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We began planting our Conn Valley ranch soon after we purchased the property in 1984, but our farming practices changed drastically in 1995. Dave Abreu took over as vineyard manager that year, just after we had purchased a steep, six-acre hillside parcel from a neighbor. Abreu convinced us that the parcel was ideal for a Bordeaux-style Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard -- tightly spaced, low to the ground and vertically trellised. Although the decision to proceed seems obvious now, the combination of the enormous development costs involved and the additional time necessary to bring the vineyard to crop-bearing age weighed heavily on us for the first several years. In 1999 we harvested our first crop from this new vineyard -- we refer to it as ‘The Knoll’ -- but elected to add the wine to our Merlot. We did so again in both 2000 and 2001. In 2002, the vines were 8 years old, and we produced our first ever estate bottled Cabernet Sauvignon, 200 cases from the entire parcel. Was it ever worth the wait! Shallow, rocky soils like ours tend to produce Cabernet Sauvignon of grace and finesse. There is plenty of that here. But it’s still packed with flavor and loaded with complex berry fruit. A client of ours, a longtime French wine merchant, tasted it recently, and described it as ‘Seamless’.

This is a new wine for us – our first Cabernet Sauvignon in ten years from purchased grapes. In 1995, we produced a Cabernet Sauvignon from fruit grown in the Calistoga area, in the northern part of the valley. This time the source is Rutherford, and it’s a fascinating study in contrasts from the Cabernet we make from our Conn Valley grapes. The iron rich outcropping of sandy loam soil surrounding Rutherford is well-drained and traps heat making it particularly well suited to Cabernet. As a result the wine is broader and richer than our Conn Valley Cabernet, with an earthier aroma. Someone once wrote that there are four great areas for Cabernet Sauvignon in the Napa Valley: the Stag’s Leap corridor, the Oakville bench, the mountains on the east and west sides of the valley, and anywhere in Rutherford.

What a great year 2003 has turned out to be for California Chardonnay! While all of France was caught up in one of the warmest (and most uncomfortable) summers in history, most of the Napa and Sonoma Chardonnay vineyards enjoyed a mild growing season, with moderate daytime temperatures and plenty of cool summer nights. That sort of weather can produce wines of flavor, balance and structure -- exactly what we’ve seen over the course of our barrel tastings the past several months. This year’s Carneros District bottling includes fruit from the Sangiacomo Kiser Ranch, along with grapes from the lower elevation block of the El Novillero Ranch in the western foothills of the appellation. We’ve spiced things up a bit with the inclusion of grapes from the Yamakawa Vineyard, a breathtakingly beautiful parcel owned by a third generation grower family, just outside the town of Sonoma. Fondness for the great White Burgundy wines of France leads us to strive for a similar combination of fruit and minerality in our Chardonnay. We think we’ve succeeded here.

The 2004 vintage in Northern California is already becoming celebrated for its Chardonnay. The growing season enjoyed an early start, free of frost or rain. Then a long cool summer and a succession of beautifully warm weeks in late August and early September fully ripened the crop. Grapes for our Carneros bottling come from the Sangiacomo Kiser Vineyard, just west of Sonoma; the neighboring Yamakawa vineyard; and one of the lower elevation parcels on the El Novillero Vineyard, in the hills at the western limit of the Carneros appellation. The soil is rich with clay. The vigorous, wild yeast fermentation makes for a wine that is loaded with tropical fruit, but that long buttery finish is equally attractive.

While credit for the farming of the remarkable El Novillero ranch goes to the Sangiacomo Family, the visionaries are Dewey Donnell, who founded the property over sixty years ago, and his children, who opted to develop a portion of it to vineyard forty years later. Its location, in the hills at the western limit of the Carneros District appellation, could hardly be better. The grapes enjoy the best of what California can offer Chardonnay -- gravel soil mixed with a high concentration of clay, a south-east facing slope to capture the best part of the day’s sunshine, and cool breezes off nearby San Pablo Bay. The natural acidity level in the fruit is high; since much of it is malic acid, the malo-lactic fermentation is especially vigorous. This produces higher than normal levels of the engaging aromas of butter and cheese, with hints of fresh-baked bread and toast. Writers have called past vintages “A Compelling and powerful effort”, “Stunningly rich and complex”, and “Mouth-filling and satisfying”. Working with grapes of this quality is a fabulous opportunity for a winemaker.

