A relationship established several decades ago helps an iconic California Chardonnay wine producer finally make a stellar Pinot Noir that can live up to its white wine counterpart.
As the desire for premium wine started to seep into the American culture in the 1980s, two men, a former airline pilot and the only adopted child of older Southern Baptist Texans, would end up shaping the U.S. wine landscape in ways that brought inspiration and delight to many and irrational criticism from others. Both men followed their own path in the wine world yet their relationship, which blossomed early in their journeys, kept them deeply connected, helping one to continue a legacy even after the other’s death.
Koerner Rombauer and his wife grew up in a tiny agricultural town called Escondido, in the foothills of San Diego. During their childhoods, it had a population of around 4,500 people. Although an adventurous life of being an airline pilot relocated him and his family to Texas, eventually, his airline company would bring him back to California – flying in and out of San Francisco. Yet living in “The Golden City” had very little appeal to Koerner and his wife as they were still raising their children and they wanted to give them the same rural, small-town experiences that they had cherished, so in 1972, they moved their two kids, two horses and five dogs to Napa Valley; the idea that they loved food and wine made living in such a place an added benefit.
It never entered their minds to become a wine producer but the camaraderie that they constantly witnessed among the wine community in Napa made them want to take the leap, and so, in 1980, they established Rombauer Vineyards, releasing their first vintage of Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon in 1984.
Pinot Noir Would Unknowingly Enter His Life
Since Koerner Rombauer had connections in Texas, as he was always a wine lover seeking out the best restaurants and retail stores for top-quality wines when he lived there, Texas became one of Rombauer’s first major markets. During that time, he built a relationship with Adam Lee, a wine buyer at Austin Wine & Spirits, where Adam eventually became president of the three-store chain.
In the early 1990s, Adam decided to come to California to live his wine dream. He initially stayed with the Rombauers and learned all he could from small family-owned wineries until he founded his own in Sonoma County, called Siduri Wines. Adam decided to focus on a fierce passion: cool-climate Pinot Noir from various top West Coast regions, making single vineyard wines as well as bottlings that blended a handful of vineyards to represent the region as a whole. He received instant success with highly-critical acclaim for his first release of a Pinot Noir that was barely over 100 cases in total.
And so, when Rombauer Vineyards announced that it would finally release a Pinot Noir after four decades, it made perfect sense that they partnered with Adam Lee to help them source the best vineyards for this project. Not because anyone knew the history of Adam and Koerner Rombauer but because few other people know the wide range of Pinot Noir vineyards across the West Coast as intimately as Adam.
A Blessing And A Curse
2021 Rombauer Chardonnay
CATHRINE TODD
Rombauer certainly made a strong name with its Chardonnay which is really made in the vineyards of Carneros more than in the cellar, as Richie Allen, VP of viticulture & winemaking at Rombauer, explains. And it is the key to how they make their extremely popular Chardonnay consistent year in and year out. Richie is looking for vineyards with “really concentrated fruit flavors,” such as peach and tropical notes, to blend with other plots that bring bright “stone fruit and citrus” notes. The foundation of this legendary Chardonnay is rooted in blocks planted in the 1980s that are owned by the Sangiacomo family, who have been in Carneros for almost a century. Yet, Richie, who started with Rombauer in 2008, has had his eye on Sangiacomo’s heritage block planted in 1964 (some of the oldest Chardonnay in the U.S.) for many years. It has been on a long-term contract with another producer but Richie still asks about it every year and is simply told, “Ask next year.” For now, they are fortunate to have a lock on many of their other precious Chardonnay vines.
Managing the various vineyards they work with is the hardest part of making their Chardonnay but the winemaking is easy by comparison. “The simplest wine to make is the Chardonnay,” said Richie, as it is only a handful of steps that include going from press to tank, tank to barrel, back to tank, then finally tank to bottle. There are no fining agents since the wine gets the time to settle naturally in barrel and tank, and a low amount of sulfur is added; most importantly, there is “no secret sauce”.
His Chardonnay is a point of pride as it is what many producers in the past saw as a benchmark when trying to make a rich barrel-fermented Chardonnay that was fresh and balanced. Yet, so many of those past producers trying to make a Rombauer-like Chardonnay have failed as they either didn’t have the resources and knowledge to find that balance or they employed “sloppy winemaking,” as Richie calls it. Unfortunately, all of those bad rich Chardonnay wines that have hit the market over several decades have damaged the category as a whole. And because Rombauer has one of the most successful premium barrel-fermented Chardonnay wines, they have been part of that backlash, with some falsely reporting that their Chardonnay is “one of the most manipulated wines,” as Richie notes with frustration. The complete opposite is true, as Richie states that one of their wineries is designed to ensure their Chardonnay moves efficiently, which means it barely moves, allowing them not to mess with the wine, keeping sulfur levels low and the fruit expression pure.
