A Vertical Tasting of Christian Moueix's Ulysses Napa Valley at Vintage Vino

The land upon which Christian Moueix's Ulysses Vineyard lies has had as many owners as its namesake had adventures on his epic journey home after the conclusion of the Trojan War. The land came into American lore as a part of the 1836 Rancho Caymus land grant by the Mexican government to the farmer/trapper/settler George C. Yount (after whom the town of Yountville is named). Yount planted the first grapes in the area on what is now the Napanook Vineyard (also currently owned by Mouiex and the source of the grapes for the highly regarded Dominus wine).

Yount sold 640 acres of Rancho Caymus to Charles Hopper in 1850. Hopper had originally traveled to California from Missouri in 1841 but had returned shortly thereafter. He came back out to California with his family in 1849 and settled in Napa Valley. Hopper planted his first vines on the property in 1873 and gifted the land to his daughter Missouri in 1877. Missouri was forced to sell the land in the 1880s after her husband's death.

The original ranch has been broken up and sold off in pieces. The land that comprises today's Vine Hill Vineyard, Missouri Hopper, Ulysses Vineyard, and Kelleher (see map below) passed through the ownerships of Whitton, Hahn, and Taddei before being purchased by Bruce Kelham in 1959. The Missouri Hopper Vineyard was purchased from the Kelham Family by Andy Beckstoffer in 1996.

The Ulysses Vineyard, as noted by Antonio Galloni (Vinous), had been a part of the Missouri Hopper Vineyard. It came under the ownership of the Schmidts either before or during the Beckstoffer acquisition and was purchased from them by Christian Moueix in 2008.

The soil at Ulysses is a deep, gravelly clay loam. It is valley floor soil, but with excellent drainage. When purchased it was home to a substantial number of Merlot vines but, given his early experience at Dominus, Christian pulled out all of the Merlot vines and replaced them with Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard composition is now 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Petit Verdot.

As is the practice at all Moueix properties, Ulysses is dry-farmed, a practice which, he maintains, enhances root depth and drought resistance.

Grapes are harvested at "perfect ripeness" and fermented/macerated with extraction facilitated by pump-overs. The wine is aged for 20 months in 40 - 50% new French oak.

John Siudut of Vintage Vino organized a tasting of the first three vintages (2012 - 2014) of Ulysses, said tasting held at Vintage Vino and led by him and Billy Hendriksen. Attendees were limited to 10 people in order to ensure meaningful pours for each participant. The bottles were opened at 2:00 pm and the tasting began a little after 5:00 pm.

Parlo and Soo

John showing a label to some of the attendees

They're happy

Billy prepping to lead the tasting

John bringing his expertise to bear

According to Billy, the 2012 growing season had heavy spring rain and a mild, warm summer. The Ulysses 2012 was perfumed with honeysuckle, dried herbs, leather, vanilla, and dark fruit. On the palate, dark fruit, green herbs, and green pepper.

The 2013 season was characterized by a very dry spring and consistently warm summer and fall. Early ripening with 6.4 inches of rain, compared to a historical average of 17.5 inches. Yields in 2013 were between 1.4 and 2.5 tons/acre. The 2013 Ulysses showed more green pepper than the 2012. Fruit-forward, vinous, with fruit somewhat overwhelmed by the green character. More green notes on the palate. Intense. More structured than the 2012.

The 2014 season had a dry, early winter with heavy rain in February. Much higher than average temperature with moderate heat spikes. Yields of 2.2 tons/acre. The 2014 Ulysses  exhibited dark fruit, wet cigarette, and baking spices on the nose. A slight green note. Lusher, plusher, and softer on the palate than the preceding wines. Creamy. Open.

For comparison purposes, we tasted two wines from other Moueix properties: 1996 Dominus (similar varietal composition as the Ulysses) and the 2005 Trotanoy (from his Pomerol estate of the same name; Merlot-dominant).

The Dominus showed chocolate, tobacco, coffee, black tea, coal tar, and a duskiness. Complete from front to back. Rich and creamy. Beautiful. Long, creamy finish.

The Trotanoy was young. Dark and red fruit, earth, and baking spices. Power on the palate with red fruit. Way too early.

