When Alain Hudelot retired in 2008, it was his grandson who stepped up to take over the family estate, Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat. Charles van Canneyt – then just 20 years old and fresh from his wine studies – suddenly found himself managing 10 hectares of vines and running a winery. But he wasn’t any 20-year-old.  Gradually modernising the estate’s equipment and tweaking the winemaking (particularly toning down the extraction), he transformed the reputation of the domaine. Rapidly he became known as one of Burgundy’s rising stars, with Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat soon among the region’s most revered names. Not one to be complacent, he started a négoce label in 2012 – offering another avenue for Burgundy-lovers to get access to his winemaking talent.   Now he has – along with his wife Anne-Sophie – taken on a new challenge, having purchased a new estate: Domaine des Chézeaux. It’s unlikely you’ll know the name of this Gevrey-Chambertin property, but you’ll almost certainly know its vineyards.  This history of Domaine des Chézeaux  Domaine des Chézeaux was created by François Mercier in 1982, although the family has had vines in the village of Gevrey-Chambertin since 1928. The estate’s name comes from the Clos des Chézeaux, the walled vineyard next to the domaine. The family were land-owners rather than winemakers, so all their vines were leased out – en métayage – to other producers. This arrangement is common in Burgundy: the vignerons renting the vineyards manage them year-round and make the wine, giving a portion of their production (often around a third) to the vineyard-owner by way of rent.  This historic estate grew from its original holdings and – as of 1994 – consisted of around four hectares. The vines were split between three producers: Domaine Ponsot (and later Laurent Ponsot), René Leclerc and Domaine Berthaut (later Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet).  Ponsot rented the property’s original 0.89-hectare plot of Griotte-Chambertin, as well as Domaine des Chézeaux’s parcels of Clos Saint-Denis*, Chambertin and Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Charmes. Domaine Berthaut leased the two Gevrey-Chambertin Premiers Crus (Les Cazetiers and Lavaux-Saint-Jacques) as well as the property’s village parcels, including the Clos des Chézaux. While technically the latter is a monopole, because Berthaut didn’t own the land it couldn’t be called as such.  Ahead of the 1994 vintage, the Mercier family purchased another parcel of Griotte-Chambertin, an additional 0.68 hectares that had been owned by Suzanne Thomas of Thomas Bassot, giving them the largest holding of this Grand Cru. The Esmonin family had been farming the vines in this parcel, selling some fruit to Jadot, and the Mercier family then leased it to René Leclerc (although the Esmonin family also continued to bottle the wine, with vintages of Frédéric Esmonin Griotte-Chambertin up to and including 1999 available). A portion of each of the finished wines was bottled under the Domaine des Chézeaux label, but was identical to that under the Ponsot, Leclerc or Berthaut labels – often at a fraction of the price.  Domaine des Chézeaux today In 2021, Charles van Canneyt managed to buy the estate and its enviable vineyard holdings. With all the vines under métayage contracts, the next challenge was to reclaim the vines – negotiating with each producer. By 2022 he had secured the monopole Clos des Chézeaux and Premier Cru Les Cazetiers, but sold the fruit. In 2023, having regained a parcel of Griotte-Chambertin, he made his first wines from the property.  By the time 2024 came around, he had managed to recover all the vineyards – adding Chambertin, Clos Saint-Denis and Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Charmes. As part of the extensive negotiations, the Lavaux-Saint-Jacques parcel, some Gevrey-Chambertin village vines and two small sections of Griotte-Chambertin were sold.  The vines are generally old across the property, and the farming and winemaking is identical to that at Hudelot-Noëllat, with the fruit entirely de-stemmed and seeing very gentle extraction. The first vintages were vinified at Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat (but are being aged in the cellars at Domaine des Chézeaux), and work has started on a new winery that is set to be finished later this year (2025). Interestingly Van Canneyt has already seen the wines maturing differently at Chézeaux, with the particularly cool, humid cellar meaning the wines develop more slowly during élevage and need topping up less. He therefore anticipates ageing the wines slightly longer than those of Hudelot-Noëllat. The estate is retaining its historic name, but with new labels – helping differentiate from older bottlings made prior to Van Canneyt’s arrival. The name has the same origin as Echezeaux: chesaux – plural of chesal (which comes from the Latin, casellum or casalis) – meaning a stone house or building.   The Domaine des Chézeaux holdings   The estate now has around three hectares of vines, over half of which is Grand Cru, spread across six appellations:  Gevrey-Chambertin Clos des Chézeaux: This monopole vineyard covers half a hectare, with some of the vines almost 100 years in age (planted in 1929). Mid-slope and facing southeast, the village site has deep, clay-rich soils with gravel, sitting just below Premier Cru Cazetiers and neighbouring another monopole village site, Clos du Château, farmed and produced by Armand Rousseau.  Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Les Cazetiers: Chézeaux has 0.216 hectares of this Premier Cru split over two parcels: one of 0.1615 hectares in the northern section and 0.045 hectares in the south.  Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Charmes: Van Canneyt farms around 0.6 hectares in this Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru, which he also has a parcel of under Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat.  Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru: There is a plot of 0.3776 hectares in Clos Saint-Denis, which will briefly be appearing in the range for 2024 (with just one barrel), but is now being replanted and out of action until 2029 at least.  Chambertin Grand Cru: A parcel (combining one tiny plot that sits next to their main plot) in the heart of this Grand Cru represents 0.143 hectares.  Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru: Chézeaux is the largest vineyard holder in this Grand Cru, with an impressive 1.264 hectares of vines, a parcel in the heart of this tiny appellation.  Spotlight on Griotte-Chambertin  Griotte-Chambertin, also known as En Griotte, is the smallest of the Chambertin Grands Crus, totalling 2.69 hectares (and is among the smallest Grands Crus in the Côte d’Or, along with La Romanée, La Romanée-Conti and La Grande Rue for Pinot Noir). It sits below Clos de Bèze on the slope, just below the Route des Grands Crus and sandwiched between Chapelle-Chambertin and Charmes-Chambertin, facing northeast. This aspect is important, allowing the vines here to ripen more slowly, not receiving as much morning sun. The wines made here tend to be more delicate, aromatic and perfumed, less muscular than is perhaps typical for the village of Gevrey-Chambertin, and therefore highly prized. Pebble-rich, chalky topsoil sits over deep, limestone bedrock, with more clay the further down the slope you go.  Domaine des Chézeaux is the largest owner of the site, with 1.246 hectares – almost half of the vineyard. Other producers who own vines here are: Joseph Drouhin (0.53 hectares), Fourrier (0.26 hectares), Claude Dugat (0.15 hectares), Marchand Frères (0.13 hectares), Joseph Roty (0.08 hectares) and Duroché (0.02 hectares), as well as now Laurent Ponsot (0.11 hectares) and an investor who has leased his small portion of the Grand Cru to Cécile Tremblay (circa 0.2 hectares). The origin of the vineyard’s name is disputed. Some argue that it comes directly from “griotte”, the word for morello cherry – tied either to trees that were once planted in the site, or as a reference to the character of wine it typically produces. Most, however, now suggest it comes from “criotte”, the diminutive of “crais”, referring to the chalky pebbles that are found in its soils.    Insider knowledge: Domaine des Chézeaux Griotte-Chambertin Historic bottlings of Domaine des Chézeaux Griotte-Chambertin have been something of an insider’s secret, as some are Ponsot Griotte-Chambertin under a different label. Some were the wine made by René Leclerc, and it’s not always possible to know which.  1982 to 1993 vintages inclusive: Domaine des Chézeaux only had their original parcel of Griotte-Chambertin during this time, and it was leased to Domaine Ponsot  1994: Reportedly, only one wine was produced under the Domaine des Chézeaux label in 1994 – the first vintage in which Chézeaux had their second parcel of Griotte, which was leased to René Leclerc. The wine from both parcels was blended together for the Domaine des Chézeaux bottling.   1995 to 2001 vintages inclusive: Two identical Domaine des Chézeaux bottlings of Griotte-Chambertin were produced during these years, with nothing on the label to indicate which producer made them.  2002 onwards: The producer of the Griotte-Chambertin is detailed on the Domaine des Chézeaux labels from the 2002 vintage. While there continued to be two bottlings up to and including 2004, from 2005 onwards, René Leclerc’s Griotte was only occasionally bottled by Domaine des Chézeaux, with the wine more often sold off in bulk. (The 2010 and 2011 vintages are the exception, with the Leclerc bottling returning to the Chézeaux line-up, but with the producer name detailed on the label still.)   The Ponsot wines also have the Ponsot name embossed on the bottom of the bottles. Laurent Ponsot retained the lease for the vineyard when he left the family domaine, 2017 onwards.   The future of Domaine des Chézeaux  While Domaine des Chézeaux has a surprisingly deep history for such a modern estate, it’s surely only the beginning. With a talented vigneron like Charles van Canneyt at the helm and such enviable vineyard holdings, quality at this address is only going in one direction – and we’ve no doubt the wines will soon be as hard to secure as anything else he produces.  Domaine des Chézeaux’s 2023s 2023 Gevrey-Chambertin, Clos des Chézeaux: This monopole vineyard covers half a hectare, with some of the vines almost 100 years in age (planted in 1929). Mid-slope and facing southeast, the village site has deep, clay-rich soils with gravel, sitting just below Premier Cru Cazetiers and neighbouring another monopole village site, Clos du Château, farmed and produced by Armand Rousseau. Charles van Canneyt noted how managing the surrounding woodland (in particular removing some trees) had totally changed the site – bringing better airflow and more sunlight to the vineyard. His first vintage is scented, with bright and lush dark red-berry fruit, alongside iris and violet florals. The palate is vibrant and juicy, but with a fine-grained grip – nubuck-like tannins that frame the fruit, while there’s a savoury, saline note on the long finish. 2023 Gevrey-Chambertin, Premier Cru, Les Cazetiers: The vines in the Domaine des Chézeaux parcel of Cazetiers are very old, lending additional intensity to this brilliant Premier Cru. The wine is delicate, with chalky minerality and delicate floral perfume that entices on the nose. The palate has an earthy minerality, but that’s complemented by beautifully transparent dark berry fruit. It’s firm in texture, with savoury mineral tannins that balance the wine’s natural juiciness. Effortlessly balanced, long and impressive. Five barrels were produced in 2023. 2023 Griotte-Chambertin, Grand Cru: Griotte-Chambertin is the jewel in Domaine des Chézeaux’s crown, with the largest holding of this small Grand Cru site – renowned for producing gloriously aromatic and elegant wines. Charles van Canneyt’s first vintage is seductive, with sweet spice and just the lightest touch of toast sitting alongside waves of supple red cherry fruit. The wine is bright – offering an instant intensity and fullness, plush and voluptuous, yet with effortless elegance. It’s tight at this nascent stage, but you can see how much more it has to offer, with a structure that deserves time. Smoky tones linger on the long finish. A superb début. *This wine is famously the one that got fraudster Rudy Kurniawan caught, after he was found selling older vintages of Domaine Ponsot Clos Saint-Denis, although the property didn’t produce the Grand Cru prior to taking on the Chézeaux holding in 1982.  Keep an eye out for the first wines from the new Domaine des Chézeaux, which will be released soon; in the meantime, read more about Burgundy 

