What is Premiere Napa Valley?  Inspired in part by the Hospices de Beaune, Premiere Napa Valley (PNV) is a wine auction that takes place every February in Napa. The week around the auction is filled with tastings and events relating to PNV. The auction is only open to members of the wine trade, most often merchants or restaurants who will then sell the wine exclusively to their clients. Today, Sotheby’s runs the actual auction. It first took place in 1997.  Which wines are auctioned off at Premiere Napa Valley?  The lots are all made specifically for the auction, one-of-a-kind wines that otherwise wouldn’t exist. Only members of the Napa Valley Vintners can make wines for the auction, and sometimes producers will collaborate on a lot. The lots normally comprise 240, 120 or 60 bottles, coming from AVAs across the region. These limited bottlings are often of a variety or vineyard not normally bottled separately, or a special blend or collaboration. The wines all come from the same vintage – harvest just under a year and a half prior to the auction (so the 2023 vintage is being offered in 2025), and tastings of these lots offer the first comprehensive view of a vintage to the trade.  Who organises Premiere Napa Valley and where does the money raised go?  The event is organised by Napa Valley Vintners. Napa Valley Vintners is an association of producers established in 1943 and formalised in 1944, a forum to exchange ideas and work as a group to overcome challenges as well as elevate the reputation of the valley’s wines. Napa Valley Vintners also organises Auction Napa Valley (previously knowns as the Napa Valley wine Auction) which was created in 1981 and takes place every summer.  Alongside its efforts to champion the region and its wines, investing in the local community is a huge focus: since 1981, the group has raised over $230 million for local non-profits – supporting healthcare and education, as well as environmental work. Today, 539 wineries are members of the organisation. The 29th iteration of Premiere Napa Valley, held in 2025, raised $3.3 million, a new record for sales. You can find out more about Napa Valley Vintners’ philanthropic work, which operates under Collective Napa Valley, and their current initiatives on their website.  Read more about Napa or browse all current Napa listings Photography: Alexander Rubin, courtesy of Premiere Napa Valley

Created by Napa Valley Vintners, the Premiere Napa Valley wine auction takes place every February. Here’s everything you need to know about the event and the lots on offer 

Everything you need to know about Premiere Napa Valley – California’s famous charity wine auction, organised by Napa Valley Vintners 

What is Premiere Napa Valley? About the famous wine auction

What is Premiere Napa Valley? 

