Three Visits in Napa/Sonoma - Matthiasson, Frog's Leap, Kutch [added Frog's Leap and Kutch writeups]

[JustinP]

We are recently back from a quick weekend trip to wine country for a friend’s wedding. The wedding was up in Lake County, but we stopped at Matthiason and Frog’s Leap on the way up on Friday and then drove out to Sebastopol on Saturday morning to taste with Jamie Kutch.

For the record, Lake County is gorgeous, as long as you survive the somewhat harrowing 30-minute climb up the mountains at the north end of Napa Valley. Hwy 29 goes down to two lanes and you’re driving up blind switchbacks the entire way, with locals who could do it blind divebombing you in both directions. If we had spent more time in Napa/Sonoma previously it would have been fun to explore the Lake County wineries a bit, but as it was we decided to focus on higher probabilities of success.

Two of the three stops we made were brand new to us (had never tasted the wines) and all three were terrific. And that is true both as to the actual wines and the overall experience. It helped that, in a rare turn of good weather luck we did not bring the Texas heat with us this time. Peak afternoon temps were in the high 70s or very low 80s, and there was barely a cloud in the sky the whole time; just glorious California weather with bells on.

We landed in Sacramento around 9:30, rented a car, and drove into Napa proper for an early lunch at Loveski’s Deli at the Oxbow market. The heirloom tomato bagel sandwich and the egg salad sandwich were both outstanding.

First up, Matthiason. Will post notes from Frog’s Leap and Kutch once I’ve had a chance to finish cleaning them up.

Matthiasson

Our first wine stop was at Matthiason, just about ten minutes north of Napa proper. We were brand new to the wines, but positive mentions of Matthiason come up frequently in discussions of “non gloop” Napa wines. Since we are not huge Napa Cab drinkers this tasting was attractive with the variety of whites and non-cab reds.

On arrival, our tasting host Abbie greeted us with glasses of the new NV Blanc de Blanc sparkler and ran through the winery’s background, including the founders’ passion for organic/regen farming and their strong belief in lower-alcohol, higher-acid wines for the table. Speaking our language! Abbie was a wonderful host, very knowledgeable and friendly. This was a stop by, present the wine, chat for a bit about the wine, and then leave you alone for a while to work on it style of tasting, which works fine for me, particularly for a more casual visit. We opted for the basic tasting, which Abbie supplemented with a couple off-piste selections based on our discussions.

The setting was just about perfect – outside under a shade, overlooking the gnarly 40-year-old cab vines of the Phoenix Vineyard. Here’s the view north up the valley from our table:

And the wine lineup:

The rumblings that this year’s harvest will likely be on the very early side seem to be well-founded given that some of the Cab bunches in the Phoenix Vineyard below the tasting patio were already undergoing veraison:

Matthiason made for a wonderful first stop given its convenient southerly location, the gorgeous setting, and the relaxed pacing. Great way to unwind from the stresses of travel.

The wines:

NV Blanc de Blanc

First disgorgement of this new wine. Traditional method sparkler, with a couple vintages of Linda Vista chard aged on the lees for 3.5 years.

Pastry dough, yellow apple, lemon, honeysuckle florals.

Mineral and mouthwatering acid spine, but supported by sunny California fruit. A bit weightier than most Champs but not heavy or ponderous. Very credible first effort!

2024 Linda Vista Chardonnay

Napa chardonnay in a neoclassical idiom. 12 months in ostensibly neutral French oak though I did perceive some minor oak impact.

Lemon, green apple, pear, a touch of oak influence on the nose.

On the palate you get good weight, somewhat round mouthfeel, but it is balanced by really nice acidity; there is a slightly silky texture to the wine. Lemon, fresh apple, and pear drop dominate the fruit profile and I perceived a tiny bit of oak spice in the background. Very nice chard and priced well for the quality. Unmistakably Californian but rendered in a bright and fresh style.

2023 Napa Valley White Wine

Apparently this was one of the original Matthiason wines and has been made with roughly similar grape mix in a roughly similar style since their inception in the early 2000s. The blend here was (possible I am getting this wrong) 40% Sauvignon Blanc, 30% Ribolla Gialla, 24% Semillon, and 6% Tocai Friulano. So a cross between a Bordeaux Blanc and a Friuli white?

Floral and cheerful nose with green fruit and a bit of a bitter edge.

Brightly acidic with a mid weight texture, a small bit of grip, moderate finish. Flavors largely follow the nose with tangy green toned fruit, some florals, and quinine bitterness. Open and friendly, this would do well both as an aperitif and at the table.

