Kathryn Walt Hall has a most impressive resume. To touch on just a few of the high points, she is the proprietor of HALL Wines and WALT Wines [family businesses she has been involved with for over thirty years], was assistant city attorney in Berkeley, California, worked as an attorney and businesswoman in Dallas, Texas, and has served on numerous non-profit and institutional boards, with an emphasis on issues related to social care and mental health. From 1997 to July 2001, Ms. Hall served as the United States Ambassador to Austria. In the midst of this, together with her husband Craig she has raised four children.
HALL wines hail from five estate vineyards: Sacrashe (Rutherford), Bergfeld (St. Helena), Hardester (Napa Valley), Atlas Peak Estate, (Atlas Peak), and T Bar T Ranch (Alexander Valley). From these 500 acres come classic Bordeaux varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc. In each vineyard, small-vine farming is employed to produce low-yield, high-concentration fruit.
Padis Vineyards is located in the picturesque hillsides of the Oak Knoll District in the heart of Napa Valley. It was founded by jewelers Steve and Judy Padis with a single barrel in 2007 that was bottled in large format and donated to charity auctions. A year later, their first commercial vintage was released.
Both Steve and Judy hail from the East Bay. Steve’s journey into wine began in the 1970s, guided by Judy’s family, who appreciated both fine wine and cuisine. Their growing interest in wine took them from the Central Coast to the Napa Valley, where they witnessed the nascent wine industry firsthand. It was during these visits that Steve’s passion for wine deepened, eventually leading to the purchase of property in the Oak Knoll District.
Initially, the Padis’ sold their grapes to local wineries. However, today, Padis Vineyards produces approximately 2,000 cases of wine annually.
Steve and Judy Padis
Steve Padis began his jewelry career during his senior year at UC Berkeley in the early 1974 as a street vendor, stringing together Puka shells and various beads into bracelets and other wearable items – selling these along Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley for a few dollars per item. Very hipster of him! By the time he graduated, in 1975, he had begun to deal in precious metals and diamonds. The business that evolved from those humble beginnings is a remarkable success story. Over the following fifty years, their jewelry business, Padis Gems, has grown to three stores in San Francisco and a store in downtown Napa that also doubles as the Padis tasting room. Continue reading “Padis Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2016”
Inglenook was founded in 1879 by Finnish sea captain Gustave Niebaum. After his death and during the scourge of Prohibition the winery was shuttered. After repeal, Niebaum’s widow, Suzanne, reopened Inglenook and brought in viticulturist and enologist John Daniel Jr., Niebaum’s great-nephew, to upgrade the winemaking system.
Daniel was an uncompromising perfectionist. Under his stewardship from the 1930s to the early 1960s, Inglenook produced some of the most celebrated Cabernets in California. Daniel’s partnership with winemaker George Deuer resulted in wines that were rich, complex, and impeccably balanced, marking a period of extraordinary achievement for Inglenook. Despite the challenges of the era, Daniel was committed to producing only the best. He was one of the few vintners of his time willing to reject wines that did not meet his exacting standards, a rare and costly approach in an industry where every bottle counted.
The addition of the Napanook Vineyard in 1946 helped elevate the winery’s offerings even further, as Daniel blended grapes from this esteemed site into his best wines. Continue reading “Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon 2018”
Eric and Amy Gale are the owners and sole full-time employees of Anchored Roots, Door County, Wisconsin’s newest winery, founded in 2020.
The couple make an ideal front-of-house/back-of-house duo. Amy grew up in Milwaukee, with hospitality at the forefront of her career path. Her initial focus was event planning, from non-profit fundraisers and catering, to corporate events and weddings. This was followed by experience in tasting room management at Airfield Estates in Prosser, Washington.
Eric was born and raised in Luxemburg, Wisconsin. Perhaps predictably, while he was growing up he worked summers at a neighbor’s 60-head dairy farm. However, his academic bent led him to a Bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. He then pursued a Masters in Viticulture at Washington State University. After graduation, he landed a job at Chateau Ste. Michelle, Washington state’s oldest winery. His primary responsibility was overseeing the Cold Creek vineyard, Ste. Michelle’s first, originally planted in 1972.
It all began on a modest orchard in upstate New York. Paul Hobbs, one of eleven children, was raised on a family-run farm where the rhythm of planting, harvesting, and selling crops at farmers markets before school was the norm. These early experiences not only instilled in him the discipline required for farming, but also introduced him to the concept of terroir—a philosophy that would later become the cornerstone of his winemaking career.
The family farm in New York.
