red varietals of Bordeaux and Rhone. from exclusive single vineyards in Sonoma County’s finest appellations.
TO MAKE GREAT WINE START SMALL, AND START IN THE VINEYARD.
first, Moon Mountain Syrah
Our vineyard farming began on the very top of the Moon Mountain District, Sonoma County. While the AVA just received official recognition in 2013, it is actually home to some of the first, most important wineries in all of California. It includes Louis M. Martini’s famed Monte Rosso (“red mountain”) vineyard.
“Moon Mountain wines lead with more savory notes; black olive, anise, even lavender. Their fruit is dark and brooding, blackberry mixed with coffee and dark cocoa.”
—Christine Hanna
Dividing Napa and Sonoma Counties in the Mayacamas.
Glen Ellen is to the west, Oakville (Napa valley) to the east. at 2000 feet above the valley floor, just 870 vines of Syrah produce an unusually mouth filling, full version of the varietal. It feels like a warm blackberry compote that lingers forever.
This is due to the unique qualities of the appellation. Ancient volcanic lava flows have brought great mineral content with its iron-richness, while the high elevation evens out the extreme temperature swings of the valley floor. Ripening is slow and steady, with long hang time producing concentrated fruit in smaller, thicker-skinned grapes. As the vineyard sits just to the east of the peak, it also avoids the sun scorching that can affect the western facing vineyards.
From 2013 to 2019, we produced the wine under the Chez Villa Casa label. It now joins Mews Wine as the “Moon Mountain Syrah”.
Wine Spectator
“Curled up against one of the Napa Valley’s most desirable AVAs, Mount Veeder, where volcanic soils also rule, Moon Mountain is a confounding treasure of fine grapes.”
Wine Spectator
“Above the fog, those vines benefit from coastal winds with long, warm days and cool, dry nights during the growing season.”
Next came chalk hill
The opportunity to acquire a very special property presented itself in 2017. It had previously been part of Chalk Hill Estate Vineyards as their fruit orchard, and the site of what they called the “Carriage House.” We have restored it and more aptly named it the Mews.
“mews”: a group of stables, typically with rooms above, built around a yard or along an alley.
A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them. The square Mews logo is a representation of the courtyard building from above.
The Mews courtyard, where horses and carriages would bring visitors before motorcars.
The Mews courtyard at night. The stables are through the doors in back.
No, no... not the ROYAL Mews, mummy!
The stables have hay shoots and oat shoots from the hayloft above.
AMERICAN VITICULTURAL AREA
Chalk Hill AVA is another stunningly good appellation to produce big red wine. The “chalk” they originally thought was from ancient seabeds, actually turned out to be quartzite-rich volcanic ash. It’s warmer than the Russian River Valley AVA to which it is a sub-AVA, while being cooler than the Alexander Valley to the North, making it ideal for the structured, yet refined varietals of Bordeaux.
“Deep, intense Bordeaux blends and exquisite, mineral-rich Sauvignon Blancs are amongst the wines for which this AVA is renowned.”
three Bordeaux varietals in one vineyard
This small vineyard set on the former fruit orchard holds four distinct lots
Rootstock for all is 3309C
Lot 1 :: Cabernet Sauvignon #15
Lot 2 :: Cabernet Sauvignon #341
Lot 3 :: Merlot #181
Lot 4 :: Cabernet Franc #1
Winemaker, Chris Taddei.
Chris loves every aspect of working with grapes. His approach at every turn is to make the wine better. He concentrates on structure, paying close attention to tannins and acid to provide an elegant backbone for the beautiful Mews fruit to come to life.