The 2023 vintage in the Rhône was – like elsewhere in France – hot and dry, but not as hot as 2022. The preceding autumn was wet, but from January through to March 2023 there was practically no rain (indeed, not a drop fell between 21st January and 21st February).  Rain arrived in mid-May and there were frequent, small showers until the end of June, providing just enough water to avoid major water stress. Flowering and fruit-set took place without any issues, but as the rain showers continued, the threat of downy mildew and black rot arrived – and needed managing to avoid damage to the crop.  Late August brought a new challenge, with a heatwave that saw temperatures hit 40-42°C, lasting two weeks. There were reports of blocked ripening and young vines dying, but fortunately the weather cooled off and September offered a substantial diurnal swing in temperatures, helping retain aromatics and acidity in the run-up to harvest. The whites were largely brought in in August, before the heatwave had finished, while the red harvest took place over an Indian summer, with the last fruit in around mid-October.  The Northern Rhône faced additional challenges, with hail in Cornas, Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph, then on 18th September torrential rain – with over 100mm falling in one night. The northern part of the appellation avoided this deluge, with just 20mm.  Here’s what the critics are saying about the wines.  Jeb Dunnuck  Jeb Dunnuck is gradually releasing his reports on Rhône 2023, starting with Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas.  In Châteauneuf-du-Pape, 2023 is “another solid vintage”, he writes, offering “a bevy of ripe yet not excessive, pure, charming wines with loads to love”. He finds them darker-fruited and cooler than “the sunny, exuberant 2022s”, with a “soft, plump elegant style, and beautiful overall balance”. They are not intensely concentrated, he says, but “shine for their balanced, layered, seductive style”. They combine freshness and depth, and are “on a par, if not slightly superior to, the 2022s”, says Dunnuck, feeling they’ll also be longer-lived than the 2022s – comparing them stylistically to the wines from 2020, 2018 or 2012. While it may not be “truly great”, drinkers will find “a wealth of beautiful wines”.  As for Gigondas, he finds the wines “pure, elegant, beautifully balanced” – reminiscent of 2020 or 2012, “fresher and more elegant than the 2022s”. The vintage was the first in which whites were permitted in the appellation, and these come highly recommended – “beautifully fresh, focused, yet concentrated whites that show the limestone, mineral-like character of the appellation”.  Explore Jeb Dunnuck’s reports, notes and scores on his site (subscribers only)  Drink Rhône – John Livingstone-Learmonth  So far, John Livingstone-Learmonth has only published thoughts on the Northern Rhône in 2023, where he feels it is “good” if not “spectacular”. The reds have “reasonable levels of tannin”, while the whites are, he writes, “a definite buy”. In Cornas, he writes, the wines have an approachability, but don’t have “great stuffing or structure to match the really long keeping vintages such as 2015 or 2019”. He feels the wines will appeal to a modern audience, balanced with refined tannins and the best set to drink over 20-plus years, although selective buying is advised. In Crozes-Hermitage, this is particularly true, Livingstone-Learmonth advises, highlighting both mildew and hail, even if the best are impressive – with “snug tannins” and “stylish content”, and potential five-star ratings. The 2023s of Côte-Rôtie seem to stand out in the line-up, aromatic with moderate alcohols, even if not overtly structured. The results are, in Livingstone-Learmonth’s mind, “very satisfying”, with “appealing exuberance and plentiful fruit” – wines he expects to drink for a good 25 years or so. Explore John Livingstone-Learmonth’s full report, notes and scores on his site (subscribers only)  Decanter – Matt Walls  Both in the north and south of the region, the vintage earns a modest 3.5 out of 5 rating from Decanter’s Matt Walls. He emphasises how the rain showers that arrived in May and June were “crucial” in the otherwise hot, dry year, even if they also brought disease pressure.   Unlike other recent vintages, Walls highlights how approachable the 2023s are – perfect for drinking while waiting for other vintages (including the 2022s) to come round. He says the wines are perhaps comparable in quality to the 2022s, although are much more open. Both in the Northern and Southern Rhône, he finds the whites more consistent than the reds – offering “intensity, freshness and energy”.  The reds are more mixed in quality. In the south, you’ll find “a clutch of juicy, approachable and early-drinking wines”,  he says, “ripe with soft tannins and gentle acidity”, but “nonetheless displaying detailed terroir expression”. He found that, while Châteauneuf-du-Pape was heterogenous (with some wines lacking in acidity and marked by alcohol), Vinsobres, Lirac, Beaumes de Venise and Rasteau all excelled this year. He advises looking out for wines with Mourvèdre in the blend, bringing “welcome sinew”.  In the Northern Rhône, things were trickier. Hail struck Saint-Joseph, Cornas and Crozes-Hermitage, and there was a huge rainstorm on 18th September – so heavy that it damaged vines and resulted in some dilution. Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu and northern Saint-Joseph dodged the storm (receiving 20 versus 100mm elsewhere) and made some “excellent” wines, according to Walls. While much of the Northern Rhône produced fresh, supple reds, there is some “very fine Côte-Rôtie” and Cornas offers “strict, mineral and refreshing” wines that are “distinctly herbal”. Walls notes that there are many vibrant, fresh whites, particularly in Hermitage – where the whites are set to outlive the reds.  Explore Matt Walls’ full report, notes and scores on the Decanter site (subscribers only)  Wine Advocate – Yohan Castaing  Yohan Castaing hasn’t yet released his full coverage of the 2023 vintage in the Rhône, but has offered two reports on the whites of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas, where it is the first vintage for white wines within the appellation rules. Generally, he finds the Southern Rhône whites in 2023 “aromatic and elegant, with bright acidities, a well-defined core and good aging potential”. In Châteauneuf, the aromatic profiles are, for him, reminiscent of 2022 and he considers the wines very good to excellent, with acidity that “balances the natural power and typically high pH levels of Southern Rhône grape varieties”. He attributes this in part to greater precision in the vineyard and winery, although some wines, he writes, still lack “dymanism and tension”.  The first whites to bear the Gigondas appellation name (coming from around 12 hectares of white vineyards) offer “a promising glimpse” of what lies ahead. He favours the pure Clairette expressions of Gigondas’s complex soils, even if the grape still represents a minimum 70% of the blends. Nevertheless, the 2023s, in Castaing’s words, have “remarkable freshness, tension and complexity”, exemplifying “the elegance and purity that Gigondas Blanc strives for, balancing structure with vibrancy”.   Explore Yohan Castaing’s full report notes and scores on Châteauneuf-du-Pape whites and Gigondas whites on the Wine Advocate (subscribers only)  Vinous – Nicolas Greinacher  In Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Vinous’s Nicolas Greinacher finds that 2023 “promises to be a delightful year for both reds and whites”. In his coverage of the growing season, he notes that sites with more clay fared better than sandier soils, able to retain key moisture during the year’s warm weather. He feels the reds in this leading appellation are good to very good, more approachable than the 2022s, and “although generally not set to be as long-lived as the 2022s, the finest 2023s are built to last”. He finds many of them “alluring”, “perfumed” and “juicy”. As for the whites, he finds them generous in style – matching the reds for quality, and offering brighter acidity versus the 2022s.  In the Northern Rhône, the reds are – he writes – “surprisingly fresh, calm and balanced”, with ripe fruit and “gentle tannins”. They aren’t as structured and long-lived as the 2022s, much more open and accessible in youth, but there are “standout wines in every appellation that are sure to endure”. He finds that Côte-Rôtie stands out this year for its “hauntingly elegant” wines, while Cornas offers wines of “granite-based austerity, fleshiness, boldness and elevated flavor concentration” (even if they’re “not blockbusters”). Saint-Joseph is more mixed, while the whites of Condrieu are mostly “lively, fresh and expressive, albeit not as precise and elegant as in 2021”.  Explore Nicolas Greinacher’s full reports, notes and scores on Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the Northern Rhône on Vinous (subscribers only)  jancisrobinson.com – Alistair Cooper MW and James Lawther MW James Lawther MW has covered the Northern Rhône and Alistair Cooper MW the Southern Rhône for jancisrobinson.com. In the north, Lawther finds 2023 “more elegant and approachable” versus the power and concentration of vintages like 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. The reds are generally low in alcohol, with a maximum 13%, he says, and relatively high pHs, yet they feel very fresh, with supple tannins and “juicy, gourmand” fruit – offering a much more “classic” profile, he finds. Côte-Rôtie has produced some of the vintage’s best wines, and is more consistent than those of Cornas, Crozes-Hermitage (with hail in both) or Saint-Joseph, full of “balance and charm even if they are not destined for excessively long ageing”. In the south, the story is rather different, as Cooper reports – the year defined by its warm and dry conditions. Although Châteauneuf-du-Pape produced some “extremely high-quality red wines”, selection is key, with some wines jammy and high in alcohol, although the best are excellent, offering power and concentration. The appellation’s best whites offer freshness and minerality, although some drift into flabbiness, with picking dates key. Cooper found quality in Vacqueyras and Gigondas more variable – for the latter, he attributes this in part to its sandier soils (less able to retain water in the dry year). Generally, however, he found the southern crus “largely turned out good-quality wines” – with Cairanne, Lirac and Rasteau in particular home to “balanced and attractive wines aplenty”. Explore the full reports, notes and scores on jancisrobinson.com (subscribers only) We’ll be adding to this feature as other reports are released.    