The Ulysses wines are currently young wines from young vines but the long-term potential of this vineyard is apparent. Great job by John and Billy in walking us through this very revealing tasting.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

MACDONALD: Site and practices combine for an excellent representation of the To-Kalon legacy

A 43-acre plot of the historic To-Kalon Vineyard was purchased in 1954 from the Stelling estate by Mrs. Hedwig Detert, Greatgrandmother to the generation currently growing grapes on that selfsame property. Shortly after the purchase, Mrs. Detert apportioned the property between her two children and those plots are currently farmed by her GreatGrandchildren under the names Detert Family Vineyards (25 acres) and MACDONALD (21 acres, inclusive of a subsequent purchase of 3 acres from Robert Mondavi for property construction). The Detert and MACDONALD plots are shown in the map below.

Map of the historic To-Kalon Vineyard and
 "Stelling Extension" (Drawn by Sarah MacDonald)

MACDONALD is currently operated by siblings Alex and Graeme MacDonald. I recently visited and walked the vineyard with Graeme and have split reporting on that encounter into a post on the history and this one on the vineyard and wine.

I got to the MACDONALD offices a little early (plus I had missed the turn) and came onto the premises from the rear. I asked a man who was mowing the lawn for directions to Graeme and he pointed me to a walkway and a cottage at its termination point. I walked up to the door and knocked and it was opened by Sarah (Graeme's wife) who was quickly shuffled out of the way by a toy-toting tot and a similarly equipped dog. Graeme was on his way from St Helena so Sarah invited me in and provided a folder of To-Kalon artifacts for me to feast my eyes on while I waited.

Graeme showed up soon after and apologized profusely for the delay. He had a nice easy smile and conversational tone. I knew right away that it was going to be a good day. He suggested that we go outside and walk the vineyards so I said goodbye to the toy-toters and struck out into the vines. We circumnavigated the vineyard in a counter-clockwise direction.

As shown in the map above, the MACDONALD plot is just outside the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains, on an alluvial fan that has been created by Tokalon Creek bringing gravel, stones, volcanic rock, and sand down from the mountain and depositing it in a fan-like shape onto the valley floor. The fan forms deep gravelly soils with excellent drainage and forces the vine roots to go deep underground in search of water. This action places stress on the vine, resulting in small berries (according to Graeme, they are the smallest berries in the Mondavi stable) and optimal ripening.

Towards the bottom end of the alluvial fan the soil is shallower, has a higher percentage of clay, and is more fertile. This latter fact was demonstrated by the size of the trees lining the path separating the MACDONALD and Mondavi vineyards. At the upper reaches of the path, the trees were about 8-feet tall while towards the bottom they are twice that height. A sample of the various soil types present  on the MACDONALD plot is shown in the pictures below.

Tokalon Creek

Graeme is responsible for vineyard management and winemaking at MACDONALD. He subscribes to what he calls natural farming, a requirement, he says, for getting natural flavors out of the grapes:

• Integration of plants into the environment
• Minimal tractor use to minimize compaction
• No fertilizers -- planting of Fava beans between rows
• No roundup
• Minimal canopy management (only one trellised block in the vineyard)
• Creation of their own compost on site.

The vineyard is oriented NE - SW which allows fuller access to the morning sun and limited access to the searing afternoon sun. Vines are 20-, 40-, and 60-years old with the youngest vines California-sprawl-trained and the oldest head-trained. Graeme is able to get away with minimal canopy management because, he says, the California sprawl creates its own balance. The trellised vines are planted at 1089 vines/acre while the rest of the vineyard is planted to 565 vines/acre.

The vines are all Cabernet Sauvignon: Clone 4 on 110R rootstocks for the younger vines and St. George for the older vines. The trellised vines are irrigated once or twice per growing season while the older vines are dry-farmed. Yields on the vineyard are between 1.5 and 2 tons per acre. Damaged vines are replaced using massal selection of the To-Kalon clone.

The grapes are sold exclusively to Robert Mondavi with a small amount held back for production of their MACDONALD label. The grapes that they provide to Mondavi comprise 50% of the raw material for a label called Tokalon and 10 - 15% of the Mondavi Reserve. Mondavi's only involvement with the vineyard is turning up to pick the grapes at harvest time.

The MacDonalds can use grapes from any part of the vineyard for their wine. They tend to pick earlier than most. For example, there is a 1-month gap between the start of harvest at MACDONALD and the start of harvest at Beckstoffer To-Kalon. Graeme picks on taste and seeks out a certain nuttiness in the seed as his trigger.