But Rombauer’s loyal customer base is grateful that they never got scared by the rich California Chardonnay backlash, avoiding the move to thin Chardonnay wines that can’t stand up to oak and today, they are one of the few producers left that offer such a stellar example that is under $100 and doesn’t require being on a waiting list.
It Was Time
Koerner Rombauer
CLAY MCLACHLAN/CLAYPIX.COM
One might wonder why it took Rombauer all this time to finally make a Pinot Noir; their customers have been asking for one for years. But Koerner Rombauer was never one to jump on a trend – he made the wines that he believed in, that were rooted in the vineyards of the community he loved. Also, Koerner was loyal to his customer base as they helped to make this small-town pilot’s dream come true and he didn’t want the only Pinot Noir they would have in their portfolio to be available to only a few. So it seemed impossible to make a significant amount of great Pinot Noir since all the best plots were already spoken for. Yet after Koerner, a great titan of the wine world, passed away in 2018, Adam Lee came to the Rombauer family and said, “It was time.” It was time for Rombauer Vineyards to make a Pinot Noir.
Adam sold Siduri Wines to Jackson Family Winery in 2015, staying on as a consultant, so he was ready for such a momentous challenge. Logically, Adam’s first thought was to go to Carneros for Rombauer’s Pinot Noir but it seemed impossible to guarantee the decent quantities needed since there were very few vineyards that weren’t already committed. And hence, the hunt kicked off, going all the way down to Santa Barbara and all the way up to Oregon, stopping at several well-known Pinot Noir places in between that Adam knew so well. He had Richie taste “hundreds and hundreds” of wines from a multitude of wine areas on the West Coast but nothing seemed to click, until a lineup of wines blew Richie away; they had power, structure, freshness, enticing aromatics, sense of place and plenty of fruit to tie up all those components into a delicious experience: they were Pinot Noirs from Santa Lucia Highlandslocated in Central Coast, California.
Adam was thrilled that Richie was so impressed with the Santa Lucia Highlands lineup as he thought it was the “finest wine region in California… that no one knows about.” After he sold Siduri, Adam started a new winery called Clarice Wine Company in Santa Lucia Highlands as he loved the great multi-generational family-run vineyards in the area, but it was not an iconic wine region, and hence, seemingly wouldn’t match with an iconic name such as Rombauer. But Richie was already taken by the fruit and he thought back to all those great single vineyard bottlings of Pinot Noir by Russian River Valley producers, vineyards such as Soberanes, Garys’, Sierra Mar or Rosella’s… those were all Santa Lucia Highland single vineyards being bottled by producers in one of the most famous Pinot Noir wine areas in the world. And since Adam had very strong relationships in the area, he could get some of those top vineyards and scale up to a decent quantity if there was demand from the loyal Rombauer base.
Santa Lucia Highlands is where many fine wine drinkers will know the vineyards but not so much the place as it is an area dominated by long-time vineyard owners who are farmers at heart, with very few marketing-savvy wine producers in the region. But, perhaps, Rombauer Vineyards could be a part of bringing the name Santa Lucia Highlands to a wider audience.
Sometimes a founder of an iconic winery needs at least two lifetimes to complete a dream, as it can take just one lifetime to truly understand that dream’s potential. If Koerner Rombauer had been given another lifetime, maybe, just maybe, he would have found a way to bring an iconic Pinot Noir to his beloved customers as he had with his Chardonnay. That wasn’t possible… but a relationship he made all those years ago with Adam, when each man was only at the beginning of his dream, has helped bring the potential of Rombauer to another level.
Because no one should ever feel that he ran out of time when there was still so much more to accomplish, so, even though Koerner has passed away, he is still far from gone. Everything this man inspired still thrives, such as the young wine buyer from all those years ago in Austin, Texas, who today is a Pinot Noir legend; and Adam knew “it was time” – it was finally time to make a companion that was an equal partner to the Rombauer Chardonnay.
2021 Rombauer Pinot Noir
CATHRINE TODD
2021 Rombauer Chardonnay, Carneros: 100% Chardonnay. Enchanting from the first sip with hints of hazelnuts and peach pie with refreshing mango sorbet and a touch of creaminess on the palate with flavors of zingy lemon curd and a long, lifted finish with spicy notes.