The 2023 vintage was far from easy in the Rhône Valley – but has clearly produced some charming wines. As the critics publish their reports on the year, we round up what they’re saying about the vintage and its wines, from Châteauneuf-du-Pape to Côte-Rôtie  

As the Rhone starts to release its 2023s, here’s what the world’s leading critics–Jeb Dunnuck, Decanter, Vinous, the Wine Advocate–are saying about the wines 

Rhone 2023 – what the critics are saying 

Rhône 2023: the critics’ verdict 

Some wine regions dance to the beat of their own drum. From the sweeter reds of Ethiopia’s Rift Valley to the soft-styled fizz of Altos de Pinto Bandeira, Arnica Rowan explores far-flung regions with distinctive approaches to growing vines and making wine – almost exclusively for their own people

Arnica Rowan explores wines that don’t make it to the international market – with distinctive styles from Ethiopia, Brazil, Thailand and beyond

Discover the wines of Ethiopia, Brazil and beyond

Not for export

To Kalon. For any Californian winemaker, those two words represent the Holy Grail. This vineyard in Oakville, Napa, is undeniably the region’s most famous. Perched at the foot of the Mayacamas, west of Highway 29, this site has been recognised for producing fine wine since the 19th century. Literally translating as the “highest beauty” or “highest good” from Greek, today To Kalon is home to some of Napa’s oldest vines and best Cabernet Sauvignon. “This is a Grand Cru – a premier property,” Paul Hobbs tells me, a winemaker who has a long history with the site. As a grad student at UC Davis, Hobbs would swipe the second crop from a vineyard on Walnut Drive – what happened to be BV4, Beaulieu Vineyard’s original block of To Kalon. At Mondavi – the largest holder of the hallowed site – he got to walk the rows more legitimately, and used those holdings to build Opus One – the company’s joint venture with Ch. Mouton Rothschild (although the association with the site has generally been played down). Under his own label, he’s been making wine from the Beckstoffer section of the vineyard since 1999 – and his wines, along with those from Schrader, were some of the early bottlings that put the vineyard firmly on the fine wine map, earning high scores – and lots of attention. Indeed, it was a Paul Hobbs wine that made Tor Kenward believe the vineyard was truly special. André Tchelistcheff had spoken to Kenward about BV4, but it was one of Hobbs’s bottlings that made him realise its potential. He started working with Beckstoffer plots from 2005. 
“It’s not visually impressive; it doesn’t have that ‘wow factor’,” Kenward tells me. But start digging below the surface, and you realise that you’re in the “tenderloin of Napa”, with old creek beds that run through the site. It’s an alluvial fan that runs down from the Mayacamas, sitting almost on a bench – with very little elevation. But the soils here are varied, with deep, well-drained gravels that make it perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon.  Andy Erickson – a winemaker whose resume includes Screaming Eagle, Harlan, Dalla Valle, Mayacamas and many more – first worked with the site in 2012, on a single-barrel charity lot for an auction at his children’s school. When Constellation (owners of Mondavi and co-owners of Opus One) called him to give him the chance to work with it again in 2016, he didn’t hesitate. That year, he made the first wine for the To Kalon Vineyard Company – a project that is a revival of the brand created by H.W. Crabb (known variously as Henry Walker, Hiram Walker or Hamilton Walker Crabb) in 1886, the vineyard’s godfather. “Most people know the recent history of the vineyard, and the acclaim of the wines from the past 15-20 years. But the vineyard was known for producing remarkable wines all the way back in the late 19th century. Clearly there is something there,” Erickson says.  But this vineyard is weighed down with controversy – its borders endlessly debated, with producers vying for use of the To Kalon name.  The history of the To Kalon Vineyard It’s impossible to look at To Kalon today without tracing its origins. H.W. Crabb came west from Ohio during the Gold Rush, spending six months digging in the Sierras before settling in Oakville in 1868, buying 240 acres of land at the corner of Highway 29 and Walnut Drive. He planted a wide range of crops, first making wine in 1872 under the name Hermosa Vineyards (“hermosa” meaning “beautiful” in Spanish). In 1881, he acquired another 119 acres from Eliza Yount (whose name lives on in Yountville). On land to the west of his plots, owned by John Davis, he planted additional vines – buying the fruit off Davis to feed his increasing production. In 1886, he gave his company a new name: “To Kalon Vineyard Company” – and the legend was born. Crabb reportedly said, “The name To-Kalon… means the highest beauty, or the highest good, but I try to make it mean the boss vineyard.”
 To Kalon Vineyard Company rapidly became one of the region’s largest – and most well-respected – wine producers. His wines started winning awards at competitions around the world, and he was the first to start selling wine along the East Coast. He had planted a huge range of grapes – around 400 different varieties, including Malvasia, Riesling, Chasselas, Muscat, Refosco and Cabernet Sauvignon, with the latter in particular thriving. In 1889, he bought 168 acres on the hillside to the south, close to where Harlan is now based, although it was never planted with vines during Crabb’s lifetime. In 1891, Crabb bought Davis’s 135 acres (from which he’d already been buying the fruit). In total, Crabb had more than 359 acres.  