Bevan projects

Does anyone have a list of all Russell Bevan’s projects? I’m a big fan of his wine.

I’m also interested in how certain projects are different/unique, as many seem to source from the same Vineyards.

Bevan Cellars
Tench Vineyards (winemaker)
Lerner Project (winemaker)
PerUs (winemaker)
Adversity Cellars (owner?)
Institution Winery (winemaker)
Harbison (winemaker)

Seems like he is also adding Melanson Vineyard and Erba Vineyard to his stable.

He is making wine for Elyse.

Crazy bargains for Russell’s winemaking.

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Also Addax

Look out TRB!!!

How are the wines “different” when they come from the same vineyards? I’m super happy with Ontogeny, and I love Tench Vineyards.

Chase Vineyards is another wine he makes.

From our own berserkerday newbie, Michael S. at Pezzato

After a slight detour through the tech scene in Silicon Valley, the call of wine was too great and I moved back, but this time to the winery side of things, working with my mentor Russell Bevan. For my ‘day job’ I spent four vintages as the Director of Winemaking at Tench Vineyards. I am now off on a new endeavour helping to build and run a new winery facility for two of Russell’s clients, The Lerner Project and Napa Jack Winery.

I can answer part of this! I am one of two owners of Elyse, Addax, and Institution. My partner Josh Peeples has worked with Russell since Russell made the Jacquelynn/Chateau Boswell wines in the early 2010s. Unlike most of his other brands, but very similar to Chase Cellars, we have our own winery so we also have our own cellar team to pay attention to our barrels every day under Russell’s watch. Those that have barrel tasted with Josh over the past 25 years know he loves to be involved in the winemaking process, even if the best thing for an owner to do on a given day might be helping powerwash during harvest so the team can get more sleep.

Elyse has been a “friendly neighborhood winery” of Napa Valley since 1987. We have been stewarding the brand with Russell starting with the 2018 vintage. Unlike the rest of the list, Elyse is mostly at the $35-$85 price point with only a few exceptions. Elyse has 30 years of history of its own vineyard history, so while Russell’s signature style will shine through, everything under this brand is very different in terms of vineyard sourcing from his other projects. Most exciting for us is the zin and cab from Morisoli Vineyard in the Rutherford Bench, since Morisoli Zin was Elyse’s first release. We are nearly caught up on vintage cycles and will be releasing the majority of our 2018s this fall.

Addax has been around since 2010, and starting with the 2019 vintages this year, a large focus of Addax will be on vineyard-designate Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays (Silver Eagle, Rued, Ritchie, and so much more I wish I could share!) We do produce a handful of bordeaux blends from Addax, but over the next few years you are going to see some more obvious differences in that program as well since many new vineyards have been sourced for it starting in 2018.

Institution is our newest project, and is simply meant to be our ultimate creative exercise in cab. Josh gives Russell no minimum production amounts, and the entire cellar is up for grabs for barrel selections even though we have several vineyards we think/hope will make the project each year. Most barrels don’t make the cut and instead contribute to making our upcoming 18 Elyse Napa Valley Cab at $55 an extremely good value (or so we hope! We shall see soon [cheers.gif] .)

Erba Vineyard is split between only the owner himself, Institution and Adversity - I was lucky enough to try Russell’s beautiful Adversity 2019s a couple weeks ago. The energy and focus that Russell has put into creating his Adversity wines is so clear. He loves this project, and I simply hope he’ll save me some of the Syrah he’s releasing in Fall.

Chase is definitely one to try if you have not yet - and now they even have their own Hayne Cabernet.

On his other projects, I’ve never found the wines to taste similar, but maybe I’m too close to it because I know what pain it is to try to inventory barrels in a cellar Russell controls… Russell ferments everything in tiny, tiny lots - sun exposure, soil subsections within the block, elevation changes, you name it, and blends with all of that in mind. Each client or wine has their own sections of the vineyards. The same way that BC Calixtro (my favorite!) is different from BC Tench and BC Tench EE, Lerner’s Sugarloaf is distinct from Bevan Sugarloaf.

If I was gifting someone a set of wines, I’d probably do Bevan Cellars Calixtro, Lerner Sugarloaf, Chase Bourn Gold Strike, and Adversity Melanson.

Quick Edit: I forgot Erba Vineyards “Erba”! Sorry about that.

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i’ll add westerhold for bonus points.

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I have already opened a 2018 Elyse Napa Cab, and it’s delicious. Definitely “baby Bevan” which is great QPR.

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I was wondering…

No more Wren Hop?
Definitely no more Jemrose.

wren hop last vintage was either 14 or 13 IIRC.
jemrose not sure but been a few years too.

Yikes. I bought a few older 90s vintages of Elyse Morisoli vineyard from the winery a few years ago and all the bottles weren’t stored correctly as all the corks were brittle and dried out. Bought them as I had a 94 Morisoli from Whitehall lane for my birth year wine and new Elyse made some and had the same winemaker from whitehall lane.

Thanks for that rundown, Cheryl. I’m looking forward to trying the 2018s from Elyse - cabs and zins - when they get released.

Jemrose has been gone for quite some time. Jim and Gloria sold the property and moved back to the Chicago area.

Is Westerhold still going on too?

Thanks for this background, Cheryl – and what perfect timing. By coincidence I did some wine cleanup and inventory at my mom’s place last week, and found 3 bottles of 2009 Elyse Morisoli Zin in the back of one of the wine fridges (along with a Jacob Franklin 2008 cab). Turns out it was purchased by a visiting family member way back when, left with my mom (we’re in SF), and has been sitting there since. Will check soon on how it’s doing…

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Very sorry to hear that - we acquired Elyse in Fall 2018, but whether you purchased before or after that, if you e-mail me the receipt (cheryl@elysewinery.com) or send me a list/quantity of the wines you remember ordering, I would love to set that situation right via refund / replacement / whatever is best for you. Whitehall Lane Morisoli from the 90s is one of Russell’s cherished wines! I’ve seen the labels in the tasting log book log he keeps.



David - Thank you so much!! Your notes on the Elyse 2018s on WB really energized our team. We knew what we wanted Elyse to be, but finding out we really might be on the right road was a big day for us. Can’t wait for Fall. [cheers.gif]

I couldn’t seem to find an email receipt as it was a few years ago. I remember ordering 1 93 Elyse, 2 94 Elyse, and 1 95 or 96 Elyse all from the Morisoli vineyard priced at 125 each. Thanks for looking into it I appreciate it.

-Zachary Mancini

Sent an email.

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