2021 Rombauer Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands (SLH): 100% Pinot Noir taken from some of the best vineyards in SLH; Garys’, Sierra Mar, Lemoravo, Rosella’s and Soberanes. A beautiful nose with hints of violets, cinnamon stick and cherry aromas that draws one in with richer boysenberry flavors and complex layers of smoky black tea and sweet tobacco that is laced with an intense minerality along with supple tannins. The finish is out of this world – juicy fruit and mouthwatering acidity that goes on and on. Really showcases the high pedigree of these stellar vineyards!
The new Apple TV+ show ‘Drops of God,’ loosely based on the hit manga series, provides another window into the world and vocabulary of wine.
The average TV viewer might not know much about the world of high-end wine, but the creators behind new series “Drops of God” hope to change that in only eight episodes.
Shot across Japan, France and Italy, the limited series now streaming on Apple TV+ is a trilingual drama cloaked in family intrigue, with wine-industry knowledge — how to sip, smell and begin to identify wine — divulged between scenes of love, trauma, mystery and tension. Its two protagonists must complete cryptic challenges for an inheritance that includes a wine collection worth nearly $150 million.
The show is loosely based on the bestselling manga series by siblings Yuko and Shin Kibayashi (published under the pen name Tadashi Agi), which provided readers across the globe with an extensive wine education via more than 40 volumes published over a decade. With far less time and a separate medium, the TV series’ team needed to condense that for viewers who have only one season with the characters — while still appealing to the millions of fans of the manga.
“There are three categories of people who are going to watch the show,” said series creator Quoc Dang Tran (“Call My Agent,” “Marianne,” “Parallel”). “The people who don’t know much about wine but are intrigued by it; the people who love the manga; and the connoisseurs, the oenophiles — and the two last categories are the guardians of the temple.”
Fans of the manga were ravenous not only for each installment but its wines; as volumes flew off the shelves — more than 3.5 million copies have been sold — so did bottles mentioned in the series, drastically altering availability and retail pricing for certain vintages. Its popularity can be partly credited to its approachability: “Drops of God” provided a new window into the world and vocabulary of wine. In his Apple TV+ series, Dang Tran hoped to replicate that accessibility — and further it with new character development.
Appellation, sulfites, bouquet, domaine, tannins, vintage, negociants, aeration — even the basic vocabulary of wine can be daunting to the casually curious. While the manga helped educate millions of readers and dispelled some preconceptions, Dang Tran realized that most viewers were more likely to be drawn to the plot and the contest at the outset. “An adaptation is walking in a landmine, that’s for sure,” he said. “I know that.”
In his series, the drama unfolds around the inheritance left by one of the world’s most prolific wine authorities. His estranged daughter, Camille Léger (Fleur Geffrier), must compete against the wine titan’s protege, Issei Tomine (Tomohisa Yamashita), for a home in Japan and one of the world’s most comprehensive wine collections. Camille Léger — in the show a French woman but in the manga a Japanese man — is a novice who must overcome her sometimes violent aversion to wine caused, in part, by intense childhood scent memory and training with her now-late father, Alexandre Léger, while Issei Tomine proves methodical, encyclopedic, shrewd and unflinching, with the clear advantage of years of study.
Camille’s talent, however, is innate, and as the series follows her immersion into wine and both protagonists sip, swirl and spit, viewers learn alongside them: how to taste wine, how it’s made, what’s at the heart of it. In Episode 2, possibly the most wine-technique-heavy as Camille begins her training as an adult, viewers learn to place a glass of wine over a white surface, like a napkin or tablecloth, to better study the color, which will help to determine a wine’s age or indicate how delicate or bold its flavor. As she learns to smell, let the wine breathe and then smell again to let new aromas surprise her, so do viewers. Through one of Léger’s challenges it’s revealed that with oxidation, new aromas such as truffle can appear.
Filming “Drops of God,” in which Camille Léger (Fleur Geffrier) begins her training with scent identification via a box of 54 of the aromas found in wine.