After harvest, the grapes are transferred to Kongsgaard for creation of the wine. The grapes are destemmed and then placed into a tank for a 5-day cold soak. The grapes are fermented by natural yeasts in stainless steel tanks with pump-over for cap management. After a 35-day maceration, the wines are racked into 100% new, medium/medium-plus-toast French oak (Taransaud, Sylvain) barrels for malolactic fermentation and aging. The barrels are employed primarily for their micro-oxygenation function. The wines are racked once or twice a year to minimize oxidation opportunities.

After the vineyard walk, we went into the offices to taste the 2014 vintage of the MACDONALD wine. The wine tasted was a 2014 vintage. It had been opened two hours prior to the tasting.

Graeme MacDonald, grower/winemaker

According to Graeme, 2014 was the earthquake vintage and the wines had started to shut down to conserve energy. The wine had a perfumed nose along with dark fruit and spice. Light on its feet and perfectly balanced. This was a beautiful wine. I have tasted many To-Kalon wines; and this is competitive. I have tasted many Napa wines; and this is competitive. I kept asking Graeme for seconds. I did not spit.

Production levels for the wine is as follows: 227 cases in 2013; 350 cases in 2014; and 425 cases in 2015.

In summarizing, Graeme said that, from his perspective, under Mondavi, To-Kalon was going towards the Bordeaux model. That is, one Chateau owning many acres and with newly purchased land incorporated into the existing estate with full accreditation. In the current environment, To-Kalon is moving more towards the Burgundian model -- many different owners. In his estimation, the latter approach will help to improve the vineyard overall.

I joined the winery's mailing list.

Graeme is an avid student of Hamilton Crabb and the historic To-Kalon and, to a large extent, he seeks to model the Vineyard according to his perception of the relevant precepts. He farms assiduously and with an eye to the future. He collects and studies artifacts of the To-Kalon historic age and steeps himself in them. He maintains an experimental vineyard on the property, a shoutout to Hamilton Crabb but also as a knowledge and resource bank for future generations.

Hamilton Crabb would recognize the spirit that exists here.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

The bagging of Lot 215, Oakville East - Exposure 2014 Cabernet Franc #PNV14

In three of the past four years I have traveled to Napa with a group of Orlando friends to participate in Premiere Napa Valley (PNV), the annual, invitation-only, grand tasting and auction targeted at members of the wine trade. In three of those four years, The Wine Barn has acquired one of the auction lots and this year was even more fruitful for our town as wineontheway.com (two lots) and The Wine Barn (one lot) kept our flag flying high in Napa. In this, and a subsequent post, I will profile the wineries whose offerings will, in the future, be gracing the tables and cellars of my fellow Orlandoans.

Continuing its four-year winning streak, The Wine Barn Syndicate bought a 5-case lot of 2012 Cabernet Franc produced by Oakville East. I will profile the winery first and then return to the auction lot.

Oakville East, as the name foretells, is located in Napa Valley's Oakville AVA on its eastern border with the Vaca Mountain foothills. I have previously written about the Oakville AVA and described its climate as "Mediterranean-like" (a result of the interaction between the cool San Francisco Bay air and the warmer air from the San Joaquin Valley) and its soil in the east (our area of concern) as being dominated by the volcanic composition of the Vaca Mountains.

The grapes included in Oakville East's wines are sourced from micro-vineyards owned by six families and farmed by their individual staffs as well as by an Oakville East vineyard manager who oversees/consults with them on an ongoing basis. Prior to placing their grapes into the collective, these small-plot owners sold their grapes to their larger, more-famous neighbors. The vineyards are currently farmed organically but are on a path, beginning in 2008, towards biodynamic farming and have enlisted Phillippe Armenier, noted bio-dynamicist and winemaker, to assist them on this journey. The Oakville East vineyards are shown in the table below.

                                    Oakville East Vineyards

Vineyard	Plot	Size	Planted	Orientation	Varieties
Stern				East-West
	Divot		1997		Cabernet Sauvignon
	On the Rocks		2000		Cabernet Franc
	Side Hill Lie		2000		Cabernet Franc
Saunders		1.5 acres	1993	West	Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc Petit Verdot
Lopez		1 acre (1500 vines)	1999		Cabernet Sauvignon
Harter		2 acre
	Terraced	1300 vines	1990
	Vertical Trellis	700 vines	1997
	New Block	660 vines	2008
Buselli		3.5 acres	1994

The winery's first release was a 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon comprised of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot. That wine lives on today as Oakville East - Exposure. The winery also produces a Bordeaux blend which is primarily Cabernet Sauvignon with a healthy dose of Cabernet Franc and a smaller Petit Verdot contribution. This wine is called Oakville East - Cold Stone. The winemaker for the initial offering was Sarah Gott of Phelps and Quintessa fame but, with the commencement of the 2010 vintage, Marie-Laure Ammons, a Phillipe Melka protégée, has taken on the role of head winemaker.

