WineJournal

there are so many popping up and sometimes
the new kid on the block gets mentioned in
the magazines, but if you go back to the core
wineries in Napa that actually have a facility,
a winery and barrel storage area—and most
importantly, vineyards—those are the most
important wineries out there. So that’s
probably the biggest change I’ve seen in 20 years
of selling wine—the proliferation of brands.
Do you source any grapes, or are all of your
grapes from Whitehall Lane’s vineyards
Tom Sr.: We source a little. We love blending
Syrah into our Merlot—a small bit. And we
source that. When we find something good
we have it under contract for a long period.
We don’t source any Cabernet; every single one
of our vineyards is a Cabernet vineyard. The
reason we source other things—we’ll make a
little Pinot Noir or a little Chardonnay—is they
have to be from a cooler climate; it can’t come
from a higher appellation. So I buy a small
amount of grapes, but 80-90% of our grapes we
grow ourselves. We make all the wine ourselves;
we bottle it all ourselves; we send it all down to
the warehouse by ourselves. We do everything
other than make the glass.
Are all of your vineyards in the Rutherford area
Tom Sr.: We have three vineyards in Rutherford,
one in Oak Knoll (adjacent to the Stags Leap
appellation) and two vineyards in the St. Helena
appellation. St. Helena is the best appellation
in the world, because I think if you can jump
across the Atlantic Ocean and say that we make
better wines than Bordeaux makes (you can do
a blind tasting and I can validate that statement
just by tasting the wines). California makes
the best wine in the US; the Napa Valley makes
the best Cabernet in the US, and I think St.
Helena has the best appellation in the Napa
Valley. So you could say St. Helena has the best
vineyards in the world. Yountville, Oakville,
Rutherford and St. Helena…that’s the epicenter
of great wines—all four. When you’re talking
other varietals, there are some great vineyards…
but for Cabernet, Oakville, Rutherford,
St. Helena…that’s where you get Cabernet.
How would you describe your wines and style
to someone who has never tried them before
Tom II: A good way to describe our wines would
be ‘structured, elegant and balanced.’
Tom Sr.: That sounds good, Tom. They’re
soft, not high in alcohol content and not high
tannins. They’ll age beautifully for 20 years, or
you can open them up right away and say, ‘That’s
really a great bottle of wine.’ If you’re sitting
out on the deck or having a nice quiet dinner
at home and you want a really nice glass of
wine, ours will blow everything away.
Robert Parker wrote a review on one of our
Cabernets, and I wrote him a letter back because
I thought it was so good. It had a nice score
and the description was nice, but what he said
was, ‘This isn’t a neo-European wine; this isn’t
a neo-Bordeaux wine; this is an all-American
Cabernet. And it’s from the Rutherford area
of the Napa Valley,’ and I thought, wow, what
a great description. We try to make wine that
doesn’t have the high tannins, the European
taste to it; we want to make a Cabernet that’s
a fruit bomb. We’ve always tried to make
Cabernets more in a feminine style. I want a
Cabernet that when you drink it, you go, ‘Boy,
that really tastes good.’ And that’s been our style
for 22 years, and he (Robert Parker) captured
that in his review.
When you’re not drinking your own wine, what
other California wines do you prefer
Tom Sr.: I try a lot of different wines from our
retail store. I like Coho Cabernet, Black Kite
Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley; I like Emma
Pearl Chardonnay—that was very tasty. I’ll
try all kinds of odd ball stuff. I’ve tried French
wines and I don’t care for those at all. And I’ve
yet to find an Italian wine I enjoy.
Tom II: Napa is a very small place and we have
giant wineries owned by corporations—and it’s
also mostly comprised of family wineries. What
makes the wine enjoyable is connecting with the
people who own the wineries or those who work
there. So that’s my attraction.
What can you tell me about Stone Church Red
wine, the newest Whitehall product coming
to ABC
Tom Sr.: The Stone Church Red 2012 vintage
was bountiful and not only big, but very good.
We put together a red Merlot blend that’s
predominately from the Oak Knoll appellation
and the ’12 vintage was just great. This isn’t a
big production wine, and I think it’ll be a big
hit and sell quickly.
Kristin, Tom II and Katie