(Apple TV+)
Dang Tran began production with the benefit of a bit of wine knowledge simply by being French, he jokes, though he would need much more to bring the Kibayashis’ manga to life. “I thought, ‘OK, if I am Camille and she knows nothing about wine, where would I start?’” he said. “My journey is her journey, or her journey is my journey. It was very demanding, but that’s the beauty of this work.” He began reading tomes by American and French authors, including popular illustrated reference book “Le Vin C’est Pas Sorcier” by Ophélie Neiman and the comprehensive “Le Grand Larousse du Vin” by Isabelle Jeuge-Maynart. He knew he’d be appealing to a broad audience whose base knowledge could vary as much as a vintage from one year to the next.
To fit dozens of volumes of text into a miniseries, Dang Tran had to pare down the 12 wines that needed to be identified in the manga to only three. “If you’ve read only one volume of the manga, you still know how dense and how didactic it was — which are two great qualities for manga but not so much for a TV show,” he said.
Dang Tran designed the challenges, then found the wines that exemplified the characteristics — such as aromas or backstories — that fit. To find these wines for the script, oenophilic needles in a global haystack, he turned to the series’ consulting sommelier, Sébastien Pradal.
Actor Fleur Geffrier trained with consulting sommelier Sébastien Pradal for her role. Now, he jokes, she’s on track to become more knowledgeable than he is — despite his nearly 30 years in the industry.
(Fabien Malot / Apple TV+)
The sommelier with nearly 30 years in food and wine became not only a sounding board but a tasting coach for the actors and a production connection to real-life vintners. Beyond the show, he owns restaurant La Petite Régalade, as well as vineyards in the South of France where he partners with longtime winemaker Olivier Julien. It was at his restaurant in central Paris that he held trainings for both Geffrier and Yamashita, working primarily with the show’s Camille in France while Issei trained with another expert in Tokyo. Pradal focused on how to taste wine, how to smell wine, how to look like a professional when you do it and how to identify clues through the nose, then the mouth.
The training was a bit easier for Geffrier, who was raised with familiarity of the restaurant industry through her chef father. Her knowledge was a beginner’s but now, Pradal jokes, she’ll be better than him in a few years. He said the same can be said for Yamashita; when they first met, the sommelier was struck by how similar the actor appeared to his character in the show — direct, controlled, observant — but when they met again months later, his wine knowledge had evolved to the point Pradal said it felt as though he were sitting down with the character Issei Tomine in the flesh.
Pradal also helped develop a swirling style for both characters: Issei cold and methodical, like a robot, Camille rougher and full of energy, more novice-like and less controlled at the beginning, but their forms evolve as the characters do. Pradal didn’t want to read the manga first, lest it influence the wines he chose or the way it’s spoken about in the series. When it came to picking the wines, of course he sneaked in some of his favorites: In the series’ developing stages, as it became a more international show, Pradal began sourcing far beyond France, pulling from Tokyo, Australia, America and other countries. Some of the exact language he uses to describe aroma and taste wound up as dialogue for the characters.
Actor Tomohisa Yamashita takes notes among the vines in France. To underscore the agricultural nature of the industry, the series shot at multiple wineries and included a range of styles and varietals.
(Apple TV+)
While the verbiage, the comfort in gestures and establishing the inner workings of the wine industry were crucial to building a believable world, most important to Pradal was conveying the people behind the bottles: the vintners, the farmers, the families who care for the vines, sometimes for multiple generations.
“I wanted in fact to show the way the wine is made, the people who are making the wine — it’s agriculture,” he said. “It’s a real job, the real world.”
Episode 6 takes a few of its characters to Italy, hunting for clues seen in a painting during the second challenge; it’s here biodynamic wine is introduced to the plot in a father-and-daughter operation, an important note for both Dang Tran and Pradal to underscore the importance of smaller, family-run businesses and more old-world practices in the field.
As is oft repeated by both the show’s characters and its team, wine creates stories, heritage and memory — and a bottle that costs a month’s salary drunk alone is worth far less without the ties formed by sharing it.
“When you discover this world of wine, you understand how much it’s about tradition: It’s about good values, it’s about the sky, the earth and humans. It’s all about nature, really. So we can talk about $20,000 bottles of wine, but it’s not about that,” Dang Tran said. “ At the end of the day, it’s all about sharing conviviality. There’s no point in buying the most expensive bottle of wine in the world and drinking it by yourself in your living room.”
‘Drops of God ’
Where:Apple TV+ When: Anytime; new episodes on Fridays Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)
Our friends at Bon Appetite provide another excellent educational take on pairing food and wine with a casual approach we hope you’ll enjoy. Our members love to learn about wine…We love wine!
