Napa is B A C K | On the Road for Slow Wine Guide 2022

With fires, floods and climate change dominating the headlines, one can lose sight of just how wonderful we have it in Northern California with beckoning wine country destinations within easy reach. I was reminded of this in recent weeks as I traveled in Sonoma and Napa, visiting wineries that will be included in Slow Wine Guide 2022. Some were wineries I had covered before, and a few were new to me, or had changed ownership and were run by fresh, new talent. 

Both Napa and Sonoma were hopping: restaurants were full, sidewalks were busy, and there was an air of delight as people celebrated the reopening of beloved places. 

On a different visit, I spent a late lunch in mid afternoon in Yountville, at Bistro Jeanty, where I met couples from Pasadena, and San Fernando Valley enjoying weekend getaways, a welcome respite from raising kids at home during confining times. The weather was glorious. And so were the wines. 

Wine country has a great big Welcome Back vibe now. 

Tasting through the current releases of Oakville Ranch with winemaker Jennifer Rue.

This site always has so much to offer. I always recommend a tour to Oakville Ranch for those who have never been. It's tucked away high above the valley and has spectacular views. Each tasting is a private one. And you get a personal vineyard tour. Hard to beat.

Jennifer's meticulous notes on each and every wine in each and every vintage are very impressive.

In Oakville, Napa Wine Co.'s new tasting room makeover feels like a natural now, showcasing the heritage of the Hoxseys and the rest of the descendants of the Pelissa family, who are on their 119th harvest this year. Their portfolio of three brands is amazing, as are their vineyards, some of which are adjacent to Opus One and To Kalon

Their Elizabeth Rose is the only value brand in Napa that I know of, and one can shop there for quality wines at affordable, everyday wine prices. Their Oakville Winery wines are also a good choice. The Ghost Block wines represent their top of the line parcels in Yountville and Oakville. 

The photos are all real people–no models here.

Yes that is a tractor tire chandelier. And it works. The winery
wanted to let its brand tell the story of the family as farmers first.
They are the largest growers of organic grapes in Napa.

It is a pleasure to visit the new vintages at Grgich Hills Estate each year. It's my fourth year? Always a delight. Although the winery sent wine samples last year–due to the pandemic, Slow Wine Guide had to ask 2021 guide participants to send wine samples instead of visiting on site, as is the usual practice–it was so much nicer to visit in person and taste them in the outdoor patio area with a helpful and well informed host.

The 2018 Paris Tasting Chardonnay, a Napa classic

Grgich's top reds are also classics. These two are sourced from very special, historic sites. The Cab comes from the special block planted in 1959 of an old BV clone; the Zin comes from a vineyard with 100 year old vines. These are the kinds of things that make Napa so special.

Then it was on to Stony Hill on Spring Mountain, an area where fire hit hard in 2020, but transformation springs anew. 

I had the pleasure of visiting Stony Hill last in 2010 when its founders, the McCrea family were still managing it. Like many, I was amazed by the incredible Spring Mountain site, the views across the valley and being hosted by Mrs. McCrea herself. The Chardonnays already enjoyed a reputation as the leading expression from Napa for the variety. Thus, I like many others, wondered what would happen next when it was sold to the McCrea's good friends, Ted and Laddie Hall, which kept it out of corporate orbits. 

The Halls, long time organic champions, installed a new winery on the site and worked with Garrett Buckland to convert the vineyards to organic certification. Stephen Vivier, who also made Chardonnay at HdV, was brought in to make the wines. 

In 2021, the estate is going through big changes. 

Additional acreage is being planted and only choice blocks of
Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer are being preserved.
New plantings include Malbec and Gamay Noir.

After the fires and the pandemic struck, the Halls decided to pull back–Ted Hall had already experienced the horrors of the Nuns Fire and its destructive path in the Mayacamas and the 2020 fire came perilously close to Stony Hill. He sold Stony Hill in December to Gaylon Lawrence Jr.'s team, again keeping the estate in good hands. Demeine has assembled a blue chip portfolio of many of Napa's classic estates, putting Stony Hill in very good company. However, the wines are no longer available for sale by the bottle unless you are on their allocation list. 

Stony Hill winemaker Jaime Motley and estate director Laurie Taboulet

Taboulet, a graduate of Kedge Wine Business school in Bordeaux, gave me a vineyard tour, showing me the extensive new plantings and replanting underway at the estate. 

She and Motley became friends when both worked in Sonoma, where Jaime had her own label, and worked as assistant winemaker to Pax Mahle. 

The hot dusty hillsides are still covered with trees but new vineyard sections have been established in and among them on lower and upper parcels. 

The new team is pivoting from its classic whites to a much more diversified portfolio, branching out from Cabernet Sauvignon (Stony Hill had about 5 acres but will now have more) and a bit of Cabernet Franc for blending and now venturing into new varieties like Malbec and Gamay to make Touraine-inspired blends in years to come.

Proprietor Mark Neal, his daughter Jessica Neal, and winemaker Jordan Stanley

The last winery of the day was Neal Family Vineyards on Howell Mountain, where Mark Neal was ebullient after his new wedding. The long time organic vineyard expert, who has converted more vines in Napa to organic than any other vineyardist, was elated to be doing more talks online, buoyed perhaps by his new wife, who does talks for women's empowerment. She's currently training for an Ironman. 

Neal's wines are always a find. 

Neal also is prepared for fire season, housing a fire truck on his Howell Mountain property. 

It was also great to meet his daughter, Jessica Neal, who is now the sales and marketing director.