Paul’s first encounter with terroir happened in the most unexpected of ways—through apples. As he tasted the same apple variety grown in different orchards, he noticed a diversity of flavors and textures. This profound realization left an indelible mark on him, inspiring a vineyard-specific approach to winemaking that would shape his future endeavors.
“The true character of a site is only revealed through the work and determination of tending each vineyard with meticulous care and vinifying with minimalist winemaking techniques that fully express the terroir,” said Hobbs.
Paul Hobbs
Though Paul’s father always encouraged him to pursue winemaking, another family influence tugged at his heartstrings—his great-grandfather, Edward James, a doctor. Following in his great-grandfather’s footsteps, Paul enrolled at Notre Dame University with the intent of pursuing a career in medicine. However, after graduating with a degree in chemistry, his father’s persuasion led him to UC Davis, where he earned a Master’s degree in Viticulture and Enology. This pivotal decision would eventually change the trajectory of Paul’s life.
Paul Hobbs is at upper right in the Mondavi lab. Helen Turley, another legendary winemaker, is in front behind the glass tube.
Disclaimer: I’ve been a member of the Clos Pegase wine club for years, so this post is hardly impartial.
Clos Pegase was founded by Jan Shrem in 1983 on a 50-acre vineyard near Calistoga in Napa Valley. He was born in Colombia in 1930 to Jewish-Lebanese parents, and spent his childhood in Jerusalem and his early adolescence back in Colombia. After he arrived in the United States at age 16, he attended the University of Utah and UCLA. While in college, he sold encyclopedias.
A romance with a Japanese woman named Mitsuko led him to Japan, where they were married in 1960. They stayed 13 years, and during that time Shrem established a book distribution company that sold English-language encyclopedias, and books on engineering and art. His company also published translations of books into Japanese. By the time Shrem sold this operation, it had 50 offices and 2,000 salespeople.
The Raymond name has been associated with Napa valley since the year Prohibition ended. The Raymond family arrived in Napa Valley in 1933. Roy Raymond married into the Beringer family in 1936. He worked as winemaker for Beringer from 1933 to 1970. The following year, he and his two sons Walter and Roy Jr set out on their own with a 90-acre estate property in Rutherford. They released their first commercial wine under the Raymond Vineyards label in 1974. The estate now comprises 300 acres in Rutherford, St. Helena, and Jameson Canyon. All are are certified organic and biodynamic. The winery is also operated on 100% solar power.
In 1989, Kirin Holdings purchased the winery, with the Raymond family still managing the property and production.
Until Yellow Tail precipitated the boom in “critter wines” in 2000, it can be argued that Penfolds was just about synonymous with Australian wine in the U.S. The label is ubiquitous here, in both grocery stores and fine wine shops. Prices range from about $12 per bottle for the Koonunga Hill Shiraz-Cabernet, to $850 for the legendary Grange, and everything in between. (That $850 is doubly amazing, because just five or six years ago Grange was “only” about $200.) The selections are mostly reds plus a few whites and even a tawny Port.
Founders Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold immigrated to Australia from England in 1844, bringing their own French vine cuttings. Not long after, their fledgling vineyard was officially established as the Penfolds wine company at the 500-acre Magill Estate in Adelaide.
The Penfolds were believers in the medicinal benefits of wine, and they planned to concoct a wine tonic for the treatment of anemia. Initially, they produced fortified wines in the style of Sherry and Port for Dr Penfold’s patients. The operation enjoyed early growth, and since Dr Penfold was focused on his medical practice, much of the running of the winery was delegated to Mary Penfold, including the cultivation of the vines and wine blending. On Christopher’s death in 1870, Mary assumed total responsibility for the winery. According to one historical account, by that time the business had “grown to over 60 acres with several different grape varieties including Grenache, Vverdelho, Mataro (aka Mourvedre), Frontignac and Pedro Ximenez,” and the estate was “producing both sweet and dry red and white table wines with a growing market in the eastern Australian colonies of Victoria and New South Wales.” Clarets and Rieslings were especially popular. Continue reading “Penfolds Bin 704 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018”
In the heart of Napa Valley’s historic Rutherford appellation lies Whitehall Lane Winery, with a rich history dating back to the mid-1800s. Established in 1979 by Art Finklestein and Alan Stein, the winery has evolved through the hands of different owners, each contributing to its legacy. Today, under the stewardship of the Leonardini Family, Whitehall Lane continues to produce world-class wines, garnering accolades and awards for its dedication to excellence.