Legendary sweet wines Sauternes and Tokaj both get their flavor from the grey fungus Botrytis cinerea, which concentrates a grape’s flavors and sugars
Despite their bad reputation, mold, yeast, and fungus are responsible for some of the tastiest things in our lives, such as blue cheese, bread, pizza crust, soy sauce, miso, and of course mushrooms and truffles. As wine lovers, we can’t forget Botrytis cinerea, the grey mold known as Noble Rot that under the right circumstances can affect grape bunches to create ethereally sweet wines such as Sauternes, Tokaji Aszu, and Spätlese and Beerenauslese Riesling. It takes perfect conditions for botrytis to work its wonders; if the season is simply wet, the mold will ruin the grapes or any other fruit or vegetable that it grows on, rendering them inedible or useless for winemaking.
However, a period of humidity, especially cool, foggy mornings, followed by a dry spell before harvest creates an ideal situation. The fungus dehydrates the grapes, which increases the proportion of fruit sugars and acids, offering a sweeter, more intensely flavored berry from which to make wine. Affected grapes shrivel to the point that they look like raisins, but when a portion of these berries is added to “healthy” grapes during the fermentation process the result is a complex, sweet, full-textured wine. Made properly, vibrant acidity will offset residual sugar, resulting in a wine with excellent balance and equilibrium.
Sauternes, Barsac, and Tokaji, which we focus on here, are the primary sources of easy to locate Noble Rot wines. In addition, Germany, Austria, Alsace, and many other cool, humid regions around the world make botrytized wines from a variety of white grapes including Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Furmint, and Chenin Blanc. Botrytis and red grapes are not good partners; the same conditions that create delicious, sweet white wines would induce unpalatable flavors if made into wine using red grapes.
Sauternes and Barsac
Situated within the larger confines of Bordeaux, Sauternes and the wholly contained sub-region Barsac are home to about 140 wineries. Their 4,700 acres of vines represent only two percent of the total area of Bordeaux, but locals are quick to point out that they garnered 27 grand crus in the famous 1855 classification. In 1939, both Sauternes and Barsac were among the first French AOC appellations to be registered. The five communes that comprise this area are Barsac, Bommes, Sauternes, Fargues, and Preignac.
Winemakers in AOP Barsac have the choice of labeling their wines as AOP Barsac or AOP Sauternes; the requirements for both are the same. The three grapes authorized for use to create these specialized wines are Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle. Generally, 80 percent of the grapes used in the finished wines are Semillon, 20 percent are Sauvignon Blanc, and only a very small percentage is Muscadelle, but the last grape can be very important for powerful aromas. Five million bottles are produced annually and 30 percent of those are destined for the export market.
These two regions owe their success to the temperature differences and proximity of the Garonne and Ciron Rivers. The contrast creates morning fog, condensation, and mist at their confluence that is necessary for the growth of Botrytis cinerea. These misty mornings and sunny afternoons facilitate the growth of this microscopic fungus, which gives the wine its unique flavor and texture. Because the botrytis does not form at a uniform rate, winemakers must pass through the vineyards multiple times to pick only the most botrytized grapes each time. The process of making these wines is very labor intensive and therefore makes them more expensive compared to other styles of sweet wines.
Sauternes and Barsac wines will exhibit aromas of orange, lemon blossoms, passion fruit, and mango. You will find flavors of orange and apricot marmalade, toasted pineapple, and soft hints of baking spices. There are also touches of beeswax and acacia honey flavors with full-on mouthfeel and a finish that is equal parts vivid and sweet. Notable producers include Château d’Yquem, Château Rieussec, Château Climens, Château de Fargues, and Château Caillou.
These wines are often enjoyed with foie gras or blue cheese as well as tarts and pies made with apple, peach, or pear. Sauternes and Barsac also work well with fried or roast chicken, brined and grilled pork chops, and pasta or risotto made with butternut or acorn squash.
Tokaji Azsu
Northeast Hungary’s Tokaji-Hegyalija region is famous worldwide for its highly prized sweet wine blend called Tokaji Aszu, which is made from botrytized Furmint, Harslevelu, and Muscat Blanc grapes. Situated at the confluence of the Bodrog and Tisza Rivers, the Tokaji region is known for the heavy fog that covers the vines in the mornings during grape growing season. This high humidity moisture fosters the occurrence of botrytis and supports its growth.
This delectable, sweet wine has been a favorite of noblemen, poets, and artists for centuries and was called the “The King of wines, the wine of Kings” by Louis XIV. Voltaire was said to have waxed poetically about Tokaji Aszu and Pope Benedict XIV was reportedly heard to say, “Blessed be the land that has produced you. Blessed be the woman that sent you. Blessed be I who drink you.”
