The ‘23 is a Napa-Sonoma county blend with fruit from Moon Mountain and Dry Creek + Napa. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Off the record or unconfirmed these are wineries now taking fruit from Martha’s Vineyard.
Tor
Anthem
Lithology
Jesse Katz
Neal
Heitz
Andy Erickson
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Current situation. ‘23 Mowe Sauv Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Hi @D_Mowe
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Mowe notes. I continue to be impressed with what Dustin and Renee are building. Dustin wears his heart on his sleeve and is honest to a fault. It is refreshing to see and hear the passion and know it’s not bullshit.
The wine, ‘23 Sauv Blanc, this paired excellently with my chicken Caesar salad lunch (don’t judge for the salad 
). They’re extremely grateful for the cellartracker score for the SB that people have given this wine.
The Cabernet was double decanted around 6 am per Dustin. They’re seeking a style with the fruit that’s in the 6-7 level of ripeness out of 10. Correct me if I misquoted you on that Dustin.
The ‘23 is just stunningly beautiful wine. No crazy tannins on this svelte cab.
He’s trying to mimic the MacDonald model with his winery and is holding pricing for 3 years. He doesn’t want to overprice his wine. He’s very aware of market conditions.
They’re up to 2,000 people on the waitlist. I didn’t write down the exact numbers but there’s more wine available with the ‘24 and ‘25 vintage.
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Love these live visits/tasting notes!
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Another stop. Pine Ridge. They remodeled the front of the house since the last time I was here in 2019. The two bar areas have been removed and they have tables with seating as soon as you enter the winery.
They have an extensive cave system with seating areas for club members and guests.
They mass produce a Chenin blanc and viognier that is distributed and their Napa Valley cab is half of their production for their Napa wines.
We barrel sampled their 24’ Napa Valley cab. We were seated way in the back of the cave and served nuts, dried pears and cherries, crackers and two different cheeses.
The ‘23 Stags Leap is a big wine meant to be aged. I was surprised to see this as a 98% Cab Sauv and 2% petite Syrah blend but their winemaker likes to use PS to round out the cab. With ‘23 being a great grower’s vintage the felt they needed the PS to add a little to the cab.
‘23 Howell Mountain was good at 100% can sauv, but we spent a whole day on Howell yesterday and I prefer the Craig and O’Shaughnessy. This is not a bad wine but we had better wines earlier today that overshadow this tasting.
The last pour was the ‘23 Locked Horns Vineyard in Stags Leap. This was the best of what we tasted at Pine Ridge. This is a wine that needs time. I would say it needs 12-15 years of age before it softens from primary.
Off to our last stop.
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This is awesome to hear they will hold pricing for 3 years. I know I have said it before but @D_Mowe is doing everything right, happy to have jumped on this project early and to keep singing his praises. Can’t wait to visit again.
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How’s the 24 and 25 vintage looking like for Mowe quality wise? 
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We only tasted the 23’ today. I didn’t ask about the ‘24 and ‘25 quality wise. There’s more wine available with the next two vintages however. I defer to Dustin on quality for his next two vintages.
thomas rivers brown (wine)
Last stop of the day.
F̶l̶o̶r̶e̶s̶ ̶F̶a̶m̶i̶l̶y̶ ̶W̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶ - Prosperando in Coombsville
New label from Leo Flores. Leo has a vineyard management company and owns a vineyard in Coombsville off Penny Lane. They are making 5 wines including Chardonnay, Pinot noir, two cabs; Coombsville and Atlas Peak and then a reserve which is a blend of the two cabs.
I had a shiner bottle of the then Flores Family Reserve last year at Mustard’s with our friend Leo Tellez the winemaker. Leo is a personal friend who worked under Denis Malbec (RIP) at Kapcsandy and Blankiet. Leo
Is a 3rd generation Napa
Leo is at Ackerman and was previously at Sodaro before the winery was sold.
The wines are not currently for sale. They just got the labels approved by TTB. The label has 5 stars, one for each of Leo’s kids.