Napa Valley settlers were drawn to the gravelly loam soils and ideal climate over 150 years ago, planting high-quality grapevines at what is now the Whitehall Lane Winery site. The estate vineyards, located in the Rutherford Appellation, stand testament to the enduring allure of the region’s quality soils.
Control of the property has been transferred numerous times. Guiseppe and Rosalie Baranzini owned it in the 1940s and ’50s. Davis Bynum held the land in the 1970s, but failed to secure a winery permit (although not long after he would become the first vintner to produce single-vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noir), and sold to Howard Allen. He also was unsuccessful at establishing a winery, and sold to Art and Bunnie Finklestein and Art’s business partner and brother, plastic surgeon Alan Steen, and his wife Charlene in 1979. It was they who finally successfully founded Whitehall Lane on the 25-acre vineyard, setting the stage for the winery’s future. (Allen went on to be a long-time grower for Williams Selyem, starting in 1980.)
Located in California’s Central Coast, the Smith Ranch was a horse ranch for generations, while to the south, the Hooks raised cattle. Swiss-born Nicolaus “Nicky” and Gaby Hahn discovered these ranches near Paso Robles in 1974 as they searched for the ideal place to grow Cabernet Sauvignon. They decided that the climate along the western slopes of the Santa Lucias was just what they were looking for, so in 1974 they purchased the two ranches and established the Smith & Hook Winery on the old Smith Ranch. The first Cabernet Sauvignon was made in 1979, released in 1980, and quickly developed a reputation for excellence.
Or, here’s an alternate story of the name of the winery: Nicky Hahn named the winery after his mother’s side of the family. His mother’s maiden name was Smith, and his maternal grandmother’s maiden name was Hook. By combining the two names, he created the moniker “Smith & Hook.”
Initially, the winery focused on producing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay. The first vineyards were planted in the Highlands District of Paso Robles, where the combination of warm days and cool nights fostered the development of grapes with rich flavors and balanced acidity.
Beaulieu Vineyard is one of California’s oldest and most celebrated wineries. It was established by Georges de Latour and his wife Fernande in 1900, and is situated in the Rutherford AVA in Napa Valley.
De Latour was born October 20, 1856, in Bordeaux, France. At the age of twenty-six, he immigrated to San Francisco, where he was employed as a chemist from 1884 to 1888, later settling in San Jose in the early 1890s. He ran a cream of tartar business there for use in baking powder. After neighbors complained of the smell from his factory, he and his wife moved to Healdsburg in Sonoma County, before finally settling in Napa, where the De Latours Initially purchased four acres (1.6 ha) of land. Legend has it that when Fernande first saw the property she exclaimed, “Quel beau lieu!” which translates to English as “What a beautiful place!” And so the place was named.
I couldn’t find anything about this wine. Their website is nonexistent, and there is even a totally different Waypoint line from Napa now on the market. Too bad, because this wine was really good. Pick up a few bottles if you stumble across them.
Waypoint Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
This Cabernet is the correct dark red color, with just a tinge of brick; it is seven years old, after all. The nose opens with dark, rich fruit. On the palate, there is a full mouthfeel, with flavors of blackberry, baked plum, dark cocoa, and tart red currant. The well-structured tannins, oak backbone, and just-so acidity offer great balance, making for a really appealing glass of Cabernet. ABV is a robust 15.4%.
In 1881, Josephine Marlin Tychson and her Danish husband, John, traveled from Pennsylvania to St. Helena in the hope of alleviating his tuberculosis and becoming vintners. They purchased 147 acres of property just north of town from a retired sea captain, William Sayward, who had earlier bought the land from Charles Krug. They planted Zinfandel, Riesling, and “Burgundy” vines on the estate. Five years later, Tychson Cellars was established, but not before John’s despair over his affliction caused him to commit suicide.
After this sad event, the undaunted Josephine continued to nurture the vines she and her husband had planted together, and with the help of her foreman, Nils Larsen, she oversaw the construction of an impressive redwood winery, large enough to contain up to 30,000 gallons of wine. She became the first woman in the entire state of California to oversee the building of a winery and one of the first few female winemakers in the state.
However, her stewardship only lasted until 1894, when she sold the facility to Larsen. He in turn leased the property to Italian immigrant Antonio Forni and sold it to him in 1898. Forni renamed the winery Lombarda Cellars after his birthplace in Italy, and the following year he razed Tychson’s winery and constructed a new building out of hand-hewn stones from nearby Glass Mountain. Workers were primarily Italian; many of their descendants live in St. Helena to this day. This historic winery structure was until fairly recently used for barrel storage and wine making, but both have since been moved off site. All wines are now made at Cardinale Winery in Oakville, part of Jackson Family Wines, the current owner of Freemark.