Oakville East's 2014 PNV offering was a 5-case lot made from grapes sourced from the Saunders Vineyard. This Cabernet Franc wine was bolstered with tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. It was fermented in stainless steel tanks and then aged for 22 months in 70% new French oak barrels. The winery describes it as a "huge wine with ... soft, elegant tannins" that make it equally suitable for early drinking or cellaring.

We encountered the wine for the first time at the Women Winemakers' event at the Bardessono Hotel on Thursday, February 20th, and tabbed it as a wine of interest both on the basis of the winemakers enthusiasm and its quality. Andrew's (owner of The Wine Barn) notes: "Pencil lead, violets, currants, and licorice. A dense wine but with a good mineral and acidic core. It shows its Cabernet Franc character very well. An excellent 40-seconds+ finish with the oak presence, although evident, in balance." This wine joined the Mondavi and J. Davies lots on our acquisition-candidates list.

Maurie-Laure Ammons, Oakville East Winemaker

On the day of the auction, we got out early to take a final taste of our acquisition candidates. Our motives were pure but we got sidetracked into tasting Schrader (again and again), Scarecrow (again and again), Shafer (did not want Elias to feel lonely), Arkenstone (they have a great Sauvignon Blanc, by the way), and Memento Mori (Arkenstone winemaker is a partner in this venture; he is a comer).

Wish she would conclude that interview -- Scarecow

Has there ever been a kinder, gentler winemaker

That's wine on Andrew's lips, not blood

The bidding began while we were still at lunch and by the time we got to the auction hall, the madness was in full swing. Everything was twice to three times its highest previous price. We kept waiting for common sense to intrude but there was no stopping the flashing paddles or the frenetic auctioneers. We began to panic. Ron kept yelling for a strategy session (a little late, don't you think). "The boat is leaving the station and we are not gonna be on it," he screamed again and again (he lost his voice, by the way). Finally the auctioneer deigned to look in our direction and pinged our paddle just as we were about to lower it dejectedly for the 45th time. We kept waiting for someone to jump in and steal our thunder. It had happened before. But no one did this time. They were all spent. Or, Boa Constrictor-like, they were stuffed after the "meal"and had to crawl off into their collective corners to digest their commitments. We did not care. We had our lot. The 2014 Oakville East - Exposure Cabernet Franc.

Used with permission of Andrew Montoya, The Wine Barn

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Opus One: Conception and execution of the highest order

Opus One is an Oakville-based winery joint venture that grew out of Baron Philippe de Rothschild's (at that time the owner of Mouton-Rothschild) desire to partner with an American producer to make a distinctly American wine.  I have visited the winery twice in a little over a year -- once as a member of the UC Davis Wine Law Conference team that visited the facility on June 6th, 2010 and, secondly, on a personal guided tour organized by @sdematei and led by Jim Nicolette, Guest Relations Coordinator -- and this post presents my understanding of the winery operations based on onsite discussions as well as material gleaned from secondary sources.

Based on the recommendation of his friend Harry Serlis, Robert Mondavi was the only producer who was considered by the Baron as a potential joint-venture partner (Julia Flynn Siler, The House of Mondavi, Penguin 2007).  The Baron invited Robert Mondavi to meet at Mouton-Rothschild and in the course of the visit (1978) proposed a joint venture based on equal footing (a surprising proposal to Mondavi given the size and prestige of Mouton).  The agreement coming out of the meeting was for the formation of a fifty-fifty joint venture which would produce a single red wine with a proprietary name (Siler 2007).  Robert Mondavi would provide the grapes and make the wine for the joint venture until it was able to meet its own needs and a search would be initiated to identify and procure property to house its operations.

The joint venture released its 1979 and 1980 vintages simultaneously in 1984 under the winemaking stewardship of Timothy Mondavi and Lucien Sionneau, the Mouton winemaker.  The product introduced on the market represented a compromise between Sionneau's preference for a more elegant offering and Mondavi's hankering for a California-style red wine (Siler 2007).