2024 Schioppetino

Schioppetino is apparently a Friulian red, grown in small quantities in the Matthiassons’ backyard vineyard. Abbie introduced the wine by saying that it made her think of a cross between Syrah and pinot; that was a pretty good schematic.

Bright floral and spicy fruit nose with a bit of reductive (?) funk. Peppery crunchy and red toned.

Silky entry with lighter body, moderate acidity, very bright and peppery red fruit tones. Light tannin. Drinks pretty Pinotesque structurally, while the nose does recall syrahs on the ‘pretty’ side of the spectrum.

23 Shannon Ridge Vyd Lake County Carignan

Brightly red fruited on the nose with a raspberry inflection. There is an herbal edge. A bit of earthy funk.

The wine is silky, bright, moderate body, moderate plus acid, fairly light tannin. The herbal/lightly green line continues on the palate which freshens and sharpens the wine. Some chalky minerality.

23 Cabernet Franc

This is bottled in a low-shoulder Loire-style bottle as opposed to a Bordeaux-style bottle and Abbie confirmed that this was an intentional decision to telegraph the style. This is not your usual Napa Cab Franc.

On the nose zingy red fruit with a huge pinch of Virginia tobacco, plus some mild bell pepper.

Silky and refined with chalky tannin presentation, a spicy raspberry and cranberry tone, and more of the green freshening elements from the nose. Moderate acidity, but very very fresh. Well short of a Baudry or Raffault-level fierce franc but this is extremely pretty and IMO far more true to the variety than the ripe, heavily oaked iterations you often find in Napa.

2022 Napa Valley Red Wine

This is a slightly Right Bank-leaning Bordeaux blend, with Merlot as the historical backbone across vintages; like the white blend this is an original member of the Matthiason stable. The Merlot (and perhaps other grapes? I wasn’t clear) is mostly from the Cressida Vyd in Carneros, so a somewhat cooler climate than you usually see for Northern CA Bordeaux grapes.

Abbie was quick to note that, for Matthiason, the 2022s were very atypical for the vintage because they had gotten their entire harvest in before the September heat dome event that defines the popular narrative of the vintage. So for them, 2022 was a pretty normal or even slightly cool vintage with fairly even and pleasant weather throughout.

On the nose, red and black berry fruit, maybe some blackcurrant, tobacco, a bit of leather.

On the palate quite red fruited given the grape mix, but there are some darker berry and cassis tones as well. Brightly acidic and wide open, this is certainly drinkable now; there is plenty of tannin and acid to carry it for aging but the fruit is not bound up in them and the wine is quite inviting even at this early stage.

2022 Phoenix Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

[No bottle photo as this was brought out to us already in the glass.]

From the vines right in front of the tasting room. Many are 1982 planted, big gnarly fellas. You can see one on the left of this shot down the row, with juvenile vines on the right:

Wow! Beautiful nose that leads off with a heady perfume of jasmine and tobacco. There is a light peppery and lightly green herbal edge but well integrated. Powerful red and black fruit on the nose. Deep and concentrated. On the palate the wine shows old vine weight and concentration but the flavor profile remains resolutely fresh. Lightly extracted and transparent for a cab. Plenty of tannin but on the lower end of the extraction scale for the genre. Impressive. Really feels of the place.

//

I really enjoyed the wines at Matthiason and was particularly impressed by the fact that they turned out not one but two Napa Bordeaux bottlings—the Red Wine and the Phoenix Cab—that I affirmatively enjoyed. (And, preview, I wound up liking both the Merlot and Cab quite a bit at Frog’s Leap – so my options for young Napa bdx bottlings have increased by leaps and bounds.)

Next up, Frog’s Leap!

[Andrew_Demaree]

Terrific, helpful notes and nice pictures. Thanks for taking the time to post them. I look forward to reading about the rest of the trip!

[CaseyHartlip]

I’ve heard there is widespread shatter and that Cabernet cluster sure shows it! Yikes.

[Karl_K]

What is the cause?

[CaseyHartlip]

Poor weather during bloom. Rain, cold windy.

[K_Kladder]

Check out @Roy_Piper latest video on the topic

[GeorgeS]

Awesome details! Excited to read about the next steps

[JustinP]

Frog’s Leap

We’ve enjoyed a few odd bottles of the Frog’s Leap wines over the last couple years, but for whatever reason have never seriously studied up on them. They don’t get a ton of play on the wine internet but I have noticed over the last few years a steady, low-key drumbeat. They come up a good amount in discussions of “Napa cabs like they used to be,” and I’ve seen several mentions by other winemakers of the very high caliber of farming on the Williams family properties. So I was happy to figure out that this stop would work well with our Friday schedule.