Forni concentrated his efforts on making Chianti and other Italian-style wines which he marketed to the numerous Italians that had moved to Barre, Vermont, the site of America’s largest marble and granite quarries. Like so many others, Forni was forced to cease most operations when Prohibition began in 1920. He was licensed to produce sacramental wine for the Catholic Church, but that barely kept the operation viable.
Lombarda Cellars on Highway 29 in 1939The historic building today.
Forni, who never fully recovered from Prohibition, sold the winery and vineyard in 1939 to three businessmen from Southern California, Albert “Abbey” Ahern, Charles Freeman, and Markquand Foster. They renamed the winery Freemark Abbey. (Amusingly, despite the sacramental wine production history, the winery has never been part of a monastery or a religious body; the name is instead a combination which includes a portion of each partner’s name.) The winery opened a “sampling room” in 1949, making this one of the first tasting rooms in Napa Valley. (Incidentally in the 1950s Freemark Abbey was one of the largest up-valley wine grape jelly producers. An article from the September 10, 1952 issue of the Napa Register references at least twelve different types of jellies produced at the winery that year.) Continue reading “Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville 2017”
Three decades ago, on my first visit to Napa valley, I stopped by Beringer for a tasting. I didn’t know much about Beringer at the time, mostly that they had a long history and made some well-regarded wines. Back then, tastings were free, but a friend had given me a tip to skip that and head upstairs to the Founders room, where you could sample Beringer’s best wines for $10. As a bonus, there was a crowd downstairs, but I had upstairs nearly to myself. I left that session with a life-long affinity and appreciation of what Cabernets from Napa could be like. (Today, the basic tasting is $45, and the high-end samplings are $125 or $150, depending on which way you go.)
Jacob Beringer
In 1868, Jacob Beringer, enticed by the opportunities of the new world, sailed from his home in Mainz, Germany, to New York. However, after hearing that the rocky hillside soil and fertile valley floor of Napa Valley resembled that of vineyards back home in Germany, Jacob made his way to California in 1869. He became cellar foreman for Charles Krug, one of the first commercial winemakers in Napa Valley. A few years later, in 1875, Jacob and his brother, Frederick, purchased 215 acres next door to Charles Krug in St. Helena for $14,500. This parcel of land, known as Los Hermanos (the brothers), became the heart of the Beringer estate.
Here, the brothers oversaw their first harvest and crush in 1876. With Jacob serving as winemaker and Frederick as financier, they made approximately 40,000 gallons of wine, or 18,000 cases, that first year. In order to house the fermentation tanks, the first two floors of the original winery were built, and Chinese workers began digging a 1,200-foot-long tunnel to store the wine for aging.
Rudy von Strasser is a Napa legend; he’s worked there for over 30 years, and played a huge part in founding the Diamond Mountain District, a part of the Mayacamas Range dividing Napa Valley from Sonoma Valley, and famous for its Cabernet. He was also instrumental in having the region designated as an AVA (American Viticultural Area).
Von Strasser first entered the wine business in 1989, but he didn’t start out there. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1980 with a thesis on hard-cider production, quite arcane for the time. His vision was to modernize the cider industry. While traveling the country with the intention of gleaning tips-and-tricks from the wine industry to apply to hard-cider production, he took a job at Robert Mondavi Winery in 1980; while there, he ended up falling in love with wine instead. He enrolled in UC Davis, famous for spawning thousands of winemakers, and graduated in 1985. Blessed by good fortune, a family friend introduced him to Baron Eric de Rothschild at Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and von Strasser became the first American intern at the venerable chateau. After his year was up, von Strasser returned to Napa Valley and worked for both Trefethen in the cellar and then Newton Vineyard as the assistant winemaker under John Kongsgaard. In 1989, immediately after his marriage to Rita, the couple began looking for a vineyard property on which to make their home.
In short order, they located a small block of property on Diamond Mountain that was originally planted in 1970 and was known as Roddis Cellars, but was being used by its then owner the British Gilby Gin family as a corporate retreat. In 1990, the von Strassers bought the estate and began renovating and modernizing the property, including an historic barn. Getting off to a running start, the first vintage was produced that same year from the existing six acres of Cabernet Sauvignon. Located in a large bowl in the mountain, which is also home to Diamond Creek and Reverie wineries, the von Strasser estate vineyard today is planted with 12 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon plus about three acres of Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Grüner Veltliner at 500 to 1,000 feet in elevation. Continue reading “Von Strasser Diamond Terrace Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2015”