I first visited Burgundy in the spring of 1980, and the highlight of the trip was a dinner in Meursault, at the home of the late Guy Roulot. I adored Guy’s wines and had long regarded him as one of Burgundy’s best vintners. We tasted a number of extraordinary wines at that meal, but the one that stood out was his 1964 Meursault ‘Perrières’, a Chardonnay as close to perfection as I could ever expect. We had just begun Neyers Vineyards and my hope was someday to produce a Chardonnay that stirred my blood the way this one did. The Perrières vineyard in Meursault rises to 250 meters or so in elevation, and faces southeast to form a natural amphitheater. It takes its name from the deposit of small pebbles in the soil there, a geological peculiarity found no where else in Meursault. These pebbles add a natural minerality to the wines, a characteristic we also find in our El Novillero Chardonnay. There’s a similar rocky deposit in the highest portion of the El Novillero vineyard, which is also 250 meters in elevation and faces southeast. If there’s a vineyard likely to produce wine similar to Perrières it’s this one. In the 2004 vintage we’ve come closer than ever before. A strong aroma of butterscotch and grilled bread combines with the naturally sweet fruit of ripe Chardonnay. It’s thick, rich, and flavorful, but each component is held in check by that fascinating minerality. That night in 1980 Guy made a comment about his Perrières, and his son, Jean Marc, translated it for me. Reading it from my notes twenty-five years later, I’m struck by its poetry. The pebbly soil of Perrières, he said, allowed him to create a wine with “…imperfections that become polished with age”.

Which Chardonnay do I prefer, Napa or Carneros? When I’m asked that question I often think of the late writer Harry Waugh, who, when asked whether he preferred Bordeaux or Burgundy, replied that he intended to devote the rest of his life to finding out. Our Napa Valley Chardonnay is a fine counterpoint to the Carneros bottling; it has more mineral and earth, compared to the fruit and body of the Carneros. The Napa Valley bottling seems more at home with delicate seafood dishes, like the grilled Dover sole I recently enjoyed at one of my favorite New York City restaurants, while you might pair the Carneros with richer, more rustic food. The winemaking process is identical for both: whole-cluster pressing, natural wild-yeast fermentation in French oak barrels, 100% malo-lactic fermentation, and minimum intervention until bottling after a year of barrel age.

This bottling is from the Nord family’s Trio Vineyard in the Yountville area, in the southern part of the valley. It’s made identically to our Carneros Chardonnay, but it shows a leaner, earthy side when the two are tasted together. The fermentation in this case is longer and slower. While we think of our Napa bottling as more subtle than the Carneros, much of its charm is hidden in these early stages of the wine’s life, so one must exercise patience and allow the wine to develop. An old friend in the business told me that he likes to use the word ‘nuance’ when describing our wines, while another colleague recently used the term ‘restraint’. Both imply that what is here is not immediately apparent, but is worth the wait. The crisp beauty of a great Chablis stands in sharp contrast to the weighty richness of a classic Puligny, but these are simply different interpretations of the same grape. So it is with these two wines.

The Thieriot Chardonnay always ferments slowly because the rocky and shallow soil results in a nutrient deficient must. Experience has taught us that the longer the fermentation the better the wine. As we harvested the 2005 Thieriot crop, the 2004 was still in barrel, bubbling away. It finished in early November, more than 13 months after harvest! We never get a large crop from these vines, but it was especially low in 2004. The grape clusters were small and the individual berries were tiny -- always a good sign with Chardonnay, since much of the flavor of the grape is in the skins. When picked, the grapes seemed to be almost bursting with flavor. The finished wine is rich, as it always is from these vines, and it has developed a strong sense of minerality that complements the depth. Look for aromas of lemon peel and toast to accompany the broad palate.