The climate and soils of Oakville, Opus One's home AVA, has been described in a previous post.  The estate currently owns and operates four vineyards, totaling 169 acres (68.4 ha), in the AVA.  The first acquisition was the Q Block (35 acres (14.2 ha)) of the famed To Kalon Vineyard from the Robert Mondavi Winery in 1981.


This was followed by the acquisition of the 50-acre (20.2-ha) River Parcel in 1983, the Ballestra Vineyard (49 acres (19.8 ha)) in 1984, and the To Kalon K Block (48 acre (18.4 ha)) in 2008.  In 1995 the Q Block was replanted with low-yield, high-density, phylloxera-resistant rootstock.  The density of the re-plantings was five to six times higher than is normal for Napa but was pursued in order to produce smaller berries with resultant higher skin-to-juice-ratio which, in turn, would translate into more intense flavors and aromas. Overall vine density ranges between 500 and 2400 vines per acre.  Vines are spur-pruned with new plantings going to Guyot.

Source: Opusonewinery.com

The goal of Opus One is the production of an extraordinay wine and the person leading that charge today is the Winemaker and Viticulturist Michael Silacci.  Mike has a Masters degree in Viticulture from UC Davis and Undergraduate degrees in Enology from UC Davis and the University of Bordeaux.  Mike spent 6 years as the winemaker at Stags Leap Wine Cellars and 1 year as the winemaker at King Estates in Oregon but is especially mindful of the years (6) at Beaulieu Estates where he got to work alongside the legendary Andre Tchelistcheff.  Tchelistcheff had come back to Beaulieu Vineyards as a consultant and Mike worked alongside him for approximately 3 years and came out of that process a Tchelistcheff disciple.

Mike came to Opus One in 2001 and put the vineyard team together, drawing extensively from Mondavi personnel. Mike sought out committed vineyard workers who were willing to take on responsibility and ownership.  In 2004 he placed the cellar workers into teams and gave each team four barrels of wine (value approximately $250,000) with the goal of having "their" wines included in the Opus blend.  According to JIm Nicolette, since that initial assignment, only one team has missed the blend.

During my initial trip to Opus I was mesmerized by the corporate strategic management skills exhibited by Mike.  These are not the type of skills that you encounter in a winery on a daily basis.  First, he was very strategic in his thinking and every action that was undertaken was part of a larger plan.  He related the story of how he eventually got the executives in France to commit the financial resources to replanting the vineyards and it was brilliant.  Second, his management style was highly motivational.  Rather than pulling folks along, he gave them a sense of shared ownership and responsibility and a "we all win together" attitude.  He spoke very highly of his staff and their successes to the UC Davis team where a lot of winemakers would have used the opportunity to laud their own accomplishments.  And that love is returned.  A fair amount of the time that I spent with Jim was taken up with favorable stories about Mike's effect on and in the workplace.  According to Jim, Mike's motivational management style has dramatically changed the culture at Opus One.

Harvesting of the grape berries are done by hand by teams working between 3:30 and 10:00 am.  The berries are deposited into small picking boxes for transport to the winery where they are hand-sorted before being placed in the destemmer.  The berries are gravity-flowed from the destemmers to stainless steel fermenting tanks on the floor below.  Each tank is dedicated to a single lot and is only used once during harvest.  The berries undergo a warm maceration at the conclusion of which the tanks are raised and the free-run juice is gravity-fed into new French oak barrels.  The remaining solid material is placed into basket presses and the resulting juice is itself placed into oak barrels for aging.

The wine is kept in oak casks for 18 months during which time it is racked and topped-up as needed.  In turbid years the wine is subjected to egg-white fining. The final blend is determined by a tasting team comprised of the winemaker, two assistant winemakers, and a contingent from Mouton-Rothschild.  The blend is generally 85% Cabernet Sauvignon with the remainder being some mix of the other Bordeaux varietals.  A general practice is to co-ferment the best Cabernet Sauvignon with Petit Verdot.

The wines are bottled after the 18-month residence in cask and spend an additional 18 months in bottle before public release.

Opus One bottles its vintage Bordeaux blend for worldwide distribution and a non-vintage second wine -- Overture -- which is only avaiilable for purchse at the winery or on the winery's website.  The flagship wine is generally concentrated with apparent black fruit and silky tannins but ages well, as demonstrated in a recent Masters of Wine tasting in London where Mike's favorite vintages were showcased.  The wines are generally favorably received by the critic-class and have developed a faithful following worldwide.

