Napa Valley The site Our Vineyards Ranch history The Brothers - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Napa Valley

 The site  Our Vineyards  Ranch history  The Brothers Vineyard  Our Purpose  The Lost Orchard  Winemaker  Los Ricos Vineyard  Winemaking approach  The Lower Vineyard  Specific winemaking  The Blending Blocks practices  Our Current Wines  Wine character  Points of Differentiation

 East side of Silverado Trail between Rutherford and St. Helena  600’ to 850 feet elevation  Neighbors: Hall, Sloan, Heitz  Between Rutherford, St. Helena, Howell Mountain, Pritchard Hill appellations

 Homesteaded in 1878 by Levi Philander Davis  60 acres planted by 1880  Early reputation built on Zinfandel  Snowden family arrives in 1955  First Cabernet planted 1962  Brothers Vineyard replant 1982 – grapes sold to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars  1993 forward – sales to Silver Oak, Caymus, Ramey – but also commence production of Snowden

To produce wines from our property which deliver to the glass: Our unique site The distinctive varieties we grow The character of each vintage

 Diana Snowden Seysses  Viticulture and enology graduate UC Davis  Worked at Robert Mondavi Winery, Mumm Napa Valley, the Araujo Estate, Ramey  Fleur de Boüard, Domaine Leflaive  Today: enologist at Domaine Dujac and Triennes

 Deliver terroir to the tongue  By farming healthy vineyards  And utilizing non-invasive winemaking practices driven by the vineyard rather than by back-engineering from a pre-defined end product

 We do not add yeast, sugar, acid, or digestive enzymes  We ferment dry  We do not add sugar back into our wines  We do not extend macerations after fermentation  We do not sterile filter, reverse osmose, cook or centrifuge  We balance new and used French oak

The Brothers Vineyard -- Historically the best terroir on the property -- 800 to 850 feet elevation -- 10.3 acres -- Volcanic rhyolite soils -- Replanted 1962, 1982, 2011 -- 4’ by 5’ spacing -- Cabernet Sauvignon clones 337, 169, and 191 -- 420 A rootstock -- Farmed without the use of Roundup or other pesticides -- Wines from new replant drove decision to move from “Reserve” to vineyard designation

The Lost Orchard -- Named for a long- abandoned fruit orchard -- Our eastern-most block -- Drops off to Lake Hennessy and Pritchard Hill to the east -- 4.5 acres -- 800’ to 840’ elevation -- Volcanic rhyolite soils -- One acre of Sauvignon Blanc planted 2009 -- 3.5 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon planted 1997 -- The coolest growing site on the property -- Used to compete to be part of the Reserve blend -- Today a part of the Ranch blend

Los Ricos Vineyard -- One acre block -- A prune orchard when the Snowdens arrived -- Unique eastern facing -- Volcanic rhyolite soils -- Planted to Cabernet Sauvignon in 1997 -- Was frequently a component in our Reserve Blend -- Now an ultra small quantity vineyard designated Cabernet Sauvignon

The Lower Vineyard -- 1.5 acre block -- Approximately 300 yards east of St. Helena sub- appellation -- Planted to Petit Sirah when the Snowdens arrived -- Volcanic rhyolite soils -- Planted to Cabernet Sauvignon in 1997 -- Used to compete to be in our Reserve Blend -- Today a part of the Ranch Cabernet

The Blending Blocks -- Located at the “top of the property” adjacent to the Brothers Vineyard -- A prune orchard when the Snowdens arrived -- Planted 1994 -- One acre Petit Verdot -- Two acres Merlot -- One acre Cabernet Franc -- 0.3 acre Malbec -- Volcanic rhyolite soils -- Originally only used as blending components -- Today frequently bottled in smaller quantities as stand- alone varietals

 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon “Brothers Vineyard”  2014 Cabernet Sauvignon “The Ranch”  2014 Petite Verdot “Levi Philander Davis Vineyard  2013 Cabernet Franc “Melchior Kemper Vineyard”  2015 Sauvignon Blanc “ Sunninghill ”  2015 Malbec Rosé “Ward Eisan Vineyard”

 The Snowdens have been stewards of our site for sixty-two years – 2017 is our 63 rd harvest and 25 th crush  We do not backwards engineer our wines – our loyalty is to our site  We understand – and welcome – the challenges of making natural, terroir-expressive wines  We are moving steadily from sustainable toward organic farming practices