Some vineyard notes. The Coombsville property is planted to Cabernet 337 Madrona Clone 4. Abreu. Yields are very low. More concentration.
Cane pruned. Coombsville not as warm as up valley, as much of a 10 degree difference.
23 year old vines.
Fruit went to Arrietta and Andy Erickson before.
25% new oak on pinot and Chardonnay
Pinot is made in a more burgundy style. They made 2 barrels. Pinot has a little spice to it.
They are making 3 cabs, Penny Lane from Coomsbville and Atlas Peak. Atlas Peak is a long term lease vineyard. Reserve label
Some notes from Leo Tellez as he was explaining his wine making processes.
You have to tame tannins. Mouthfeel
Cold soak, extractions to a degree, taste every day.
“When you put a lot of oak on a wine, you put makeup on a pig.”
Prices, not sure if these are final but nothing is officially for sale yet.
Pinot $65
Chardonnay $68
Coombsville $98
Atlas $98
Reserve $125
25 cases reserve.
125 cases Coombsville
50 cases Atlas peak
The Atlas Peak bottle was open for business on pop and pour. We’re taking all 3 cabs to dinner and I will report back on their progress.
The Coombsville bottle needs air. The Reserve also needs some air but I remember this blue fruited beauty from last year. I’ve been waiting to buy this since I tasted it last year at Mustards.
More to come.
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‘23 Prosperando Coomsbville. This has opened up and is showing off black fruit.
‘23 Atlas Peak, this was open for business on opening and only better as the night went on. If you want a young Cabernet, this is the one.
‘22 Reserve, the minerality has fleshed out since opening 4+ hours ago. This wine is going to age but with air is drinkable.
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fify.
Jeff,
Great to see you and catch up and thank you for the positive comments on our wines and what we are doing. Couple things - in terms of ripeness, I think of MOWE in the 5-6 range and pick when the grapes are “just ripe” out of the pyrazines and shooting for physiological ripeness but not too ripe. The 2023 you tasted was picked at 24.4 brix.
RE: quantity of wine - we have more SBLANC in 24 and 25 but cabernet is going to remain similar to 23.
Cheers and enjoy the rest of your trip. 
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Day 3 in Napa. A cold morning on Pritchard Hill at Chappellet
We’re doing some side by sides of the ‘22 and ‘23 Signature Cabernet and also the ‘22 Cab Franc and ‘23 CF.
‘23 reminds you of an old world vintage. ‘23 Vintage has great hype. The hype isn’t hype, it’s reality. If you made a bad wine from this vintage, shame on you. The ‘22 is good, there’s nothing wrong with it. The ‘23 is a great wine.
I mentioned how I thought ‘13 was the best vintage this century and our host Mason snuck off and Coravin’d a 13’ Pritchard Hill from their library and the unreleased ‘23 Pritchard Hill side by side. The ‘13 At first pour was still tight, needs time. Don’t open 13’s yet. After a half hour, the ‘13 is rocking…..however…
‘23 Pritchard Hill. Pure fruit. 100 point wine. Bravo to Chappellet. $300 a bottle for membership price. $325 without membership. Not for sale til September. Time will tell whether ‘23 will be as good as ‘13, but they’re in the same conversation and ‘23 is not going to require the same time for the tannins to resolve to enjoy.
We had Cyril Chappellet drop in and chat with us for several minutes. His mom Molly is still doing well at 94 and loves her Chenin Blanc, I took a picture of the 26’ Chenin Blanc above.
They ripped out one of the vineyard blocks close to the winery. Part of this was wanting to replant and probably most of it is the current wine market and having less wine on the books.
Took home a half case of the 23’ CF and Signature.
Off to stop #2 today to see Ketan Mody.
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Following this! Looks like a great trip so far.
Thanks for the reminder about RC. I need to remember to buy more.
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Ready for the 14 Vare report and that 25 Jasud H Block as well.
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