But his success wasn’t to last – phylloxera arrived in the late 19th century, and recession along with it. In 1898, Crabb sold the 135 acres he’d bought just eight years earlier – and died one year later in 1899. The vines were ripped out, replaced by cherry trees under David Perry Doak in 1911, who in turn purchased another 500 acres of vines from John Benson, south of the border of the original To Kalon (across Oakville Grade Road), which is now all owned by Constellation (used for Mondavi or Opus One). After Crabb’s death, what remained of the To Kalon Vineyard Company was sold to ES Churchill at auction, taken over by his widow Mary Churchill when he died in 1903. Wines continued to be sold under the label until the arrival of Prohibition in 1920. The winery reopened briefly to sell wine in bulk in the 1930s, but the winery building burnt down in 1939. Four years later, Martin Stelling bought most of the property – 337 acres – and replanted. He sold 90 acres to Beaulieu Vineyard (the block that became known as BV4 – and was the plot used by André Tschelistcheff made Georges de Latour Reserve). In 1944, Stelling bought an additional 1,700 acres – the McGill Ranch, which included the parcels owned by Doak (both Crabb’s 1891 parcel and the 500 acres area south of Oakville Grade Road). He named the entire property Tokalon Vineyards, and in 1945 planted Sauvignon Blanc in I Block – the legendary parcel that is today used for Mondavi’s prized, old-vine To Kalon Fumé Blanc.  Tragedy struck again, however, with Stelling killed in a car crash in 1950. The property was once more divided, sold off in pieces by his widow.   
Rosa Mondavi, along with her sons Robert and Peter, purchased 132 hectares in 1962 for the family winery, Charles Krug. After Robert struck out on his own, he bought 12 acres for himself in 1966 (that remained in the Stelling family) – in the northeast corner of the 1968 Crabb parcel, where the Mondavi winery and visitor centre remains today. He bought a further 230 acres in 1968, and then took the Charles Krug section from the rest of his family in 1978. The first time the To Kalon name appeared on a Mondavi label – and the first time since the demise of the To Kalon Vineyard Company – was on the 1986 Fumé Blanc Reserve. The I Block – the Sauvignon Blanc vines planted by Stelling in 1945 – were singled out for the first time in 1995, for the vines’ 50th anniversary. The first red – Mondavi’s To Kalon Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – appeared with the 1997 vintage. The To Kalon Vineyard’s terroir As already mentioned, To Kalon is largely an alluvial fan that stretches down from the Mayacamas to Highway 29. It is, however, a large piece of land (the exact area depending on where you draw its borders – see below for more on the controversy around this) – and as such the terroir varies considerably. The soils are richer downslope, closer to the Highway; poorer and better-drained higher up (where many – including Hobbs and Kenward – prefer to be). The gravel composition varies with the subtle slope differences and underground water.  “It’s like any cut of meat – there are better parts than others,” Hobbs says. With over 300 original acres (at least), this is a substantial vineyard (for comparison, Clos Vougeot is 125 acres). “It’s great if you have the name To Kalon, but could be pretty average stuff.” The Beckstoffer section is numbered and lettered: A to F, from road to mountain, with A1 south of A2. For Hobbs, he likes the blocks closer to the mountains, and those that aren’t shaded by the huge walnut trees that line Walnut Drive (to the south). Hobbs noted how much warmer Oakville is than Yountville – something he used to notice when driving in the evening home from Oakville to Yountville. The mountains block the sea breezes, meaning that the cooling effect happens, but more slowly. This is partly what makes it such a special place. Tor Kenward similarly prefers some of the middle blocks in B and C, where there are some of the vineyard’s oldest vines, but with lower vigour, as well as the leaner soils closest to the mountains. As for the MacDonald or Horton block: “You could argue it’s every bit as good as Andy’s piece,” Kenward says. It, along with the Detert block, was planted in the 1940s – and in fact those two blocks are now home to some of the valley’s oldest vines. Even closer to the mountains, the gravel content is even higher, and the fruit is picked up to a month earlier than elsewhere in To Kalon. Although until now most of that fruit has been sold to Constellation, there will be opportunity for others to work with it as that contract comes to an end.   
The Beckstoffer plots of To Kalon Andy Beckstoffer bought Beaulieu Vineyard’s block, BV4, in 1993. He’d just lost a prized site – Liparita, on Howell Mountain – when the 89 acres of BV4 came up. He’d worked the site for years and leapt at the opportunity to buy it. “It’s a mystery to me why they sold it,” Paul Hobbs told me, although word on the grapevine was that they needed to liquidate funds – indeed, it was around the same time that Mondavi went public for similar reasons. Phylloxera was once more raging through the region thanks to the widely used, non-resistant AXR rootstock.  The BV4 block was in bad shape when Beckstoffer took it over and he had to replant the entire site. Paul Hobbs was one of the first to use fruit from Beckstoffer’s plots, starting to work with him from 1995/96. “Andy didn’t really realise he had a Grand Cru property,” Hobbs says. Hobbs was given free rein to pick his plots, opting for four or five plots on the western side, furthest from Highway 29. The vineyard produced its first fruit in 1997; 1998 was a difficult year; but in 1999 Hobbs was able to produce his first To Kalon bottling (although it couldn’t say so on the label). “I was loathe to tell people how young it was – but the quality was so good,” Hobbs says, still starry eyed thinking about it. “It was only four years old, but producing stunning wines.” Most fruit is sold on its weight, by the ton, but Andy Beckstoffer created a different model – one that is intricately tied to the vineyard’s name and reputation – and arguably has increased its reputation. Producers who use his fruit pay him 175 times the bottle price per ton, with a ceiling at $50,000/ton; tying the value of the fruit to the value of the final wine. “For producers like me in those days, when I didn’t have the land or ability to buy land, Andy was a saviour of sorts,” Hobbs tells me. “Because I had access to one of the top vineyards in all of Napa. I had to pay – but at least I had access.”
