While I know that MacDonald grapes have formed the backbone of the great Mondavi wines for years, I remember reading a post a while back that mentioned that a certain Mondavi bottling from a 90’s vintage was almost entirely made from the MacDonald family grapes. I remember somebody mentioning stars on the label in reference to that particular Mondavi, but I was hoping someone could help me identify exactly which wine that was.
Thanks,
Alex
How would they be the backbone when they have a small property that makes 125 cases of wine, compared to what Mondavi produces? Backbone would strike me as 50% or more.
From what I gather from the Macdonald story, they don’t use everything from their vineyard, just the older vines, and they still sell quite a bit to Mondavi.
That’s interesting. I would still find it difficult to be the backbone, but the only wine they’ve made that could be referenced would be the Reserves. Or maybe the few To-Kalon Reserve Cabs like 1996.
Yeah, I don’t know the exact size of either Mondavi’s stake of To Kalon or the Macdonald’s.
I do know that the Mondavi Reserve is something like 90+% To Kalon, so I guess it’s feasible because some of the To Kalon fruit goes into the Oakville bottling as well as the basic Napa bottling. I think the Napa bottling is still close to 30% To Kalon, the Mondavi site says 30% To Kalon for 2012. Considering the case production of the Napa, imagine 1/3 of that is To Kalon. How much can be left over for Oakville, Reserve and To Kalon Single Vineyard?
Maybe this? Excerpted from the initial tasting notes published in purely domestic wine report, volume 2.2 February 2013.
THE COMPANY YOU KEEP
In 1954, the brothers’ great grandparents purchased a portion of the former Doak property and planted the first post-prohibition vines in Oakville. Initially they had no intention to grow grapes, however, the seller, Caroline Stelling, insisted that they take the existing vineyard, planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc and Johannisberg Riesling with the former farm worker house. They soon settled into an agreement with Charles Krug Winery’s Bob Mondavi that continued into the mid sixties. Back then their great uncle wrote up the first three-year grape purchase contract at a set price, only to see prices nearly double the following vintage. Much to his surprise when the check arrived the next year, it accounted for the prevailing market price, as did the payment for the following year that also experienced higher prices. After the founding of Robert Mondavi winery in 1966, half of the fruit that had previously gone to Krug now went next door to Bob who eventually ended up getting most of it with the grapes going into the early vintages of Opus One, as well as the Reserve and To-Kalon bottlings. For half a century grape purchases were done with Bob Mondavi on a simple handshake. In 2004, Graeme Macdonald, former assistant to Abe Schoener’s Scholium Project, made the first experimental wine from the family estate.
It is also known that Bob Mondavi considered Horton and Detert as “the best grapes grown in California”.
From what I have been told, most of the 40+ tons per year from the vineyard went into the Cabernet Reserve. Of course, so does much of Mondavi’s own ToKalon tonnage. In the last several years, a great portion of the Mondavi To Kalon bottling is made up of MacDonald fruit. I even hear some of the time it is 100%. The particular wine that I have heard is 100% MacDonald is this one…
BTW - I had their bottled 2012 a month ago and it was by far my favorite MacDonald up til now, and for me, an early contender for wine of the vintage.