A Visit to Palmaz Vineyards, May 2011

As you are driving through a residential area of Napa you may happen upon an indistinct gate off of Hagen Road. You would not know it without following the directions given, but through this quaint neighborhood, and just beyond that gate you will find 55 acres of premier Napa vineyards. Nestled on and around Mount George at the southern end of the Vaca Range one finds the Palmaz Vineyards. With elevations ranging from 400 to 1400 feet above sea level, variations in soil types, and aspect to the sun; this little chunk of land offers over twenty distinct parcels for growing wine-grapes. The land under vine is dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon with small lots of Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc used for blending. In addition they have discovered a couple of uniquely suited cool spots to grow just a bit of Chardonnay, Riesling, and Muscat.

The winery was originally founded in 1881 by Henry Hagen under the name Cedar Knolls. Though the vineyards survived phylloxera in the 1890’s prohibition proved to be its downfall; as goes the story for many of California’s original greats. In 1997 Julio and Amalia Palmaz began restoration and rejuvenation of this old chunk of California history. This was quite an undertaking considering that the property had been generally neglected for nearly a century! The couple had a dream to restore a historical piece of California while creating a legacy to pass down through future generations of the family.

Julio Palmaz, known for the invention of the Palmaz Coronary Stent, attended medical school in Argentina, and completed his residency at UC Davis. It was during his time at UC Davis that the wine-bug bit, and though there were other things he needed to achieve before arriving in Napa Valley it was always a destination. Amalia Palmaz and daughter Florencia have been successful in several business ventures surrounding gourmet and heart-healthy meals that you can create in your own kitchen. If you go to taste at the vineyards today the tasting is accompanied by small bites that are influenced by true wine-loving, foodies. Son of Julio and Amalia, Chirstian leads the efforts in the vineyards with a deep understanding of geoscience that acts as a driving factor behind the vineyards distinct terroirs. Wife of Christian, Jessica acts as the Director of Hospitality, when we visited the winery we were made to feel right at home as she showed us around the property and explained the ins and outs of producing a bottle of Palmaz wine. The entire family is passionate about what they do and each one of them is involved hands-on in the vineyards and winery with their prized winemaking staff and vineyard crew.

The winery itself is as much a work of art as a feat of engineering. You enter the winery on the highest level and you look down into the barrel room that is the equivalent of 18 stories below you. All of it built directly into the mountainside. Julio was highly involved in the creation and innovation of the winery that uses only the force of gravity to process the fruit after harvest. The idea at play here is: you spend months during the growing season coddling, and caring for the precious fruit on the vines. Why would you run all of that wonderful juice through violent pumps once you get it into the winery? The fruit enters the top level and undergoes a rigorous sorting process. It then drops to the next level where there is a carousel of 24 individual fermentation tanks to process each of the parcels as an individual representation of terroir. Each tank is outfitted with jackets for temperature control and monitored by state-of-the-art software that informs the family and winemaking team of any unexpected changes immediately, via their cell phones. After primary fermentation the grapes are gently pressed to finish extracting the juice and the parcels are kept individual as they make their way into new French oak from various cooperages. After barrel aging for approximately two years after harvest each of the “micro-terroirs” that create a veritable spice rack of flavors are tasted by the family and winemaking team in order to achieve the master blend. Upon finding the intricate balance of the final blend the wine is then transported back to the top of the winery to create enough pressure through gravity to bottle. Seeing all of the effort and thought that went into this is an absolutely incredible experience.

The wines we tasted were paired with wonderful small bites that paired with each nicely:

2009 Riesling “Louise”

Named for Jessica Palmaz, this is a delicate wine. With lively acidity, flavors of white peach, zesty lime, and honeysuckle this wine makes for a great aperitif or first course partner at the dinner table. Just a hint of residual sugar is left behind contributing to the body and long finish without leaving your palate saturated with sweetness.

 

2009 Chardonnay “Amalia”

Palmaz takes a Burgundian approach for their Chardonnay. Tropical notes of fresh pineapple accompanied by hints of lemon curd, and vanilla spiced orange peel lead the way to the long finish. Full bodied with hints of toasty oak that is extremely well integrated. This is a great food-wine that is made in honor of the family matriarch.

2007 Cedar Knolls Cabernet Sauvignon

After taking the time to get all of their incredible fruit into the winery and processed it is unfortunate that every bit of that juice cannot make the cut due the rigorous selection that goes into the flagship Palmaz Cabernet Sauvignon. As a result this “second-label” is produced under the Cedar Knolls label in honor of Henry Hagen and the estates origins. Bringing much of the same dark fruit flavors and sweet oak tannins that you find in the flagship cabernet, this is a great wine and a sleeper in its price-bracket (specially the 2007 vintage).

 

2006 Palmaz Cabernet Sauvignon

Rich, dark, and brooding this wine exhibits the strength and firm tannins that are associated with the 2006 vintage for Napa. Loads of crème de cassis and fig fill the front palate and lead the way to the dark chocolate and tobacco that linger on the finish. Though the tannins are firm they remain supple and in balance with the acidity and fruit flavors of the wine, a few years in the cellar will round out some of that vintage character and leave you with an enviable bottle of Cab.

2007 Palmaz Cabernet Sauvignon

With 2007 representing one of the greatest vintages in the last decade Palmaz really brought it home with their unique set of terroirs that gave up this elegant Cabernet. Balance and texture is where this wine truly excels. Silky, yet firm. Powerful, but elegant. Rich, and in harmony. Robust flavors of dark fruit and blueberries, accented with hints of cigar tobacco, roasted red bell pepper and sweet barrel spice bring this wine to a finish that lasts for minutes.

The next time you are planning to visit Napa do yourself a favor and call ahead to Palmaz. Make an appointment as they do not take “drop-ins” and you will not regret it. It was a great experience and I look forward to going back and meeting more of the family at a future date.

