Well coming from the first person to write about MacDonald on any wine board and to organize their first winemaker dinner this is very easy - Ketan Mody.
The current release wines are from purchased fruitâŚjust wait until the Diamond Mountain estate wines come online.
I know one with potential. Met a gal in a tasting room whose family owns a vineyard several years ago. They all have regular jobs but make a little wine they sell direct to locals and a few others but very off the radar. The vast majority of their grapes are sold to their neighbor that makes one of the iconic cult type wines that has sold above $200 in Napa for years. If they ever put their grapes in the hands of a great winemaker who knows what they could produce. Next visit up Im gonna try to set up a tasting with them to check out their wines. Dont bother asking who it is for now:)
In the literal sense yes but in the figurative less so. The next Macdonald doesnt have to be a similar wine or be its equal. The next Macdonald could be another great small production wine from another great family with a long farming history in the valley that decided it was time to honour their ancestors as Alex and Graeme have done. Im sure there are lots of farmers in Napa growing great fruit and selling it off or leasing their land to name brand wineries. While I love MacD as much as anyone lets not be so myopic as to think there isnt another great story waiting to be written out there.
Hi all,
Bill Tex mentioned that our new project La Pelle Wines came up in this thread, so I decided to come and say hi. La Pelle is a partnership between Maayan Koschitzky (Director of Winemaking for Atelier Melka) Pete Richmond (Founder of Silverado Farming Co.) and I. Pete and I are partners at Silverado Farming Co. we farm high end vineyards in Napa and Sonoma (Dana Estates, V29, Melka Estates, Accendo Cellars, Platt VineyardâŚ). La Pelle means The Shovel in French, and we chose it as our symbol because it is the only tool used both in the vineyard (planting vines) and the winery (digging grapes from tank after fermentation). We believe wine is made in the vineyard and winery equally. The main concept of the brand is we ONLY source fruit from vineyards we (SFC) farm and have complete control of everything that happens to our grapes. Owning a Vineyard Management Co. allows us to have an âEstate Modelâ without owning a vineyard (we are working people and donât have the $$$$$ needed to buy land in Napa). Maayan and I do all the production, we select the best vineyards and make all the decisions from pruning to harvest to winemaking all the way to blending. Check out our website www.lapellewines.com and this article in the Robb Report for more info La Pelle is Napaâs Newest Wine Label to Watch â Robb Report
I give Bill Tex Landreth full credit for turning me on to your wine and joined specifically due to this very thread/website, so kudos to Todd, as well.
I am enthused, and also excited about the sauvignon blanc!
Iâve tried Wine Searcher and had no luck, will 2016 be your first reserve cab release?
I thought I would try to shop back in time and check out earlier releases, as well.