For both timing and “general survey on a first visit” reasons we opted for the middle-bracket tasting option, which is in essence a combined tour + “walking tasting” of the core wines, most of which go into distribution. On a future visit we’d probably opt for the top tier “reserve” type tasting which is seated the entire time and focuses more on the top single-vyd bottlings and a few library selections. Our host Angela was friendly and gracious, and did well fielding general questions about the farming and winemaking.

We started the tour on the back porch, with Angela giving a quick background on the estate and its commitment from the get-go to organic dry farming as a key input to the goal of making wines of balance and restraint.

After a very brief intro portion of that spiel, she poured around the first wine:

2024 Sauvignon Blanc Rutherford

[No bottle shots, as we were on the hoof throughout]

Richly tropical and floral tones on the nose, this is as always pretty dang good for $30.

Clean, very well gauged palate with loads of yellow and green fruit and bright acid. This takes the nearly opulent fruit tones you expect from a Napa sauv blanc, but marries them with vigorous acidity and a sense of fresh, clean purity.

All stainless, no tarted-up barrel flavors here. Winemaking features a very brief skin contact, a very cool fermentation (55 degrees per the website) and 5 months in stainless on the lees before bottling. I am not a huge sauv blanc fan generally but this is solidly in the “I’d be perfectly happy to drink it” camp which many are not.

//

We walked from the back porch of the main tasting facility out to the tall, gnarly, 40+yo cab vines of the Red Barn vineyard:

These dry-farmed, organic vines are trellised very high, well above my waist level, and with warming temperatures the vit team lets the canopies grow pretty bushy to shade the fruit.

Pretty good fruit set on some of these big older vines!

From the vineyard, we walked back around toward the cluster of winery buildings and stopped off at the Williams family’s large and verdant garden. While not presented this way, my read is that the Williams family is, like Jamie Kutch (next entry), incorporating some “biodynamics adjacent” concepts into their farming, including through the establishment of good-sized gardens to pull in additional biodiversity. The entire winery building cluster (tasting room, winery, chai) is surrounded by olive and stone-fruit trees, and the large garden hosts a mix of decorative and food plants, plus a beehive. Couple pictures here, none of which really captures how big and lush the garden is:

While we walked the garden, Angela poured around the next wine.

2023 Chardonnay Shale and Stone

Not domaine fruit, but consistently sourced from the Truchard Vineyard in Carneros.

Made in a fairly restrained style for Napa, comes across as pretty middle of the road in the scheme of US Chardonnay in the sense that the fruit tones are ripe and golden but the acidity is solidly medium to medium plus, and there isn’t much barrel impact. Accordingly it comes across, like the Matthiason Linda Vista earlier that day, as a well-done neoclassical effort that shows what really good chardonnay fruit from cool-for-Napa vineyards, picked ripe but not overripe, can do.

Winemaking is interesting in that the wine goes into brand-new French oak barrels at the start of fermentation, but within a week is racked off and spends 12 months in a stainless-steel-lined concrete tank sur lie. As a result there is a tiny, tiny amount of oak perceptible (or maybe just power of suggestion) but you mostly get a very pure fruit attack.

//

From the garden, we wandered first through the winery production facility, with the usual giant row of tanks:

Then out to the crush pad to take a walk around the press:

And then into the cool, dark chai, which was a welcome relief from the afternoon sun. Of interest is the variety of elevage vessels here, with the usual piles of barrels complemented by a big line of eggs, plus multiple stacks of square concrete vessels. An enormous steel-lined tank is built into one of the wineries’ walls:

Downstairs there are yet more barrels, including some enormous Taransaud ovals that held selections of the 2024 Cabernet Sauvignon:

In the chai, we got a pour of the next wine.

2022 Merlot Rutherford

Very nice, an extremely pure-fruited merlot, certainly the best I have had from contemporary Napa. I want to say that this tastes like a modestly ripe Merlot made in a fairly middle of the road style but I actually don’t have any comparators, since I have never before had a Napa Merlot at this youthful age that didn’t taste more like a plum’n’chocolate milkshake. Which this did not! Plump, red berries and plum fruit, fairly soft tannin structure but there is a good bit of acid that keeps things fresh. There is a bit of oak influence but it isn’t significant; don’t recall what the new oak % was described as (if described at all). Wide open and cheerful. This was a very pleasant surprise.

