Have really enjoyed the wines coming out of Matt and team at Newfound. Really really tasty stuff approachable early but that I expect to show some longevity.
Today, Audra and I offer you our second release of the year which includes the 2016 Yount Mill Semillon and 2017 Scaggs Vineyard Grenache. We can’t thank you enough for your support of this endeavor. You may scroll to the bottom of the page to review the selections and please note our fine-print order and shipping information as there are several updates to our policy.
But before we get to the wines, I want to offer a few updates on the progress we’ve made in 2019…
Our work was cut out for us this year. In April we planted the first six acres of our estate vineyard in El Dorado. It took three full years from the purchase of our property to put the first vine in the ground! An additional ten acres of land was prepped this summer for planting next spring. This was a complicated hillside parcel requiring incredible operator skill in terms of prep and development so the accomplishment was no small feat.
The talented, Ignacio “Nacho” Alfaro Sr. has been by our side throughout the development. Nacho has developed a number of hillside vineyards in and around the Napa Valley for more than forty years. His wisdom and experience with this type of work is ingrained in his nature. I met Nacho eleven years ago in my early days of working in production at Failla; he managed the ranch at Constant Vineyard on top of Diamond Mountain. Rarely do workers like Nacho get the credit they deserve in this industry. He’s an artist and his contribution to our line of work is profoundly understated. Salut, my friend!
F A L L S E L E C T I O N S
2016 Newfound Semillon
Yount Mill Vineyard, Napa Valley 63 cases ($26/btl)
You could say this is our first library offering as last fall’s selection was from the 2017 vintage. I purposefully extended the elévage of the 2016 Semillon where it spent the first winter aging in one 600L barrel and the second winter in one stainless vessel. The switch from barrel to stainless provided an extra focus to the wine while the two winters, or 18 months of aging on the lees, contributed a sappy density to what is ultimately a fresh and lively bottle of wine. This particular bottling will always be a sentimental favorite as it’s the first vineyard we picked for Newfound on August 26th, 2016. With original vines planted in 1962, the Yount Mill Semillon block is currently one of the oldest Semillon vineyards in California today.
2017 Newfound Grenache
Scaggs Vineyard, Mt Veeder, Napa Valley 182 cases ($38/btl)
I was recently analyzing a planting chart that was published in 1990. At the time, Grenache was the second most planted grape varietal in the world in total area. That number has substantially decreased as many of the contributing vineyards in Spain and Southern France have been torn out due to over production. But there now seems to be a growing interest in Grenache’s long-term viability in Northern California as growers and producers cautiously consider the future of this wine-growing region given the reality of our changing climate.
That said, I find myself quite lucky to be working with this special little vineyard on Mt. Veeder. The Grenache at Scaggs is a one-acre planting on an eastern facing hillside flanked on two sides by Redwood and Manzanita forest. In 2017 we picked the vineyard on two passes separated by one week (September 26th*& October 2nd). This offered us control over balancing the final wines acidity and ripeness. Our winemaking protocol remains delicate. 50% of the fruit was destemmed while the remaining fruit was left as whole clusters. The must was tread by foot just once a day and maceration lasted a total of three weeks. Our ultimate goal was to preserve the vineyard’s savory “woodsy” tones. I find the ’17 a touch more approachable in its youth. The aromatics, while red fruited, carry a natural density given the volcanic origin of the soils on which the vines are planted. As always, I must give credit to Carlos Lopez’s farming. He brings us exceptional fruit year each year and makes my job easy when it comes to making the wine.