  The To Kalon controversy: how big is it? And is it a brand or a place? Mondavi trademarked the name “To Kalon” in 1988, and “To Kalon Vineyard” in 1994. This gave them the right to use the name on any wine from anywhere – even beyond California – and meant that no one else could use the name, even if they had plots in what was considered the original To Kalon vineyard. The first Beckstoffer bottlings only mentioned the name on the back label; but in 2000, Schrader decided to put it on the front label. The now famous lawsuit commenced. “They shouldn’t have been able to trademark it,” Hobbs tells me. “Anyone from the original To Kalon estate should have the right to the trademark as well.” In 2002, Mondavi sued Schrader for using the name on their Beckstoffer bottling. Countersuing ensued, from both Schrader and Beckstoffer (the latter arguing that Mondavi was misleading clients by using the name for wines made with fruit from beyond the vineyard’s original borders). A settlement – the details of which remain a mystery – was made in 2003, but wines made from the Beckstoffer section can now bear the name “Beckstoffer To Kalon”.  Constellation bought Mondavi in 2004, and then Schrader in 2017. Reportedly attempts were made to trademark “To Kalon Wine Company”, “To Kalon Vineyard Company” and “Rooted in To Kalon” – something, unsurprisingly, that Beckstoffer objected to. The legal battle continues today, with a fight over the naming of To Kalon Creek, and The Vineyard House – owned by Jeremy Nickel, which sits on the 1889 hillside section – arguing for the use of the name as well.  The borders of the vineyard are a constant source of debate – and given the history above, you can see why.  Andy Beckstoffer considers the original To Kalon to be only the parcels bought by Crabb in 1868 and 1881. The 1889 parcel was never planted by Crabb, so most aren’t inclined to include it as “original To Kalon”. The Detert and MacDonald plots, however, aren’t acknowledged by Beckstoffer, but were planted – and, albeit more briefly than other plots, owned by Crabb. Then there’s the “Stelling extension”, the southern section added after Crabb’s death under Martin Stelling, that Mondavi considers part of the original vineyard, but some others do not. Given the sums fruit – and wine – bearing the To Kalon name command, it’s unsurprising that its usage is so disputed.  
To Kalon: what does the wine taste like?  So what makes the wine so special? Why do winemakers fight for the fruit, and consumers for the bottles they produce? Despite the sheer variety of the site, Tor Kenward is adamant that there’s a continuity, with a profile that that site gives Cabernet. He describes it as “wall-to-wall carpeting”, a plushness to the mid-palate, a softness, that means the Cabernet isn’t hard-edged. “There’s something about the ground there,” Andy Erickson agrees. For him, To Kalon has a distinct tannin texture – not as rugged as hillside sites, but richer, with a generosity in the wines. “They are dark, aromatic, but very broad and polished,” he says. “I think the vineyard brings forward many of the complexities of Cabernet Sauvignon, but delivers it in a very approachable and elegant package.” “It’s very identifiable,” Paul Hobbs says. “It’s a structural and textural thing mostly. It’s a freshness to this sort of tannin. It has grip, but it has this uplifting character.” He explains it like a skipping stone – you think you’ve got it, then another wave comes, the wine shifting on the palate. For him, one of the most distinctive things is that Cabernet sings alone here – much better than blended with other varietals. “It didn’t need the help of its brothers,” he says. “It’s a wine that’s at peace with itself… It doesn’t shock you, except in its beauty.”
 Who owns what today in To Kalon? Robert Mondavi: From the original 12 acres, Mondavi now owns 328 acres of To Kalon, including the Stelling extension. Has the rights to use the To Kalon name.  Opus One: The 35-acre Q Block was sold to the joint venture by Mondavi in 1981, with K block acquired in 2008. Although under Constellation’s ownership they could likely use the To Kalon name, Opus One doesn’t trade on this. (To Kalon Vineyard Company uses fruit from Constellation’s holdings, both Opus One and Mondavi plots.) UC Davis: a research block that was key in developing phylloxera-resistant rootstock
Beckstoffer: 89 acres, with fruit sold to a range of producers (currently 23), including Paul Hobbs, Tor Kenward and Schrader. Producers can use the name “Beckstoffer To Kalon” on their labels. MacDonald (sometimes referenced as Horton): Graeme and Alex MacDonald are the current generation, owning 21 acres of the 1891 parcel. When their great-grandparents bought the site in 1954 (along with the Detert plot – see below – from Caroline Stelling, Martin Stelling’s widow) it was planted with cherry trees. Advised by Robert Mondavi, the MacDonalds planted vines. From 1966, they sold grapes to Mondavi – holding some back for personal use from 2004, with the first MacDonald commercial release in 2010 (just 92 cases). Although historically 75% of production here has been sold to Mondavi, I’m led to believe that the contract is coming to a close and won’t be renewed. The MacDonalds can’t use the To Kalon name on their wines currently. Detert: Today owned by Tom Garrett, a cousin of the MacDonalds. This 25-acre plot was bought in 1954, along with the MacDonald parcel – divided between the buyers’ children giving the two plots today. There’s more Cabernet Franc in this section. Most of the fruit is sold to Mondavi (with the contract, as for MacDonald, coming to an end soon), and Detert can’t use the To Kalon name on their wines. The Vineyard House: Many dispute whether or not this is original To Kalon; it’s on the hillside area purchased (but not planted) by Crabb in 1891. This plot is owned by Jeremy Justin Nickel, who is the son of the late Far Niente proprietor Gil Nickel. It’s thought to have first been planted with vines in 1980. They can’t use the To Kalon name on their wines, but have taken court action over the issue.  Wineries with To Kalon bottlings  NB Not all of these will bear the To Kalon name on the label Mondavi Winery, Opus One, To Kalon Vineyard Company, MacDonald, Detert, Alpha Omega, Amici, Alejandro Bulgheroni Estate, AXR, Bacio Divino, B Cellars, Boich Family, Bounty Hunter, Cain Concept, Carter cellars, Ch Boswell, Jacquelynn, Kitchak, Cliff Lede, Morlet, Realm Cellars, Tor Kenward, Paul Hobbs, Schrader Cellars Read more Editorial 