//

From the chai, we walked back to the porch of the tasting facility where we sat for the next three wines.

2022 Heritage Blend

This was off-menu and poured at our request as I’d seen good things on this board about this particular bottling; I love an old-vine field blend and couldn’t pass this one up. When the Williams family bought a new chunk of estate vineyard a while back, it came with a small patch of 1940s planted heritage varieties – Charbono, Valdigue, Mourvedre, Petite Sirah, and others. John Williams couldn’t bring himself to rip them out to plant over to cab, and eventually started bottling them as a field blend. This was a lovely bottle, medium bodied and fresh with a peppery herbal layer over the red and dark fruit. One of those wines that makes me grumpy that Napa is by and large such a monoculture.

2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown Rutherford

This was a way more user-friendly iteration of the estate Cabernet than I’ve had previously from the 2021 and 2018 vintages, which were both pretty fierce and called for a long time sideways. The 22 by contrast came across as pretty wide open to me, showing a mélange of dark berry and cassis fruit, tobacco, a tiny bit of oak influence but really not much, and earth tones on the nose. The palate is fairly round and the wine is of moderate plus weight with a silky texture; the tannins are plentiful but quite fine; and the moderate acidity makes for a fresh and friendly presentation. The fruit is not bound up in the tannin and—at least based on this bottle—you can open and enjoy today if so inclined. Caveat that I don’t know what the bottle prep was like.

Doing a bit of research on this iteration of the Cab bottling it appears that they did have some pretty significant pains with this ’22 vintage; Galloni references abandoning the fruit from one of the three vineyards that typically make up the blend, and the winery website straightforwardly says that they had to intervene more aggressively in the cellar on this vintage including via sterile filtration prior to bottling (normally an ‘unfined/unfiltered’ sort of shop). Based on this tasting portion, they did a good job despite the tough conditions.

2024 Sauvignon Blanc Concrete Aged

The ’24 sibling to the ’23 iteration that got a monster 97pts from Galloni. Good but not sure what the fuss is about. More restrained vs the normale, slightly more old world feel; less lushly tropical and more grapefruit/green fruited.

On the palate more focused and linear than the regular, with a bit of grip on the end. And in keeping with that this comes across more mineral and chalky. Sort of triangulating between Napa, Sancerre, and New Zealand in my mind. Would I prefer it to the regular bottling? Eh, depends on my mood. Perfectly nice wine, just feel like it is hard to see a “better vintage and they nailed it” version of this hitting 97 points.

//

Frog’s Leap seems to fly just a little under the radar on this board, other than occasional positive mentions in “Napa cab for AFWE” type discussions. Not sure if that is just that folks are lukewarm on the wines, or the consequence of (1) broad availability through traditional distribution, (2) relatively little attempt to engage with the Wine Internet so far as I can tell, and (3) a consumer-friendly pricing structure all working together to mean there isn’t much FOMO and hype around the wines.

While I’m not sure that FOMO and hype are warranted, I think this estate merits more notice On Here than it seems to get. We are talking about a 50-year-old family-owned Napa project that practices cutting-edge progressive farming and turns out balanced and relatively restrained wines (even in 2022 both the Merlot and Cab are sub-14%). And the absolute most expensive flagship bottlings are just a little over $100… The Williams family seems to take full advantage of the fact that they bought their vineyards mostly before the huge run-up in prices over the last couple decades, and as such they do not have to price their wines to cover a gigantic mortgage. As a result you can get estate-grown, organically farmed Napa Cab that tastes p.d. good for like $70.

It seems like people should be a little more excited? What am I missing?

All told this was about as nice a visit you can have in the “tour by a tasting room associate” genre, and it’s an estate where I’d really love the chance to taste with the winemaker(s) to do a deep dive.

Next up, “tasting with the winemaker to do a deep dive” with Jamie Kutch!

[JustinP]

Kutch

On Saturday morning, we got up, braved the switchbacks back down into Napa Valley, and started the day with truly excellent pastries and coffee at Bella Bakery in Calistoga. From there we made the trek over Diamond Mountain and down into Sonoma, through Santa Rosa, and finally out to Sebastopol. We arrived an hour later at the Kutch Estate Vineyard, where Jamie and family have planted a ~12 acre vineyard on the former site of an apple orchard.

