enters with dark fruits like blackberries and wild blueberries. The Merlot provides a silky, lush texture and flavors of black cherries. There are all kinds of subtleties and secondary accents, like mint, sage and dark chocolate. This is the last Cuvée Mahalia in this form and quantity since we did not pick our grapes in 2020 due to the fires and we pulled out the declining old Merlot vines in the vineyard in 2021.

$50/bottle (90 cases produced)

This is the best “regular” Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon we have made. It is a serious wine, rich and mouth-coating yet balanced. It reminds me of the Napa Cabernets made in 1994 and 1995, two classic vintages when the best Napa Cabernets were made in the modern, fruit driven style, but with the more restrained wines of traditional Bordeaux and 1970’s Napa Valley a point of reference. The grapes that went into the wine are from a selection of several Napa Valley vineyards with Oakville and Rutherford playing a prominent role. The blend is 96% Cabernet Sauvignon with the remainder Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. The primary flavors are dark fruits like cassis and blackberries combined with dark chocolate and subtle undertones of cedar, forest floor and dusty, loamy earth. The wine will last at least 15 years in a cool cellar and will improve and gain in complexity over this time.

$60/bottle (298 cases produced)

The 2019 La Maestra Cabernet Sauvignon is the richest version of the La Maestra that we have made. It paints a swath of Cabernet Sauvignon flavor across the palate but is made in a soft style; the structure is there but the wine is not overtly tannic. The blend is 89% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Petit Verdot. The Petit Verdot gives the wine gravitas and an exotic side, but it important to note that Petit Verdot from our vineyard is soft and lush compared to the more tannic, austere flavor profile of this grape produces in wine from the mountainous Stagecoach Vineyard (which we have worked with in the past) or Bordeaux. The 2019 La Maestra flavor profile is typical for this wine: core flavors of blackcurrant, wild blueberries and black cherries with accents of licorice, lavender, mint, eucalyptus and dark chocolate. Maestra means “the teacher” in Spanish and Italian, and this wine is named after my mother, who first planted grapes in our family’s old orchard and who teaches English as a Second Language and Spanish at the local community college. Many of her students are farm workers and they taught us how to manage our vineyard; “Maestra” is what they call her. Our La Maestra is still teaching (online) and working in the vineyard part time. This is one wine that we are going to cellar in volume for ourselves.

$120/bottle, $240/magnum (193 cases produced)