The Napa Valley has many incredible vineyards, but To Kalon undoubtedly sits at the top of the tree. As the To Kalon Vineyard Company releases their latest vintage, Sophie Thorpe delves into the story of this iconic site – from its 19th century origins to the fight to use its hallowed name

Explore the history of To Kalon vineyard – and what makes it such an iconic site today. We spoke to Andy Erickson, Paul Hobbs and Tor Kenward to find out more

The tale of Napa’s iconic To Kalon vineyard

The tale of To Kalon

There is a lyricism to the way Roberto Bava speaks. Beyond his unmistakeable Italian accent, his sentences rise and fall. Every word is a piece of music in and of itself, which is sometimes broken by an infectious burst of laughter. He drops his h’s and finds syllables where ordinarily there are none. It’s not hard to picture him holding court at the head of the table at the Vermouth di Torino Institute, or working the room at events with people, he says, who openly express their  dislike of vermouth. “You have this reaction against it because you remember your grandmother used to offer you an oxidised thing,” Bava tells me. Once they taste a vermouth that has been well-made and well-kept, it’s a whole different ball game. “You discover a totally different product,” he says. Introducing vermouth to an entirely new audience, or a familiar audience in a different way, clearly brings joy to Bava. He talks of an event the night before we speak when he offered vermouth to the guests. After a couple of sips, they stopped drinking wine and switched to vermouth for the rest of the dinner. “It was phenomenal,” he says with unabashed glee. “People are now tasting it and saying, ‘Oooh, this is goooood.’” Bava, and the three or four generations (he forgets which) of his family who have worked in the industry before him, have lived through vermouth’s highs and lows. After heady days in the 20th century when it was consumed neat as a welcome drink or “nice company to your book and solitude”, vermouth fell out of favour in the “hard decades” of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. “As a category, it was a little bypassed,” Bava tells me. Vermouth simply couldn’t compete with the marketing budgets of other products and they stormed to the fore, leaving the fortified wine “a little lost”. It wasn’t until the cocktail renaissance in the 1990s and the meteoric rise of the Negroni many years later (in the early 2000s) that the pendulum swung back in vermouth’s favour. “Vermouth is a good drink,” Bava says lyrically, “but it is also an instrument to make better other drinks.” When asked which cocktails of the many that are made with vermouth – think the Martini, Negroni, Manhattan, Adonis – has done the most for the category, the Vermouth di Torino Institute president says in a flash: “the Negroni”. He then adds in his melodic way: “As an Italian, and being a Negronista, it’s gotta be a Negroni.” Bava does then concede that it slightly depends on the country. In America, for example, he says, the Manhattan is king – even if people don’t necessarily realise vermouth is in it. Another reason vermouth has risen to prominence, according to Bava, is the improved quality and introduction of a Geographical Indication (GI) for Vermouth di Torino three years ago – something he refers to as a “little miracle”. In short, this means the vermouth must be made with at least one Italian wine, wormwood must be the predominant flavour and the wormwood used must be grown in Piedmont. The final liquid must be between 16% and 22% alcohol. For a GI, this is broader than others and allows many producers in the Piedmont region to use “Vermouth di Torino” on their bottles. Bava was instrumental in getting this classification for the region in 2019 and was rightly given the role of president at the Vermouth di Torino Institute. In three short years, Bava says the GI is paying dividends and making a real difference to the style and quality of Vermouth di Torino. “Vermouth was produced all over the world,” he explains, “sometimes losing a little of the identity”. It wasn’t until the GI was approved that vermouth producers from Turin, like Bava, could really communicate that a vermouth from Poland or Argentina wasn’t the genuine article. For that, you need to go to its birthplace of Torino, Italy. “Vermouth di Torino has been a benchmark for the whole category – and will be, for sure,” Bava adds energetically. “This [label] makes an important guarantee to the consumer because you know what is in the bottle. You know there is control, you know someone has checked, made an analysis, you know the ingredients, and this is not a generic product, it is a specific product and a protected product.” He makes the inevitable, and important, comparison with the wine world. “You can produce wine all over the world, but if you do wine in Barolo it’s specific. You can do table wine in France anywhere but if you go in Pauillac, of course, you have something else. So this is what’s gonna happen,” he explains. To date, 99% of Turin's producers have joined the fold to champion and protect the region’s appellation, including some of the biggest and smallest names. At present, Vermouth di Torino is the only vermouth GI recognised and protected in the category but Bava teases that there could well be more in time. With vermouth from its birthplace now protected and a much better understanding of how it should be kept – in the fridge once open and stored out of direct sunlight – it’s hard not to see its fanbase continuing to grow, especially as it ticks the low-alcohol box for a more mindful, younger consumer base. “The consumption is going to grow. It takes us some time. I’ve been working already 10 years,” he laughs. But Bava is certainly bullish now all the producers are working as one. With Bava spreading the word, in his enchanting and charismatic way, you can certainly see an appreciation for vermouth continuing apace. Explore all spirits or read more Editorial 

Vermouth has fallen in and out of vogue many times throughout its history. Buoyed by a new geographical classification and ever-growing classic cocktail appreciation, the future looks brighter than ever. Holly Motion reports

Cocchi Vermouth's Roberto Bava on the Italian drink's history, its new protected status and the classic cocktail renaissance