These grapes were harvested almost a full month after our other Chardonnay vineyards. Cam Thieriot’s aerie-like vineyard, 1200 feet above the Pacific Ocean on the Sonoma coast, allows Chardonnay to ripen slowly and evenly. Cam gets every drop of flavor into his fruit that this unique site allows. Winemaker Ehren Jordan guides these grapes into one of California’s most exciting wines. The 2003 Thieriot Chardonnay fermented for ten months. In early December the wine was racked for clarification, and two weeks later it was bottled unfiltered. Richness in Chardonnay is desirable. Here it’s accompanied by an uncommon amount of complexity.

As the total acreage in California planted to wine grapes increased more than 40% over the past decade, that portion of the acreage planted to Grenache dropped almost 25%. And get this: of the almost 10,000 acres of Grenache that are planted in California today, only 17 acres are in Napa County, not even 0.1%! This is the grape that makes Châteauneuf du Pape, people. It’s the grape of Gigondas and Vacqueyras, the soul of Rasteau and Sablet. This is the grape that makes Domaine Vieux Télégraphe, Beaucastel, and Château Rayas! I know people in France who drink more Grenache in a normal year than all other red wines combined! And it’s an afterthought in California. Until now. A few years ago, Lee Hudson planted a few acres of his Carneros District vineyards to Grenache, using budwood from Châteauneuf du Pape, not from California. In 2002 Ehren made a 100% varietal wine from these young vines. It just might change forever the way you look at California Grenache

The first truly great wine I tasted was a Pomerol, and I’ve loved the wines from this lovely ‘Right Bank’ village ever since. With their high percentage of Merlot and Cabernet Franc (the legendary Ch. Petrus is 92% Merlot), Pomerols tend to be more subtle than wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon -- less grapey, more earthy or mineral. They are frequently softer wines, not always immediately impressive; they require some patience to appreciate. Today I treasure the small collection of them I’ve built up over the years. My fondness for Pomerol led to our decision in 1984 to plant our Conn Valley property to Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Although our newer vineyards are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, my heart has always been in the original 15 acres planted to these ‘Right Bank’ varieties. Over time, we’ve improved the farming practices, modified the blend, and advanced our winemaking. In 1999 we began farming organically. This sweeping change exaggerated the other improvements and we saw a dramatic rise in wine quality, culminating in our 2002 vintage of Merlot. Dark colored and filled with an aroma of ripe cherries, the wine is 75% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. The entire production comes from our 45 acre ranch in Conn Valley, grapes grown on a hillside that reaches an elevation of 300 feet or more. Although the ranch is barely a mile east of the Napa Valley floor, the climate is noticeably cooler, meaning that ripening is invariably delayed. Because high levels of Basalt in the soil keep nutrient levels low, the vines must struggle to produce a crop, and yields rarely exceed two tons per acre. The 2002 Merlot is subtle, graceful and complex, a combination that makes the wine complete and satisfying.

It’s rare to find this cherry component in California Merlot, largely because of the crop size. In France, the crop is kept small by regulation. Not so in California, where the strong demand for Merlot (‘Sideways’ to the contrary) has encouraged growers to maximize their yields. In 2003, there were approximately 50,000 acres of Merlot in California, and the harvest was over 200,000 tons, an average of well over 4 tons per acre. That same year, we harvested a mere 23 tons from the 14 acre Merlot vineyard on our Conn Valley ranch. In a small crop, you can smell the wild cherries! The smaller than normal crop aside, the 2003 vintage in the Napa Valley is a year of great strengths. The growing season was characterized by slow, steady and even ripening, so the color is dark and vibrant. In addition to that nose of wild cherry, there’s a lot of fresh fruit, soft tannins and wonderfully juicy flavors. The wine is already approachable. I served a bottle recently to some visitors from Michigan. ‘This smells of cherries,’ one remarked. I smiled, and said nothing, and thought of Harry Waugh.