We quickly determined that Jamie is an awesome guy to hang around with. To begin with, he was doing us an enormous solid by meeting us Saturday morning at all, given that he is usually home in SF on the weekend. By happenstance, when I made a last minute entreaty, Jamie promptly responded that we were in luck because his family was hosting a pair of traveling Swedish chefs that evening and so they’d be up at the vineyard and in need of open bottles of wine. (This was a very happy coincidence as these were absolutely the wines of the trip, and in the midseason lead for my top wine discovery of 2026.) And on top of that he cheerfully agreed when we proposed to add another couple (same wedding) to the tasting.

Even aside from his scheduling flexibility and generosity with his time, Jamie just oozes passion and excitement for every aspect of the work from the vineyard to the bottle. He is also one of the best communicators of “wine 201+” concepts that I have come across – my wife is very patient when I get into the geekery with a winemaker, but often feels left a bit in the dark (my fault more than anything). Jamie effortlessly worked in super easy to understand explanations of these moderately more advanced concepts (punchdowns vs. pumpovers, reduction vs. oxidation and effect of lees on chardonnay elevage, etc.) that made it very easy to follow his responses.

We started the visit with a tour of the garden, which Jamie explained was inspired by biodynamic farming’s conception of the vineyard as part of a farm, biodiversity on said farm, etc. Jamie is deeply committed to what he calls “holistic farming” – which is his term for taking the parts that make sense to him from biodynamics, regenerative, etc. schools of thought without committing to any particular dogmatic program.

The garden is absolutely killer lights out beautiful:

Originally it was planted nearly all to food, but they found they couldn’t keep up with it even with liberal giveaways. They’ve since planted part of it over to flowers, and let me tell ya:

Jamie encouraged us to try a strawberry; it had been probably 20 years since I had a ripe strawberry off the vine and I almost wish I hadn’t.

After a walk through the garden, Jamie showed us his current obsession: a large vermicomposter in which 10s of thousands of earthworms were vigorously converting a load of vineyard, garden, and kitchen scraps into worm castings for use in the garden and vineyard:

Jamie pulled up a handful to show us what the worms were up to:

The other end of the compost room featured a truly awesome array of dried flowers, which are used for various decorative purposes including these pretty wreaths (with vine clippings as the backing of course):

From there we walked the edge of the vineyard while Jamie talked us through this new phase of his project. The vines have been in the ground for four years now, and Jamie plans to harvest usable fruit this year. The vineyard is all organically (and holistically) farmed. While the vines are young there is still some light irrigation when they deem it necessary for survival but they are trying to urge the vines to drive deep. As you can see in the picture below, every other row was tilled while the vines remain young. However, the ultimate plan is to move to a dry-farm, no-till system.

Two thirds of the vineyard is planted to a mix of Burgundian Pinot clones; one-third is planted to old shot-berry Wente Chardonnay. I forget the rootstock the vines are on, but it was selected for its devigorating characteristics; the goal is small plants, small clusters, small berries. The vineyard soil is powdery and sandy, very well draining, and will hopefully force the roots deep.

After a walk along the vineyard we sat down on the porch of the family house to taste some wine. I had never tasted any of the Kutch wines before, but I immediately understood why they have such a passionate fanbase on this forum. The pinots are bright, electric, and lithe in a way you don’t see much in CA. And the chardonnays are a trip, marrying the taut minerality and kiss of noble reduction that you see in many of the board (and my) favorites from Oregon with just a touch of California sunshine to the fruit.

Pinot Noir

Jamie briefly ran us through the winemaking on his Pinot Noir, starting with an early pick, around 50% stem inclusion layered in the tank, foot treading for most lots, and minimal hand/foot gentle punchdowns combined with a few pumpovers. The wines are fermented in multiply-used oak barrels with the goal of no meaningful aroma or flavor impact on the wine (which I actually believe in this case based on tasting – I often sense a bit of oak in ‘neutral’ elevage wines.)

2010 McDougall Ranch Pinot Noir

Wow! Floral, glorious perfume that leaps from the glass. Spices. Beautiful deep red fruit.
On the palate delicate and medium bodied with a genuinely very elegant presentation, the wine floats and fans out across the palate. Cherry and strawberry and black tea. Tannins are soft but fine. Acid level med plus. A little bit of pleasant bitterness. Amazingly fresh and vital at 16 years, this library pinot is firing on all cylinders.

2024 Mindego Ridge Pinot Noir

Bright herbal spice and savor on the nose.

On the palate alive and lithe, brimming with energy. Bright acidity, red cherry, strawberry, spices, roses, tea. Grippy fine tannins with a bit of stemmier presentation. Long.

