Our Wines

This is a real blockbuster Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon.  The wine has a distinct purity with deftly textured tannins formed from the ancient sandstone soils. The layers here are intense and stay with you for ages.  There is a very small percentage of Cabernet Franc that lifts the mid palate and brightens the complex aromatics with blue fruits and cedar cigar box.

Incubo began as a tiny, 12 case cuvee that Aaron made from the 1/2 acre vineyard that was already planted on our property when we bought it in 2004.  Over time we expanded the vineyards to almost 5 acres, and Incubo grew to around 80 cases.  The name derives from a mythical creature supposed to guard a hoarde of treasure.  The dragon symbol is in fact the signature of a medieval painter named Lucas Cranach, who often depicted wine and merry-making in his work.  We visited a gallery full of his paintings while we were in Germany in 2004 for the World Cup, which is where we got the inspiration.

Merlot is Space: vast quantities of velvet, black, rich space and an endless universe of red fruits, violets and iris.  Cabernet Franc is Time: the father of both Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon is the Dark Matter pushing both Cabernet Franc and Merlot up on its mighty, youthful shoulders.

Agnès Sorel is a no-added-sulphur, natural wine of organically grown Cabernet Franc from Mt. Veeder. This wine contains only the sulphur produced in its own fermentation and allows the purest expression of what our mountain vineyard has to give. Fermented in open top wooden vats and aged for one year or more in terracotta amphorae.

What is Natural Wine?
Natural wines are made from organic vineyards and are made from nothing but grapes. Since the time of the ancient Egyptians sulfur has been added to wine post fermentation to allow the wine to age well and of course sulfur dioxide is produced naturally in all fermented products at very low levels.
With a natural wine we do not add anything but grapes. This we feel allows us to express the purest nature of our Mount Veeder Terroir at Châteauneuf du Pott. For six years in a row we’ve made exploratory wine trips to France and Germany primarily focusing on visiting natural wine producers. Most of what we tasted was totally flawed, undrinkable or mediocre but a very small number were excellent.
This got me excited about the possibilities of making a natural wine that would express the true nature of our organically farmed vineyard.

Made from 100% organically-farmed Viognier wine grapes grown on our Mt. Veeder Estate.  About half an acre in total, at the lowest and most protected part of the site.  It’s surrounded by redwoods and often bathed in fog.  Hand-picked, whole-cluster pressed.  Fermented and aged in terracotta amphorae.

We pick by hand, and then delicately press the whole cluster.  We ferment AND age it in Italian terra cotta amphorae, so it never sees oak or stainless steel. (The amphorae are hand made in Tuscany by the Manetti family using the same clay pits that the Etruscans used for their pottery thousands of years ago). We use only its indigenous (wild) yeasts. Fermentation usually takes about 2 months at 52°F. No malo-lactic. Aged 10 months in amphora before bottling.

The name 20m3, or “Twenty Cubic Meters”, derives from the estimated amount of gold in the world. Aaron was so intrigued by this idea that he decided to use if as the name for the Viognier which is also precious, rare and golden colored.

From the coveted east-facing RISE section of Elswick Vineyard high above the banks of the Navarro river (across from Roderer Estate). Deep in the deep end, embraced by the fog. Almost as cool as it gets in California; finally a site for a California Pinot that isn’t too alcoholic, jammy or fat.

A beautiful deep garnet color with bright reflections. Cherry, plum, tobacco, forest floor, apricot, bacon, vanilla and blood orange. Astonishing density, beautiful acidity, soft tannins.

Gritty gravel and shale for the perfect amount of adversity. 150 to 220 feet. Adjacent to primeval Redwood forest and facing the Navarro river which has a normalizing effect: less variability in temps, good humidity, and gives it the California "Woo" of a very alive, biodiverse ecosystem. The Natural A/C of being deep (closer to the coast) and on top of that, east facing, (morning sun) so it's right on the lower limit / at the very edge of its range. This way you're getting the best, most exaggerated results. Especially important in a Pinot Noir which is an ancient, not hybridized varietal and really translates terroir directly.

Whole cluster fermented in Burgundian open top wood vats. Hand punched down or foot treaded. Aged 20 months in 28mm stave thickness Burgundian Chassin barrels that were used for one vintage of Chardoonay. The wine is gently stirred in barrel during the malo lactic phase and is gravity racked to tank for bottling. The wine was bottled using gravity and no pumps.