It’s rare to find this cherry component in California Merlot, largely because of the crop size. In France, the crop is kept small by regulation. Not so in California, where the strong demand for Merlot (‘Sideways’ to the contrary) has encouraged growers to maximize their yields. In 2003, there were approximately 50,000 acres of Merlot in California, and the harvest was over 200,000 tons, an average of well over 4 tons per acre. That same year, we harvested a mere 23 tons from the 14 acre Merlot vineyard on our Conn Valley ranch. In a small crop, you can smell the wild cherries! The smaller than normal crop aside, the 2003 vintage in the Napa Valley is a year of great strengths. The growing season was characterized by slow, steady and even ripening, so the color is dark and vibrant. In addition to that nose of wild cherry, there’s a lot of fresh fruit, soft tannins and wonderfully juicy flavors. The wine is already approachable. I served a bottle recently to some visitors from Michigan. ‘This smells of cherries,’ one remarked. I smiled, and said nothing, and thought of Harry Waugh.

Many visitors who tour our winery seem surprised to learn that one-half of the facility is given over to the production of varietal Syrah, despite the fact that this grape variety comprises less than 10% of our annual production. To make Syrah properly, winemaker Ehren Jordan insisted, we needed small, open-top tanks for whole-cluster delivery and manual punch-down capability -- and we needed enough of them for extended maceration. We created, in effect, a miniature replica of a Northern Rhône winery. It takes up over half of our processing space. That design decision has proven to be even more valuable now that we produce this unique bottling of Syrah: it’s a traditionally made Cuvée that takes our Northern Rhône ideals one step further by utilizing winemaking practices far more common in Cornas, Côte-Rôtie or Hermitage a hundred years ago. We use all of the stems here, and add no sulfur dioxide until bottling. The wine is not racked, since we don’t want to introduce any oxygen during the aging process, and the yeast lees are stirred regularly. For all these reasons, it’s high-risk winemaking, with great rewards.

No variety is more fickle or demanding than Syrah, so the dedication of the grower is crucial. Lee Hudson devoted resources to this grape variety at a time when it seemed to offer little return, and he made a brilliant intuitive move in selecting the cool Carneros District as a site for what was widely thought of as a warm weather grape. Of equal importance, our Sage Canyon winery was designed to produce Syrah as it’s traditionally done in the Northern Rhône Valley of France. We whole-cluster ferment in custom designed, open-top tanks. We manually punch down the cap for a month or more, then age the wine for 14 months with little or no racking. It’s clarified by settling and bottled unfiltered. You won’t find a producer who goes to greater lengths to insure that Syrah is produced naturally and traditionally.

This is our tenth bottling of Syrah from Lee Hudson’s Carneros District vineyard and it’s quite possibly the finest we’ve made so far. The crop was small, barely half of normal, and the wine is dark purple, with a huge aroma of wildflowers and licorice. What sets it apart from previous bottlings, though, is a completeness in the flavor that we don’t see in every vintage. The 2004 growing season started early, and, as a result, we enjoyed near-perfect ripening conditions. It was one of those years that give us thorough maturity of the entire cluster. That may well account for the exaggerated flavor. All great wines have in common a degree of intensity, a concentration of the components in the grapes that make the finished wine stand out. We see that characteristic here.

We make three separate bottlings of Syrah at Neyers. One of them – our Cuvée d’Honneur – is a reflection of different winemaking steps, while the other two, which are made identically, reflect variations in growing conditions. Grapes for the ‘Napa Valley’ bottling come from a gently sloping parcel at the northern limit of the Hudson Vineyard in Carneros, where the soil is gravelly rather than clay-loam, and direct exposure to San Francisco Bay results in milder temperatures. Our winemaker, Ehren Jordan, spent the 1992 and 1993 harvests in Cornas, in the heart of France’s Syrah country, and brought back with him an understanding of the traditional winemaking practices that have been part of that area for a century or more. We designed our winery from the ground up with these requirements in mind. We laboriously hand-sort the grapes, use a substantial percentage of whole-cluster fruit, ferment in open-top tanks so we can manually punch down the cap, and, after a year of aging in 60-gallon French oak barrels, bottle the wine without fining or filtration. In a way, we’ve gone back in time to capture the maximum flavor and complexity of this variety.