In closing I should note that, with Constellation's purchase of the Robert Mondavi Winery, the joint partners in the endeavor are now Constellation Brands and the Baron Philippe de Rothschild organization.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

To Kalon: Chronology and genealogy of a vineyard for the ages

Oakville's standing as one of the world's premier wine-growing region has, to a large extent, been based on the presence of the To Kalon Vineyard -- the California Farm Bureau's 2011 Vineyard of the Year -- within its borders.  The vineyard soil is comprised of gravelly loam on the slopes and alluvial, loam, and clay soils on the valley floor.

The Crabb Period
Oakville graduated from a water stop on the Napa Rail Line to the steps of the wine region hall of fame with Hamilton Walker Crabb's (spelt Crabbe in Julia Flynn Siler's The House of Mondavi) 1868 purchase of 240 acres of land from E. L. Sullivan for establishment of a vineyard (According to oakvillewinegrowers.com, Crabb arrived in California in 1853 looking for gold and finally settled in San Lorenzo.). Crabb built his first winery in 1872 and by 1877 was producing 50,000 gallons of wine annually from 130 planted acres in the vineyard that he, at that time, called Hermosa Vineyards.

Crabb was considered the "first true horticulturist" to be associated with Napa wines.  He grew more than 400 grape varieties on his property (he had brought in cuttings of "noble varieties" from France) and was a leader in the research efforts to develop phylloxera-resistant rootstock.  He shared his viticultural knowledge with his peers and sold them thousands of cuttings from his vineyard.  He is reputed to have been the first to plant Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc in the valley.

In 1879 Crabb purchased a 119-acre parcel from Eliza Yount, bringing his vineyard size to 359 acres, the eventual size at the time of his death in 1899. By 1886, Crabb had adopted the name To Kalon (the good; the beautiful) for the vineyard.

Crabb's association with the 135.7-acre Davis parcel -- prior to his 1891 short-term purchase -- solidifies its consideration as a component of the historic To-Kalon Vineyard (To-Kalon Vineyard National Register Nomination):

• Crabb had planted the first vines on this property (at that time owned by his in-laws-to-be) in 1873 and had been purchasing the fruit to include in his To-Kalon wines since 1879.
• Crabb purchased the land at auction in 1891 and immediately sold it back to his daughter-in-law via a mortgage valued at one-third the price he had paid for the property just seven days earlier. In 1893 he filed a quitclaim deed for the property and Margarethe Davis (his daughter-in-law) sells the property to A. L. Williams in November of the following year.
• Prior to the 1891 purchase, Crabb regularly referred to the parcel as his own
• According to the nomination,, "Additional primary sources state that the historic To-Kalon Vineyard was contiguous and stretched from the highway back to the foothills."

Historical To-Kalon boundary
(Source: Graeme MacDonald)

Click here to learn about another interpretation as to the components of the historical vineyard.

The Churchill Period and Beyond
To Kalon was sold to a banker named E. W. Churchill subsequent to Crabb's death.  In 1911, he set aside 20 of the vineyard's acres to be used by the US Department of Agriculture for viticultural research.  The Department had established a research station in Oakville (Oakville Station) in 1903 and placed it under the stewardship of UC Davis.  Today UC Davis manages 40 acres of land at Oakville Station where experiments aimed at improving viticultural practices are conducted on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Sirah, Syrah, and Zinfandel vines.  The grapes grown at Oakville station are sold to wineries to be used in the production of table wines.

Wine was produced at To Kalon from the time of Crabb's death until the winery burnt to the ground in 1939.  With the winery gone, the Churchill family decided to sell the estate.  The estate itself appeared to have grown in size because 335 acres were sold to Martin Stelling ( a San Francisco steel manufacturer), thus becoming a part of the 2000-acre Stelling Estate, while 89 acres were sold to Beaulieu Vineyards and became its Beaulieu Vineyard #4, source of the legendary Georges de Latour wines made by André Tchelistcheff.  Churchill had acquired 359 acres from the Crabb estate and had set 20 acres aside for the Department of Agriculture which should have brought the To Kalon acreage to 339 acres.  Sometime during the Churchill tenure, then, an additional 85 acres were added to the original vineyard to support the sale of the reported acreage to Stelling and Beaulieu Vineyards.

To-Kalon (with Stelling extensions) at the time of

Martin Stelling's death (Source:guildsomm.com)

Martin Stelling died in an automobile accident in 1950 and his estate was held in trust for his son Douglas Stelling.

