After visiting
Trinchero Family Vineyards I took an adventurous drive up Spring Mountain above
St. Helena to Stony Hill Vineyards. Located
south of the Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, the property sits on the western slope of the Napa Valley
between Richie Creek to the north and Lyman Creek to the south. Moderating
climatic influences such as northeast-facing slopes and an elevation between
700 and 1200 feet above the valley floor make this mild microclimate an ideal
location for growing premium Chardonnay grapes.
The winery is
very remote as you take a very long winding drive through a forest of trees and
up a very narrow road. By narrow, I mean there is only room for one car on the
road and it would be near impossible for a tour bus or limousine to comfortably
make the journey. Visits and tastings are by appointment only so unless they
send you directions you won’t find the winery as there is no sign on highway 29
indicating its location. On the way up I stopped occasionally to snap some
shots of their vineyards and enjoy the mountain top vistas of the valley below
and the mountains on the other side.
About half way up
the mountain I met an elderly man who seemed to be out for a leisurely stroll,
enjoying the ideal weather - sunny and 73 degrees! To be polite, I stopped and
asked him if he wanted a ride and as expected he replied, “No thank you, I’m
just out getting my daily exercise.” I later learned that the man was Peter McCrea
who is the son of Fred and Eleanor McCrea who founded the winery.
In 1943 Fred and Eleanor bought 160 acres of land on the
west slope of the Napa Valley north of St. Helena. They cultivated their first Chardonnay
fields in 1947 and then planted Pinot Blanc, White Riesling, Gewürztraminer,
and Semillon. Their first harvest was in 1952 and the first release of their
first Chardonnay was in 1954.
When I got to the top of the mountain I arrived at Peter’s
house and was greeted by his very hospitable wife Willinda McCrea. Peter and Willinda
inherited Stony Hill in 1991 when Peter’s mother passed away and they continue
to run the business today. Willinda, a very hospitable host, then gave me a
tour of the vineyard and barrel room where they use 5-30 year old neutral oak
barrels to age their wines:
“So long as they are kept clean and don’t leak, we continue
to use them rather than using newer barrels that would impart oak flavors.”
This minimalist approach to making Chardonnay is maintained
by Mike Chelini who became Stony Hill’s vineyard foreman in 1972 and then
winemaker when Fred died in 1977. Since then Mike has overseen both vineyard
and winery operations, supervising six full time, year-round employees who hand
tend the vines and hand pick the grapes.
Willinda says Mike prefers to allow
the wine express the character of the grape rather than the winemaking process
which tends to make their Chardonnay more Burgundian in style. This minimalist approach
to wine making allows the intensely flavored fruit from their volcanic rocky,
hillside soils to determine the character of the wine. All of their wines are 100%
grown, produced, and bottled at Stony Hill Vineyard.
Visiting the
winery is more like visiting someone’s home. There are no typical winery
accommodations and you essentially taste their wines in the dining room of
Peter and Willinda’s house. So, after touring the vineyard and the barrel room I
sampled the following wines:
The first wine was the 2011 Stony Hill Gewürztraminer. Very
few wineries in California produce this wine and most of those that do are
along the coast, mostly in Mendocino. Stony Hill is able to produce this cool
climate grape because of their altitude and they have eastern facing slopes so
they don’t get the late summer afternoon and evening sun. On the nose I picked
up green apples, melon rind, kiwi fruit, dried apricots, a touch of minerality
and just a hint of tropical fruit. On the palate it is light bodied, very crisp
with high acidity and it has a medium (+) length finish. A delicious wine
without being sweet and it has relatively low alcohol (11%). I brought a bottle
home for $24.
The second pour was their flagship wine, the 2010 Stony Hill
Chardonnay. It has aromas of golden delicious apples, pears, figs, mandarin
oranges and just a touch of hazelnut. On the palate the wine develops from the
entry through the mid palate and the finish, providing an array of subtle
complex flavors and sensations. This is
a wine that actually makes you think and ponder the experience of the nuances of
the development of its flavors. A truly spectacular Chardonnay for $42 a bottle
and I picked up a case for a friend who is a BIG Stony Hill fan.
I then tasted their “every day drinking” Chard, the 2011 SHV
Chardonnay. This wine is bigger than the previous wine with more up front
aromas of green apples, melon and figs. On the palate it is more aggressive with
more body and a medium length finish. Yet this wine was produced in the same
manner as the previous wine, but from a different vineyard. This wine is an
excellent value at $24 a bottle and I brought two of them home to serve with
Thanksgiving dinner.
The third wine was the 2011 White Riesling. On the nose I
picked up melon rind, apple pie filling, golden raisins, and lemon/lime. On the
palate the wine is very fresh with medium (+) acidity, it is medium bodied and
has a prolonged finish. It has just a touch of sweetness (1%) so it is off-dry
but has no petrol-like characteristics which are often found in California
Rieslings. A very nice wine for $27, and I brought a bottle home.
The fourth pour was the 2010 Stony Hill Semillon de Soleil. Very
few wineries in California produce Semillon and when they do they often blend
it with Sauvignon Blanc. On the nose it has aromas of honey, graham crackers,
and candied apples. On the palate it is sweet, medium bodied, and yet it is
well balanced with good acidity (medium +) and it has a clean finish. The only thing this wine would need to make it
more Sauterne-like is Botrytis to intensify the flavors. This wine sells for
$30 a bottle (375 ml).
The final pour was the first red wine ever produced by Stony
Hill, the 2009 Stony Hill Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is very UN-Napa like
and is old world in style. It is light ruby in color and is very aromatic with
fresh cherries, red currants, pomegranates and green olives. On the palate it
is medium bodied with refined chewy tannins (probably due to its youth), medium
acidity, is well balanced and has a prolonged finish. This wine is very
different than most of the wines you’ll find in the valley that tend to be very
big and full-bodied with 14.5%+ alcohol. This wine in comparison has only 13.5%.
There were only 250 cases made of this wine so visitors are limited to 3
bottles. This wine sells for $60 a bottle.
Later in the week…
On the following Wednesday the friend I picked up the case
of the 2010 Stony Hill Chardonnay, who is a big fan of their wines, shared with
me a bottle of the 2002 Stony Hill Chardonnay from his cellar. Here are my
notes from this 10 year-old properly stored Chardonnay:
Visually this wine is clear, pale straw yellow, with
thin legs. On the nose it has exotic aromas of lemon custard, pineapple,
apricots, white flowers, and just hints of smoke, minerality and a wisp of
buttery caramel. On the palate it is a multilayered wine that is very crisp,
medium bodied with a lot of zest, a touch of spice and a lingering clean finish
that goes on for days!
This is one of the best Chards I've tasted in a
very long time.
This just shows you how well Chardonnays,
properly made and stored, can radically improve with age. So, if you buy some
of the 2010 Stony Hill Chardonnay you may want to hold on to it for
a while!
To see more pictures of Stony Hill Vineyards, check out Erik
Wait’s Wine Country Photography at:
To visit or for
more information:
Stony Hill
Vineyard
3331 Saint Helena Highway North
Saint Helena, California 94574
Phone: 1-707-963-2636
1 comment:
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