The Carneros District vineyards of Lee Hudson are divided into two soil types. Both types are well suited to Syrah, and each is capable of producing a wine with its own individual set of charms. We make our Napa Valley bottling from the grapes grown on the hard sandstone soil in the northern reaches of the appellation, using a significant percentage of whole-clusters for the fermentation in our custom built open-top tanks. We rely on a lengthy maceration -- 30 days or more. We age the wine in 60-gallon French oak barrels for about a year, with little or no intervention, which allows extensive lees contact. All of these time-honored practices have been used for generations in the Northern Rhône regions of France. They give us a wine that is intensely dark (almost opaque) and has a powerful aroma of fruit and earth. It’s a wine with a fascinating underlying rusticity.

Old Lakeville Road is a lonely stretch of highway, just west of the Carneros hills, that seems to have long ago lost any reason for its existence. At the turn of the last century Lakeville was a seasonal resort for visitors to the Petaluma River area, but it is now abandoned. A few years ago, the Sangiacomo family developed a 12-acre Syrah vineyard on a steep hillside parcel just east of Old Lakeville Road, overlooking the Petaluma River. When they asked us to supply the budwood, we chose cuttings we knew to have come from Cornas, Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie. The slope is 45 degrees at its steepest and faces southwest, forming a natural amphitheater opening onto the San Francisco Bay. Temperatures are moderate, so the ripening is slow and even. The wine is dark and aromatic. It has loads of spice, traces of blueberries, and that most intriguing element the French call ‘animal’.

The vines in Rich Pato’s striking, old-vine parcel celebrate their 110th birthday this year, a significant milestone for vineyards and one rarely seen in these days of cloning and selective breeding. These Zinfandel vines are own-rooted, not grafted onto phylloxera-resistant rootstock -- one of the last such stands of vines remaining in California. Every aspect of farming this 20 acre vineyard is personally overseen by Rich Pato, and his keen attention to detail is evident. The vineyard yielded just 23 tons of fruit in 2004, all of it perfectly ripened. The finished wine is dark, plump, rich and soft enough to be immediately engaging. The aroma is like a bowl of freshly crushed strawberries. I can’t imagine a wine being more inviting.

Rich Pato’s Oakley vineyard crop levels in 2003 were down almost 20% from the previous year. Extra color, richness and intensity in the wine is the result. There’s an exotic element of spiciness in the wine as well. Our Pato Zinfandel addresses all there is to love about this uniquely California variety -- flavor, drinkability and satisfaction. The fruit, harvested at an average 25% sugar, was fermented for almost 30 days before being transferred to 60-gallon French oak barrels for 14 months of aging, free of intervention or manipulation. It was racked three times for natural clarification, then bottled with no fining or filtration. We want to preserve everything the vineyard puts into these 108 year old vines.

The crop from Vince and Pauline Tofanelli’s Calistoga area vineyard was also 20% smaller in 2003, and we see a corresponding increase in the intensity of this wine. There is a verve and a vibrancy to the 2003 Tofanelli, however, compared to the deeper resonance of the Pato Zinfandel. The black fruit flavors of raspberry and currant stand out, but there’s pepper and clove as well. The longer than normal maceration serves to remove the hard tannins, producing a softness that makes it immediately attractive.

The crop from Vince and Pauline Tofanelli’s Calistoga area vineyard was also 20% smaller in 2003, and we see a corresponding increase in the intensity of this wine. There is a verve and a vibrancy to the 2003 Tofanelli, however, compared to the deeper resonance of the Pato Zinfandel. The black fruit flavors of raspberry and currant stand out, but there’s pepper and clove as well. The longer than normal maceration serves to remove the hard tannins, producing a softness that makes it immediately attractive.