The Garcia Family vineyard is a stone’s throw from Howell Mountain's famous Linda Falls waterfall, whose angular volcanic boulders were the inspiration for - and form the bedrock of – this wine.  The vineyard's ideal soil and perfect exposure allow the grapes to develop their deep, rich flavors which we then stack up, layer by layer in the blend.

This vineyard is a project that Aaron has been involved with from the very start.

It sits at about 1500 feet on an escarpment of the prized Aiken clay loam overlooking the valley to the South West. Consulting with the Garcia family who own the property, Aaron planted two thirds of it to Cabernet Sauvignon See clone and the last third – right at the edge of the escarpment – on his favorite Cabernet Franc clone Vieux Chateau Certan.

The aromatics of Cabernet Franc pop out of the glass here Blueberry, cedar, tobacco, plum, raspberry and toasted walnuts. The palate shows the layers of Cabernet Sauvignon with Black currants, blackberry, tobacco, menthol and dark chocolate. The finish has wonderful length and goes on and on, showcasing cigar box, plum, blackberries, cherry and blueberries.

Aaron calls this his foot in the door of Valhalla, and part of our stand against the behemoths that would take over the Valley. This tiny vineyard sits next to and slightly above Colgin’s Tychson Hill (it’s owned by he same family that lease to Colgin/LVMH). Plum on top of the coveted Aiken clay loam red basaltic rock whose super high iron content gives the wines incredible flavor and aromatics. It’s on an east facing slope, nestled up against with 40 acres of untouched forest.

This project is a total waste of time, and a complete labor of love. Single puncheon, head off for ferment then racked to two half barrels – one for us and one for the owners Roy and Kay who continue, at almost 90 years old, to help us with farming and harvest.

The same grape, just like puma or mountain lion are the same beast.

Dr. Carole Meredith is the world-renowned as the grapevine geneticist who crunched the numbers on the DNA of Zinfandel and many other modern grape varietals. She also, along with her husband Steve Lagier, farmed 5 acres of Zinfandel, Syrah, Mondeuse and Malbec and produced the Lagier-Meredith wines that so many of us know and love. In 2022 she and Steve decided to retire and gifted us their vineyard. (San Francisco Chronicle article)

The Lagier-Meredith vineyards lie about a mile south from the Pott Estate connected by an old ridge road, an ancient way through the mountains from Sonoma to Napa. In our 20 years of being neighbors we have traversed it thousands of times back and forth with pies, pizzas, farm machinery and helping hands. We are not the only ones. The trail is also an animal super highway; lions, bears, bobcats, coyote and deer all use it for their seasonal commute. We are glad to see them because they are living evidence of the health of our ecosystem and our commitment to organic farming. We chose a few of our favorite trail camera pictures for the labels of our three Lagier-Meredith wines.

Zinfandel 2022: bright cherry, black pepper, plum, fig, latte, bright wonderful acidity, lively, followed by an explosion of fruit and richness, round and expansive with tobacco, plum, black cherry, juicy and lovely, lingers forever with umbashi plum, nori and black cherry. Pure pleasure that screams for a boozy lunch.

The Lagier-Meredith vineyards lie about a mile south from the Pott Estate connected by an old ridge road, an ancient way through the mountains from Sonoma to Napa. In our 20 years of being neighbors we have traversed it thousands of times back and forth with pies, pizzas, farm machinery and helping hands.  We are not the only ones.  The trail is also an animal super highway; lions, bears, bobcats, coyote and deer all use it for their seasonal commute.  We are glad to see them because they are living evidence of the health of our ecosystem and our commitment to organic farming. We chose a few of our favorite trail camera pictures for the labels of our three Lagier-Meredith wines.

Because Aaron specializes in small-lot, single-vineyard wines he is exceptionally picky about what goes in to those bottles. He wants typicite and wines that will marry perfectly together for excellent ageing. Every year, a couple of the barrels don’t quite fit the bill. They are equally classy, just not as classical.

So, we have created our second wine: Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Comprising the complexity of 33 different soil types, the intensity of the mountain vineyards with the silkiness and the pleasure of the valley floor. It’s your drink-now, goes-with-everything bottle of great Napa Cab.

A delicious, drink now bottle of Mt. Veeder Estate red wine comprised of selections from our Lagier-Meredith Vineyard Zinfandel, Syrah and Monduese.