2024 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

A bit less aggressively whole cluster/herbal nose than the Mindego Ridge, tea and strawberry.

On the palate a tiny bit softer and rounder (though still super lithe and energetic - just a tiny notch) than prior Mindego. Beautiful delicate red fruit, good mid high acid. Again the tea like tannin. Great at $42.

2024 Falstaff Pinot Noir

Wow! Bright and defined cherry and strawberry fruit, tea, spices.

Electric on the palate with a very slightly weightier body than prior wines, a deep red fruited and spicy palate, long, ultra fresh.

2024 Bohan Vineyard Graveyard Block Pinot Noir

[missed a photo but this has a black label to distinguish it from the main bottling]

Sub block of Bohan Vineyard, this is more the power block vs. the more finessed main vineyard.

Darkest fruit tones on the nose here, some spice and earth but the main impression is dark fruit with a great deal of depth.

By far the most powerful wine of the lineup, this shows tons of black cherry and a bit of blackberry. There’s some peppery spice tone and the tannins are quite firm. Lots of rocky minerality.

Chardonnay

The Chardonnays are made in what I mentally categorize as the “nouveau Meursault” style also popular among the better Oregon producers. Jamie shoots for a hard fast press with a lot of extraction of solids, browns the juice, barrels down with a good amount of lees (some new oak, 20% or less, on the chards), 12 months in barrel, followed by 6 months in stainless tank to build tension. He reports that he likes a touch of reduction, but it is sort of year by year whether it comes through or not.

2024 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay

Great QPR at $42.
On the nose bright lemon, oyster shell, bit of oak spice.
On the palate the wine is coiled and energetic, ultra beautiful with a touch of CA sunshine sweetness to the lemon fruit but overwhelmingly more chalk and stone character.

2024 Bohan Vineyard Salt Point

Opened 5 days prior, about half the bottle left. Drinking well!

Some noble reduction on the nose with a steely character; there’s a load of yellow lemon and green apple fruit; just a little oak in there.

On the palate just a lightning strike of chalk and acid, super mouth coating mineral grip. Salty, as promised!

2019 Trout Gulch Vineyard Chardonnay

Jamie bought this bottle off of WineBid, as the production numbers on Trout Gulch are small and he has trouble holding bottles back.

On the nose this is uncoiling and pretty open as against the younger chards. No reduction, not really any oak, just an explosion of sweet yellow fruit.

Amazing sweet lemon and apple fruit, the wine just glides across the palate and expands out like crazy. A touch fuller and richer than the Salt Block, this has a slightly rounder palate shape and a more silky and sumptuous texture. Still lots of mineral impact, just a few notches richer.

//

Amazing visit, absolutely the highlight of the trip. Thank you to the many folks on this forum who sing the praises of these wines, and thank you again to the man himself for accommodating us!

[David_Bu3ker]

Jamie is amazing. FYI, if you didn’t know, he did a long interview on The Wine Makers podcast. It’s well worth listening to.

[Jill_Matthiasson]

Thanks for the great write up about your visit. So glad you enjoyed your experience.

[young.matt2447]

Awesome notes. And the pictures are great. Kutch was the highlight of our recent Sonoma trip, and definitely my #1 wine discovery of the year.

[Rory_Williams]

Really glad you enjoyed your visit at FL. Please reach out if you are back in the area and would like to do a deeper dive into the wines–I’d be happy to host. Also very happy that you got to Matthiasson and Kutch, two of my personal favorites.

[JustinP]

Awesome, thank you Rory! Will absolutely reach out next time we are heading up to Napa.

[J_Sun]

nice review! Jamie is always warm and great with what he make, not limited to wine!

[CaseyHartlip]

I looked up the tasting prices at Frog’s Leap…pretty reasonable for the area.

[B_Buzzini]

I still have never had a Kutch wine?

[young.matt2447]

Recommend seeking them out. Especially if you’re into Sonoma coast Pinot. Also makes probably my favorite California chard

[J_Sun]

highly recommended…

[IanM]

I’m with you on Frog’s Leap. We’ve been members for 3+ years and it’s our favorite winery in Napa - for all the virtues you mentioned, plus being family friendly as well. Regarding the garden/orchard you mentioned, my understanding is it’s three-fold. Biodiversity elements as you mentioned, it helps keep their vineyard workers busy year around (they are employees, not subcontracted), and the crops they plant are at the request of the employees and they get to take it home.