Unaffected grapes are first harvested in September to make the base wine and other grapes stay on the vine to become inoculated with botrytis. These grapes will shrivel, and their sugars will concentrate until the second picking in late October or November. Harvested botrytized grapes are gathered in large baskets known as puttony and added to 136-liter barrels of base wine. The number of baskets of sweet grapes added to the base wine gave the Tokaji Aszu the Puttonyosrating of 3, 4, 5, or 6 Puttonyos, with 6 Puttonyos as the sweetest on the Puttonyos scale.
Under current regulations winemakers now make only late harvest Szamorodni, 5 Puttonyos Tokaji Aszu, 6 Puttonyos Tokaji Aszu, and Eszencia. A Tokaj wine made from only botrytized grapes is known as Eszencia. For a Tokaji Aszu wine to be labeled today as 5 Puttonyos, it must have at least 120 grams per liter of residual sugar and a wine labeled as 6 Puttonyos must have at least 150 grams per liter of residual sugar. An Eszencia wine can be as sweet as 450 grams per liter and is a very rare and expensive commodity.
Tokaji Aszu wines have aromas of honeysuckle, jasmine, beeswax, and peach. You will find flavors of canned apricots, caramelized pineapple, tropical fruits, and white flowers with velvety mouthfeel and well-balanced acidity. Look for bottles from Oremus, Royal Tokaji, Diznoko, Chateau Dereszla and Patricius.
Tokaji Aszu goes with a wide variety of foods, so please don’t just relegate it to dessert. While it is delicious with ice cream or crème bruleé, it also pairs beautifully with savory foods such as duck or goose pâté, dishes made with gorgonzola or other blue cheeses, or spicy foods like Thai curries. It’s also a special treat with Peking Duck.
Tucked in a residential neighborhood, in the shadow of The Getty, lies 14 acres of vineyards and a winery.
One of the biggest winemaking secrets in California can be found in Los Angeles.
Tucked in a residential neighborhood, in the shadow of The Getty, lies 14 acres of vineyards and a winery.
The Moraga Bel Air vineyards and winery, as its name suggests, is in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, and the vines grow in the Moraga Canyon of the Santa Monica Mountains. “It’s just a regular neighborhood,” says Paul Warson, winemaker at the estate. “You would never know there’s a vineyard and winery here. The gate is so tall you would not know until the gate is opened.”
The wines themselves are renowned in certain circles, and they’ve received some of the highest ratings out there. But the folks at the winery want their secret to get out, and they would like to have more visitors.
“Our latest mission is to make Moraga Bel Air more accessible,” Warson says. “We want to allow people to visit the property by appointment or by attending one of our events, which historically has not been the case.”
Not many people have visited Moraga; mainly, because not a lot of people know it’s there. It’s kind of a best-kept secret, and it’s a secret the folks at the winery want to change, he says.
“Moraga is a singular and unique vineyard situated in one of the most unlikely places you can imagine – the heart of Los Angeles,” Warson says. “We grow the grapes and the grapes never leave the property. The grapes are made here, they are aged here, and they are bottled here.”
The estate winery, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, has a bit of a storied history. It was originally the home of Victor Fleming, director of Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, and Fleming created a horse ranch on the land. In 1959, Tom Jones, CEO of Northrop Corporation, and his wife Ruth purchased the property, and in 1980, they planted Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grapes.
Three years later, the vines had to be replanted with Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. Later, Petit Verdot and Sauvignon Blanc grapes were added, and in 1989, Jones transformed his non-commercial wines into a commercial operation. In 2004, a barrel-aging cave was added, and in 2005, a state of the art winery was built. Murdoch purchased the property in 2013.
“We have a gorgeous, rare and exceptionally special property in the heart of Los Angeles, and we want to bring neighbors and visitors together by creating the ability for us to share it whenever possible,” Warson says. “So many people don’t know about Moraga, and we want to change that. It’s an exciting time for Moraga.”
The wines themselves are classified as California wines, but with the uniqueness of where they are grown, it wouldn’t be hard to seek a separate American Viticultural Area of its own. “Moraga is a terror driven estate wine from the heart of Los Angeles, delivering farm to table in the area and sharing what it has to offer nationwide,” Warson says. “I can’t think of anything to compare it with in that sense. It’s beyond classification, because as far as I know, no other such thing exists in the world.”
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