Mrs. Hedwig Detert purchased 43 acres of the To-Kalon Vineyard in 1954 from Caroline Stelling after the death of her husband. Mrs Detert wanted to buy the house in the hills above the vineyard but was told that she would have to buy some land in addition for the deal to go forward (Remember that at his death, the Stelling estate had in excess of 2000 acres of land). Mrs. Hedwig agreed and named the purchase Detert Vineyards. Shortly after the purchase, Mrs Detert turned the vineyard over to her sons and they divided it up and worked it as two separate vineyards. (Today the MacDonald Vineyard is 21 acres in size -- inclusive of 3 acres purchased from Robert Mondavi for construction of the buildings currently resident on the property -- while their second cousins farm 25 acres.).

In 1962, Ivan Schoch, Stelling's former foreman, approached the Mondavi's, then the owners of Charles Krug, about buying some of the Stelling land.  The Mondavi's jumped at the chance and bought almost 500 acres of the property, inclusive of most of the original Crabb acreage, for $1.35 million.  The property was held by the Charles Krug parent company C. Mondavi and Sons.

After his expulsion from Charles Krug, Robert Mondavi set out to establish his own winery.  This initiative began with the purchase of  11.6 acres of the original Crabb estate.  Subsequent to Mondavi's purchase, discussions were begun about converting the Stelling property into a commercial development with a small winery at its core.  Robert Mondavi signed on to be the winery operator and gained a small parcel of Stelling To Kalon property on which to build his own winery. The land development project never came to fruition but, with investment assistance from Sicks Rainier Brewing Company, Robert Mondavi Winery was able to purchase an additional 230 acres of To Kalon Vineyards from the Stelling holdings.

Charles Krug board action subsequent to Robert Mondavi's ouster sought to alter his voting rights and ownership share, prompting a Mondavi suit against his former company.  Mondavi prevailed in his suit and gained most of the To Kalon properties held by C. Mondavi and Sons as part of the settlement.

When Robert Mondavi and Baron de Rothschild agreed to the joint venture that is today's Opus One, the Baron contributed the working capital while Robert Mondavi contributed the choicest fruit from To Kalon, wines, and the sales and marketing apparatus.  In 1981 Robert Mondavi sold the To Kalon Q Block (35 acres) to the joint venture.  The viticulturist replanted this plot in 1995 with low-yield, high-density, phylloxera-resistant rootstock.  In 2008 Opus One acquired another 48 acres (K Block) of the To Kalon Vineyard from the Robert Mondavi Winery.

Source: opusonewinery.com

The Mondavi family sold 2.5 million shares in the company to the public on June 10, 1993 but retained a controlling interest post the transaction. At this time Michael and Tim were co-Managing Directors, Marcia (their sister) was a partner, and Clifford Adams was the COO. 

The company flourished until it experienced slowing business performance in the early 2000s. 

The board thought that a reorganization which sold off the high-end portfolio (Mondavi Winery, Ornellaia, and its ownership stake in Opus One), while retaining the inexpensive offerings (Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, Robert Mondavi Private Selection) would return the enterprise to profitability. Constellation countered this reorganization plan by offering to buy the entire enterprise for $970 million, an offer which the Board members seemed to ignore. Shareholder lawsuits, and a sweetened offer $1.03 billion) from Constellation, resulted in the Board considering -- and accepting -- the offer. The deal, closed on 12/22/04, resulted in the separation of the Mondavi family from the business with Robert retained as a Brand Ambassador.

Beckstoffer Vineyards acquired Beaulieu Vineyard #4 in 1993 to add to its stable of heritage vineyards -- vineyards blessed with history, great land, and great fruit.  Subsequent to the purchase, Beckstoffer replanted the vineyard (1994 - 1997) with multiple clones of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, modern trellising, and closer vine spacing.

Beckstoffer had, back in the 1970s, been an early proponent of the AVA system but his thinking has evolved and he is now an avid booster of vineyard-designated wines.  Beckstoffer requires that winemakers purchasing his fruit designate the vineyard of origin on the wine label.  Schrader Cellars followed this dictate and placed the To Kalon name on the label its 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon which was made from Beckstoffer-sourced grapes.  Robert Mondavi promptly filed suit against Schrader and Beckstoffer for infringement of copyright.  After a year of back and forth the suit was settled with Mondavi granting a perpetual, royalty-free trademark license to Beckstoffer allowing him to use the To Kalon Vineyard designation for grapes grown on his part of the original Crabb estate.  In 2007 Beckstoffer placed his To Kalon property under a land conservation easement that guarantees that it will remain agricultural land into perpetuity.