Vermouth's bright future 

Vermouth: the Italian job

As the drone camera takes us up over the trees, you can see how dense the forest is around Promontory’s vineyards in the western hills of Oakville district in Napa. Apart from the small vineyard plots dotted along the canyon, the landscape is rugged and untamed. In total, just 10% of the Promontory estate is planted to vines, representing 34 hectares of the property.  The whole area is protected so this site will remain small and genuinely cut-off – but that is exactly how proprietor Will Harlan wants it. “Promontory is truly a world apart from the Napa Valley that most people experience,” he says. For a long time, this canyon was hidden in plain sight. Many locals born and raised in Napa were completely unaware of its existence. Looking up from Napa, all you see are the mountain ridges above, yet beyond theses ridges lies this hidden valley, its undulating hills ideal for vineyards. It was in fact Will Harlan’s father H. William, or Bill, Harlan (founder of Napa’s most prestigious cult Cabernet, Harlan Estate) that literally stumbled across the canyon while hiking back in the 1980s. Although his interest in the land spans over 30 years, the opportunity to buy the property only arose in 2008. At first, the family thought the vineyards might be used for Bond or Harlan – but the character of the fruit was so fundamentally different, Will explains, that they decided to make Promontory its own project. Fast forward to the current day, and the 2016 vintage – the eighth ever – is about to be released. With the second generation of Harlans (Will) and winemaker Cory Empting (also from Harlan Estate) at the helm, Promontory has fast become one of Napa’s most consistent and captivating, not to mention collectable, Cabernets. While only a 20-minute drive from the Harlan winery, Promontory feels remote – with a totally different microclimate. The vineyards are mainly on the valley’s cooler east-facing slopes (with an average gradient of 38%), but they have some decent elevation too, sitting at between 150 and 340 metres above sea-level. The fog that settles in the valley brings much-needed moisture to the vines, as well as moderating the temperature and allowing the team to produce cooler-toned and fragrant Cabernet Sauvignon. 
The first vines were planted in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, with a mixture of varieties, but the team started replanting in 2011, focusing entirely on Cabernet – the grape that they feel best expresses the place. The fruit from the young vines is being used for a separate wine (The Mascot) that isn’t part of Promontory. The older vines are dry-farmed, and the plan is for everything to be long term – with just a little irrigation being used to establish the young vines and “educate them not to be irrigated”, Will explains. 
Beyond the seclusion, these hillside vineyards have two distinct fault lines running through them, roughly demarcating the boundaries between volcanic, sedimentary and metamorphic soils. This diverse geology is another facet that distinguishes the Promontory vineyards from the rest of Napa and is what Harlan believes provides a distinct mineral backbone and tension to the wine. As we walk (virtually) through the winery, we arrive in the barrel room, faced with a gigantic piece of volcanic rock. It is a beautiful sight in itself – lifted out of the vineyard and displayed at the winery, underpinning the specificity of the terroir of this secluded canyon. The place is so different that Harlan feels they needed “to unlearn and relearn” an approach that suited the property. The barrel room holds another important element in creating these special wines – their Stockinger barrels. Austrian coopers Stockinger have become one of the most reputable for fine wine in recent years and Promontory was the first in the US to use them. They realised the wine’s tight but very fine tannins needed more time as it evolved slowly. As such, they started looking for larger barrels and in 2012 purchased a range from Stockinger – from 1,800  to 4,400 -litres.  The Stockinger barrels are praised for their ability to limit the influence of oak flavour, while carrying out all the subtle micro-oxygenation that enables the building of long tannin chains. These tannin chains produce a fabulous textural complexity in the wine, while at the same time the fine-grained oak preserves the natural aromatics and fruit purity. Harlan and Empting give the wines five and a half years between harvest and release – with two and a half to three of those in barrel, allowing the wines to “unfold” in these more neutral and “respectful” barrels.  The results are breath-taking. Tasting the soon to be released 2015, which was aged for two and half years in cask, the textural finesse and precision of the tannins in some ways make the wine feel almost weightless in structure, while at the same time being detailed and complex. It's astonishing that this property and its potential lay undiscovered for so many years. One thing’s for sure now, though: the secret’s out. Find out more about Promontory, or its sister estates Harlan and Bond

Promontory’s owner Will Harlan took us on a virtual tour of this remarkable property tucked out of sight in the Napa Valley.

Visiting Promontory in Napa’s Oakville district with Will Harlan (from the family who founded Napa’s most prestigious cult Cabernet, Harlan Estate).

