When, in 1997, we bought our land and home on the Oakville Cross Road in Napa Valley the property included a three-acre Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard that was planted in 1992.  Justin Meyer of Silver Oak, a close friend of the family that sold us the property, selected the vines for replanting what was formerly Pinot Noir.  This vineyard has produced the bulk of the wines made so far.  In fact, wines in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 were all produced using grapes from the original vineyard, now known as Block 1.  The vines are planted in a 10’ by 6’ grid on undrained alluvial, heavy clay soil.

 

In 1999 we planted  an alluvial 1.5-acre parcel  to the east of Block 1.  In this case, drainage was installed to limit vigor.

Clones 4 and 337 were planted in two blocks on 101-14 rootstock.  These parcels are collectively known as Block 2.  The vines are vertically trellised using 7’ by 5’ spacing.  In 2002 the first production was harvested from this vineyard.

 

In 2001 Napa County granted permission to plant the hillside above Block 2.   Clone 337 on 110R rootstock was chosen, vertically trellised with closely-spaced vines.  The first bottling from the rocky, hillside vineyard, Block 3, was harvested in 2004.  Block 3 was released a year later than the other blocks to allow it to mature a bit longer in the bottle.

 

Piña Vineyard Management has farmed the property since the early 1990s.  Art Finkelstein, co-founder of the Whitehall Lane winery, made the first vintage in 1998 at Judd’s Hill’s custom crush facility in St. Helena.  Art’s team made our wines until the 2015 harvest when we moved all production to our new winery adjacent to our vineyards in Oakville.

 

Since 2015 all of our wines have been made on our estate by Jeff Ames.

 

Bill and Ginger Nemerever