The vineyard plots associated with the "historic" To-Kalon vineyard is shown in the map below while the acreage distribution is illustrated in the pie chart following.

The Mondavi acreage is used as the source for Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Oakville District Cabernet Sauvignon, Fumé Blanc Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, and I Block Fumé Blanc (The Mondavi website gives the acreage as 550 acres on one page and 450 acres on another). The Mondavi To Kalon Vineyard is planted to Sauvignon Blanc (I Block; 60-year-old vines), Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petite Verdot, Syrah, and Semillon.

The Oakville Station acreage fuels the Silverado Vineyards UC Davis Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon, Cornerstone Cellars Napa Valley Red Wine, Cornerstone Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and Stepping Stone Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, among others. 

The Opus One K Block is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot while the Q Block is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.  These grapes are used to produce Opus One.  

Beckstoffer Vineyards is planted with multiple clones of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and is the source for wines such as Alpha Omega (2007-2009), Bacio Divino Cellars (2004-2007), B Cellars (2004-2008), Carter Cellars (several labels, several vintages), Macauley Vineyard (several labels, several vintages), Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon (2001-2010), Provenance Vineyards (2003-2007), and Schrader Cellars (several labels, several vintages) among others.

© Wine -- Mise en abyme

Oakville AVA, the heart of the broader Napa Valley AVA

Oakville, one of Napa Valley's renowned AVAs, is located in the heart of Napa between Rutherford AVA to the north and Yountville AVA to its south.  Named after the dense grove of dark-green canyon oaks that are synonymous with the area, Oakville was launched as a wine-growing region with the 1868 purchase of a 240-acre plot by one Henry Walker Crabb who immediately planted said plot to vine.  The resulting vineyard was called To Kalon, Greek for "the call of beauty."  The AVA -- status granted in 1993 -- runs north to south between Rutherford and Yountville and up 600 feet in the Vaca Mountains to the east and Mayacamas Mountains to the west.

The Oakville climate is Mediterranean-like thanks to the interaction of the cool air blowing in off the San Francisco Bay and the warmer air from the San Joaquin Valley.  Oakville is located such that it receives daily doses of early morning fog from San Pablo Bay to its south.  This morning fog blows off by the middle of the day allowing the grapes to gain the ripening benefit of the Napa afternoon sun.  At the peak of the afternoon temperature, cooler air is once again funneled into the region from the San Pablo Bay.  The afternoon sun promotes full grape ripening while the cooler air in the mornings and late afternoon preserves the acidity which is critical for wine balance.

Rainfall in Oakville amounts to 35 inches per year, falling mostly in the winter and early spring.

The soil in Oakville is comprised, for the most part, of decomposed rock that has been carried downhill from the mountains and has been intermixed with the sand, clay, and gravel deposits of the Napa River flood plain.  This soil has excellent water drainage capability and rooting depths in excess of 100 feet.

To the west, a collection of rock types known as the Franciscan formation underlie two large alluvial fans comprised of clay and bale loams.  A slope of 2 degrees from the foothills to the Napa River plain allows excess rainfall to flow downslope into the river.  On the eastern side of the valley there are some instances of Franciscan formations and smaller alluvial fans but the dominant influence is that of the volcanic composition of the Vaca Mountains as exhibited in exposed volcanic tuff and evidence of lava and pyroclastic flows.

There are 5000 acres of vineyard in Oakville planted to varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. Seventy-five percent of the grapes grown in Oakville is Cabernet Sauvignon which, along with Merlot, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Franc, thrive on the geological formation known as the Western Bench (above the floor of the valley at the base of the Mayacamas Mountains).  Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc do well on the clay and sandy loans of the valley floor.

The wines of the Oakville AVA are deep and richly flavored with the Cabernet Sauvignon being especially opulent.  The wines have a better balance of sugar and acidity than neighboring AVAs because the grapes ripen at a more controlled pace.  Cabernet Sauvignon grown in the Benchland portion of the AVA is thought to be less herbaceous and minty than its non-Bench counterparts as well as being fuller-bodied and longer-lived.

Notable producers in this AVA include Opus One, Robert Mondavi, Heitz Cellars, Groth, Silver Oak, Turnbull, Screaming Eagle, Dalle Valle, Far Niente, Harlan, and PlumpJack.


© Wine -- Mise en abyme