Ken sent me an e-mail from Brian&Stephy/Gioranata that announces the end of an era in Paso.
Jon & Jody Ahner have sold their LunaMattaVnyd up in the AdelaidaHills (4.5 Mill$) and the last crop from
this vnyd will be the 2021. The Daou’ss, who bought, will be going in there & ripping the vnyd to plant more Cab/Merlot
for their program. A crying shame.
The LunaMattaVnyd was planted to a lot of interesting, mostly Italian, stuff. Stephy was their vnyd manager & tended the vnyd w/ a lot of care.
This will probably impact Gioranata more than any other wnry. But also impacts Broc and Ryme and VillaCreek as well. There have been some outstanding
Nebbiolos & Aglianicos from LunaMatta. Some outstanding Mourvedres as well.
Now it will become just another industrial Paso farm for Daou and yet another Paso Cab program.
So much for diversity.
Tom
Damn. Hate to hear that. What else is currently planted there?
Very sorry to hear this.
Wrong region . . .
Oops, jumped the gun a bit.
Not sure what all Stephy & the Ahners had planted in there. On one of our NEB events we had at Giornata in Paso,
Steph did a vnyd tour w/ us of the property. It’s a beautiful vnyd. But the Nebb & Aglianico were the standouts from LM.
Tom
Sad to hear and not a fan of Daou cab either
The Paso shift from Rhone to Cabs and “unique blends” continues, unfortunately.
Agree, Brig. Makes for a lot less interesting World, IMHO.
Tom
Sorry to hear the news. Daou’s moves to turn Paso into Napa Valley South continues on, fueled by high scores (relatively) they earn from some critics and the big money they can get for Cabinet wines (Patrimony). I also don’t think Paso cabs reach the quality level of Napa but we are powerless to change things against the powerful forces in play here.
As of a visit in April 2014, they had Picpoul Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Fiano, Moscato, Nebbiolo, Aglianico, Sangiovese, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, and Carignane planted there, and they were planning to add Counoise. We got their Nebbiolo at Harrington for a number of years and Fiano for one or two years. Might have also gotten Moscato one year but I can’t recall for sure. It will be a shame to lose all that and apparently the many walnut trees too.
I listened to a couple podcasts of Daniel Daou because I saw some people say some good things about his Patrimony. I’ve got to say, it’s pretty cringy listening to the man speak. I honestly question if he even makes the wine himself because he doesn’t seem to have much technical knowledge on it. But he does like to boast about his terroir and wines. I can’t forget to mention how he loves to low key pat himself on the back on his winemaking accomplishments. Needless to say I still bought a few bottles to try and see if it’s any good.
Had a nice tour and tasting lunch on the property back in 2014 sorry to hear this news
We’ve got to get out there and teach people that Rhone blends are better and cheaper and more approachable than Cabs. We are the Rhone variety Ambassadors. Whenever my friends say that they want a Cab, I give them a Rhone varietal or blend and I often get “Wow, that’s a great wine. I didn’t know cab could taste like that.”
That is terrible news, Tom. What a loss.
+1
Ugghhh….the Aglianico coming out of there was terrific. That’s terrible to hear.
Preach it my friends . . .
Cheers!
This has been in the works for a while. I asked about buying some Nebb and Aglianico last year and the Daou’s already had control of the vineyard. At the time, it wasn’t clear if they would keep the plantings of the Italian varieties or not. I suppose that was naïve to assume they would do anything other than steamroll.