Uncovering Oakville’s hidden valley, Promontory

Uncovering Oakville’s hidden valley: Promontory

Lebanon's lost legacy: viticulture Despite being more southerly than the great wine regions of Europe, the Beka'a’s elevated altitude on average around 1000m above sea level – means that it’s a full 10ºC cooler than Lebanon’s Mediterranean coastline. The climate is positively European with wet, often snowy winters and warm, dry summers. It’s very well suited to winemaking, a local craft that dates back millennia. Lebanon itself is geographically situated in the cradle of civilisation. It was here, even before
the Greeks and Romans emerged as dominant cultures in the Mediterranean, and the Canaanites (later known as Phoenicians), peace-loving traders from the Levant, established some of the earliest known well-organised cities: the trading ports of Byblos, Sidon and Tyre. Phoenician culture was at its peak between 1500 and 300BC – a period that saw them explore and dominate the Mediterranean, developing trade routes, setting up outposts and cities as far afield as North Africa (Carthage, now Tunis, Tunisia) and the Iberian peninsula (Gadir, now Cádiz, Spain). The word ‘Phoenician’ directly connects the people of the Levant with both an impressive entrepreneurial spirit and an awe-inspiring work ethic. More precisely, it is an exonym originating from ancient Greek that describes Tyrian purple. This highly prized dye was a major export of the Canaanite port towns, in particular Tyre, hence the name. The labour-intensive production of the colour involved collecting the mucous secretions of thousands of sea snails. 12,000 snails yield a paltry 1.5 grams of dye – which is why it was so highly prized and the clothes it coloured were reserved for royalty. Tyrian purple was not the only ingenious product that the Phoenicians exported. Their legacy also includes the invention of glass-blowing techniques, and the development of the very first abstract (non-figurative) writing system (from which the Greek alphabet was derived) is credited to the Phoenicians and their Canaanite ancestors. It was almost certainly developed primarily to keep records of sales and ultimately function as an essential accounting tool. We also have the Phoenicians to thank for the word ‘Europe’ – which comes from their word ‘Erob’ meaning ‘where the sun sets’. While it is thought that the world’s first-ever wine was made over 8,000 years ago in the Caucasus Mountains between the Black and Caspian Seas to the northeast of the Levant, it was the Phoenicians that produced, exported and made famous the ‘fragrant wines of Lebanon’ mentioned in the Bible’s old testament (Hosea 14:7). And with their grip on Mediterranean trade, they marketed it and exported it along with, crucially, the knowledge of how to make it. The agricultural treatises of Carthaginian writer Mago, (thought to be writing around 350 BC) were among the most important early texts in the history of wine to record ancient knowledge of winemaking and viticulture. It’s important to remember the function of wine in society in Phoenician times. It wasn’t just a drink. It was, rather like the Tyrian purple dye, complicated and labour intensive to make, exceptionally highly prized and valuable and not just because of how it tasted – but because of its effect and function.  Biomolecular Archaeologist Professor Pat McGovern at the University of Pennsylvania Museum is a specialist in fermented beverages and his research reveals more about wine in Phoenician life. “The wines of ancient Lebanon and Syria,” he says, “were much more than a technological marvel. They were the social lubricants to break down barriers, stimulate music and the arts and bring people together. They were the supreme religious symbol for prosperity and well-being, in life as well as death. And they were the medicines for dissolving and dispensing botanicals, to rest the weary, relieve pain and cure disease.” Taking their wine to the Pharoahs of Egypt and further west to Portugal to trade it for local silver and tin, Phoenician winemaking equipment has been discovered in Valepeñas in Spain. As Phoenicians established Cádiz (Spain) as early as 1100BC, it is most likely that Phoenician wines – not Roman wines – were the forerunners to sherry. Perhaps the most enduring legacy of these seafaring traders was, in fact, the propagation of ancestral grapevines from the Levant that ampelographers believe gave rise to several modern grape varieties in Europe. According to research published by the University of California-Davis on the Integrated Viticulture Online Database, the French wine grape Mourvèrde may have first been introduced to the wine region of Catalonia around 500BC. By 64BC, Seleucid Syria and Lebanon had been annexed to the Roman empire by emperor Pompey. Peace and prosperity followed as the people of Byblos, Tyre and Sidon were granted Roman citizenship. Trade boomed and new wealth generated from exports of cedar, pottery, jewellery, perfume, purple dye and wine to Rome, enabled an era of widespread construction and urban development. One of the building projects the Romans invested in at this time was the enhancement of the already millennia-old temple complex at Baalbek in the Beka'a Valley. At a site which the Greeks and the Romans referred to as Heliopolis 'the City of the Sun' (where Phoenician god Ba’al had once been worshipped), the Romans rebuilt and reconsecrated the temples to their gods Jupiter, Venus and Bacchus, gods of wine, fertility, ritual madness, festivity, dance and theatre. The 700-acre site remains, to this day, the largest and best preserved Roman temple complex anywhere in the Empire. How the ancients moved the 800-ton quarried stone blocks that form the base of the temples still baffles the world’s brightest engineers. The temple to Bacchus at Baalbek is a monument to the importance of wine in the region, and the site became a symbol of Lebanon itself in the 1960s, thanks to the cultural impact of the Baalbek International Festival. Established in the mid-1950s, the festival brought celebration, theatre, music and dance back to the site through performances by international music stars and, crucially, nurtured and celebrated home-grown talent, perhaps most famously Fairouz and the Rahbani Brothers who became huge stars in Lebanon and right across the Arab world. Lebanon’s potent winemaking heritage is not lost on the makers of Chateau Musar. Far from it. As well as its vineyards in the Beka'a, the winery also grows vines near Byblos and the Hochar family’s charismatic winemaker, Tarek Sakr, is as passionate about the history of the land as he is about the grapes he grows there. “Byblos has been known since Phoenician times as an exporter of cedar wood and wine,” he enthuses. “Vines were cultivated in the hills surrounding Byblos, fermented in stone vats dug into the landscape. Then, the wine was put in Canaanite jars (these were the predecessor of the Greek amphora – yes, Phoenicians invented these too), sealed with resin to stop oxidation, and taken to the harbour for export.” Tarek also tells of a recently discovered archaeological site in the village of Edde a few kilometres from Byblos. “The site suggests that most of the hills near the city have been growing vines for thousands of years. This makes sense as the place where our nearby vineyards are located, on a hill overlooking Byblos, is called Vines Passage. You can smell the history of winemaking here. This is undoubtedly the birthplace of viticulture.” While he has spent many years planting and tending to its vines as an integral part of the Musar winemaking process, Tarek’s knowledge of and connection to the land and its ancient traditions run even deeper than his many years of experience. The result of a DNA test found that he is genuinely of Phoenician descent. It would seem that when it comes to Lebanon’s unrivalled contribution to the world of wine, we still have much to thank the Phoenicians for. Explore more Editorial 

Most of Chateau Musar’s vines are grown in Lebanon’s Beka'a Valley, a fertile plain about 30km east of Beirut, situated between Mount Lebanon on the west and the Anti-Lebanon mountains to the east. 

Most of Chateau Musar’s vines are grown in Lebanon’s Beka'a Valley. We look into the viticultural legacy of the region and the impact of the cultural heritage

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