| Ever been curious enough to stick your nose over someone’s fence to see what’s going on? Or peer through a crack in their front gate, just to get a better look? We have! Some people might say we’re busybodies or nosey neighbors although we prefer the Australian term ‘stickybeak’. And being Napa based wine industry folk, it’s hard not to be intrigued about the stunning vineyards and regions that surround us. In fact, as inquisitive vintners it seemed only natural that we’d have a bit of a stickybeak in our own backyard to see what we could find. After setting up shop in Napa some 15 years ago (as importers of benchmark Australian wine estates), natural curiosity led us all over the state of California to taste, sip, spit and drink the best the state has to offer. All the while thinking how we could make our own mark. With a winemaking mate of ours, Wayne Donaldson (a veteran of 30 vintages at well known estates such as Brokenwood in Australia and Domaine Chandon in Napa), and a great roster of growers, we’ve been able to produce wines that not only sing stridently of their origins but also deliver a wallop in the flavor department – not meaning heavy and overdone, but simply long, lingering and wonderfully focused. Wines that invite another charge. You’d expect us to be a curious lot and with decades of winemaking in California and around the globe, we’ve done our fair share of poking through great vineyard sites, working in world class wineries and tasting amazing wines. Under the guidance of 25 vintage veteran Wayne Donaldson, our winemaking team are a passionate bunch who can’t resist sticking their noses into as many different wine styles as possible, all in the name of research! So whether we’re comparing our Semillon Sauvignon Blanc to flinty white Bordeaux, measuring our Syrah against a set of stellar Hermitage and Shiraz bottlings or pairing the Pinot with interesting Burgundies, we set our benchmarks high and do our best to scale the bar each year. That includes our vineyards where we walk the rows, dig the dirt and make sure we’re doing everything we can to get the healthiest fruit possible—while endlessly scouting around for additional extraordinary and unique sites. It’s a long road we intend to travel, although we’re planning to immerse ourselves in every twist and turn and not be afraid to make new tracks—It just takes a healthy sense of curiosity! |