A special thanks to Jessica Palmaz for her hospitality while guiding us on our tour and tasting.

The Taste of Oakville

The Taste of Oakville trade tasting is one of the premier tasting events in Napa Valley year after year, & this year I had the honor of attending. While we went up for that tasting in particular we made a couple of other stops along the way…

On our first day we made a stop at one of the newer guys producing wines from Napa. Mi Sueno, Spanish for “My Dream”, is a small producer where Rolando Herrera is owner/winemaker. The story is one of a grassroots, ground up type. Rolando started his career as a dishwasher and manual laborer, but went on to build a resume working as winemaker or part of the winemaking teams at names like; Stag’s Leap Cellars, Chateau Potelle, Vine Cliff and Paul Hobbs. Today he owns his dream and has a great staff of folks around him that are really making things happen, keep an eye out for this label.

In the afternoon we made our way over to the long-standing Frank Family Vineyards, and met with a legend of Napa Valley, Dennis Zablosky, the tasting room manager for Frank Family. We enjoyed tasting the wines with Dennis while he recounted a few tales from his time in the business. From there we shot over to Rutherford Grill and enjoyed a couple of bottles as well as a fantastic meal. We stayed at El Bonita Motel (great value in the Valley) for the evening and after getting there to settle in for the night I found myself in need of a few more drinks. As such I took off for a solo trip down to Ana’s Cantina, the primary watering hole in St. Helena, to have a night cap. While sitting there sipping my Lagunitas Hop Stoopid IPA I met a couple of folks that flipped the evening from a solo trip to an exceptional random encounter. Mike and Alexa rescued me from a lonely night-cap and we enjoyed lively conversation while taking down several pints and sipping Herradura Anejo tequila. Thank you for your hospitality Mike and Alexa!

The next morning we made our way over to the historic vineyards at Larkmead Winery to taste their wares and enjoy a pleasant explanation of how Larkmead came to be. This winery sells 95% of their production right out of the tasting room and is certainly one to visit the next time you are in the area. From there we popped up to Howell Mountain to taste the new project from the producers of Plumpjack named Cade. Cade is a hillside winery producing great examples of the brooding Howell Mountain terrior. The winery is elegantly designed with a quite modern flare and a stunning view of Napa Valley. The wines showed well and the staff was pleasant to talk with.

Vineyards at Mondavi in Oakville, Ca

After lunch it was finally time for the focus of the trip, the Taste of Oakville, held at the impressive Mondavi Winery. In the room were the who’s who of the Oakville appellation, and the wines being poured make up many of the most impressive names in California such as; Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle, Opus One, Harlan Estate, and about forty other names you should know. When you enter the room you are surrounded by dozens of huge oak fermentation tanks and a complex of walkways. You begin making your way around the room tasting the impressive wines and chatting with the proprietors, winemakers, and marketing directors of these incredible California vineyards. A few hours literally fly by in a blur and due to the volume of wines in the room you are really working hard to decide which wines to drink and which ones to dump to avoid becoming entirely intoxicated prematurely in the day. Not a bad problem to have, just saying… If you step out on the patio you are greeted with the expansive sea of vines that produce the juice for Mondavi’s wines, a truly breathtaking view for the wine geek. Finally things begin wrapping up; your pockets are full of business cards, your belly is full of wine, and it is time for dinner.

The line-up.

That evening we were graciously invited to stay at the guest house at Terraces Vineyards by Tim and Sharon Crull. We made a drop by the store to grab some food for the grill and a few things to satiate the appetite while everything was coming together. When we arrive at the vineyards we fired up the grill and began pulling the corks on several bottles of tasty wines, shortly we were joined by Tim and Sharon of Terraces and the entire group enjoyed a lively dinner, lots of wine, and great conversations. Wine of the night was a tough decision for me I had to choose two. Peter Michael L’Apres-Midi 2009, a wonderful white made of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, and Ch. Colon Segur 2003 St. Estephe, Bordeaux, both were ethereal!

 

The next morning represented the last day of our quick trip to Napa and we were determined to squeeze in a few more appointments after our customary breakfast at Gillwood’s prior to hitting the road back to Bakersfield. I neglected to mention “the Find” from the Oakville tasting. Vine Hill Ranch was creating quite a buzz around the room at the tasting. 2008 was their inaugural release and a lot of the big names in the room had been purchasing fruit from these vineyards for some of their best bottles over the last few decades. Finally the proprietors of Vine Hill Ranch had taken just a few rows of their vines to produce their own bottling and it was stunning! At the Oakville tasting we were able to line-up a meeting with the owner of Vine Hill Ranch for this morning. This was a great first stop for us and we found ourselves standing in 70 acres of some of the finest vineyards in Napa talking with Bruce Phillips about their new bottling. They have surrounded themselves with some of the most talented people in the industry to produce a wonderful, site-driven bottle of wine. This is a very exciting new wine that will become very hard to get over the next few years, make sure you check them out, vinehillranch.com.

From there we visited David Fulton to taste their Petit Sirah and chat with owner Dink Mathers while standing on the deck looking over their 30-60 year old Petit vines that make their way into some of the best bottlings of this varietal in the state, including their own and offerings from the famous Orin Swift label. After leaving David Fulton we made our way to the luxurious caves of Vineyard 29 for our last stop of the trip. Everything about this property is oozing elegance, from the huge oak fermentation tanks that are only used once then replaced with new ones, to the lavishly decorated tasting room in the heart of their caves. This is a great spot to visit in Napa and there is no doubt that they have spared no expense to create their wines and a unique tasting experience when you pay them a visit.

We returned home tired, yet excited about our new finds, great experiences, and new found friends in Napa Valley. Can’t wait to go back…