Chappellet And Pritchard Hill Wineries?

WINE TALK
1

With all of the big names making wine on Pritchard Hill, I’m curious about what people interested in the area think about Chappellet, who has been doing it there for a very long time. Thanks.

2

I used to buy the signature cab regularly, but stopped since we rarely drink cab anymore.

3

I’m a fan. IMO, they lost their way in the 90s into early 00s, but have improved in recent years. The signature cab is a pretty good value @ $40ish.

4

What Chappellet offers is value on Pritchard Hill. The flagship Pritchard Hill is half the price of some neighbors and $50 less than the rest. The wine is just as good even if the points aren’t as high (but no one here buys on points, right? [snort.gif] ) The signature is around $50, when only Bryant’s DB4, Gandona’s Encosta and Continuum’s Novicium are the other labels that just creep under $100/Btl. David Arthur is similar to Chappellet in that they offer a variety of wines cheaper than the address would imply. You can’t forget about Chappellet’s Chenin Blanc; beautiful and affordable wine!

5

Chappellet pre-1997ish is awesome and bottles from the 80’s are great value on the secondary market.

6

The tasting room experience is one of the best. They sell tasting room only limited release wines which are incredible. The grounds are breathtaking.

The wines generally released are great value for the prices.

7

In addition to the cabs, we love the Malbec and Zinfandel that we get every year in the wine club. Their signature Chardonnay is tasty as well.

8

I’ve toyed with the idea of making the drive to Chappellet just to buy some of their winery-only gems. Last time we did the whole sit-down tasting. We took a bottle of the Petite Sirah and it was incredible. The guy hosting the tasting says it’s from old head trained vines on the western side of Oakville in the foothills.

9

I agree their Pritchard Hill bottling is a good value - I personally think that most years it is on par with Shafer’s Hillside Select. I buy the Signature bottling every year - you really can’t go wrong with that one.

10

We visited just last week. Great people and a beautiful property, but a witch to find. GPS doesn’t work very well on Pritchard Hill!

11

PHEV have been very good wines in the past but they haven’t submitted in a number of years, sorry to report.

12

Thanks to all of you who have reinvigorated my thoughts on this winery. I’ll stop ignoring the brand as old (read: boring) school.

13

My dad and I visited with Dominic Chappellet this past June and it was my favorite stop of our trip (and this included some noteworthy producers). Dominic could not have been any more of a gracious host and his down to earth personality was refreshing. The family clearly cares about their history/legacy in Napa and I feel that make some kick ass wines to boot.
As other have mentioned, the wine club/winery only wines are all very good and fly under the radar simply because they are not made in large quantities. The chenin blanc and petite syrah were my personal favorites and I ended up taking a bottle of the petite syrah with us to enjoy with some roadside bbq.
The cabs were the clear stars of the lineup for me and are very good values, especially when you consider the location and their neighbors. The signature cab is a year in, year out value benchmark for Napa for me. The Pritchard Hill Cab is on a whole other level and really stands up to any of the ultra premium Napa cab producers for me.
I would make this a must stop winery and you also cannot beat the stunning property for their views.

14

Chappellet’s top wine is outstanding, and readily available for around $110, which is significantly less than their direct price. Great place to drop by for a tour also. I do wish they would fix their pricing strategy though.