In 2021, Charles van Canneyt – of Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat – purchased the little-known Domaine des Chézeaux. Ahead of the release of his first vintage, we dive into the backstory of this Gevrey-Chambertin property – one that is set to be one of the Côte de Nuits’s most exciting new addresses 

Everything you need to know about this Gevrey-Chambertin wine estate, now owned by Charles van Canneyt of Domaine Hudelot-Noellat  

The new Domaine des Chezeaux, Gevrey-Chambertin 

The new Domaine des Chézeaux       

It is hard to imagine The Balvenie without David Stewart MBE and vice versa. The story of each one is so entwined with the other that it’s nigh on impossible to unpick where one starts and the other ends. Since joining William Grant & Sons in 1962 as a whisky stocks clerk, Stewart has gone on to become of the most well-known and respected names in the Scotch whisky industry. He is, for many, the pioneer of cask finishing, and his achievements are far too numerous to list. When the incredibly humble man “hangs up his boots” after a 57-year-plus career, Kelsey McKechnie will become the youngest-ever female Malt Master. “Everyone always jokes and says do I feel the pressure and what does it feel like getting into a role like this. There definitely is an element of pressure around it but it’s funny, you really don’t feel it. I enjoy this role and I love being here. I’ve been very lucky, so I’m saying ‘let’s ride it out for as long as we can’,” the 29-year-old says with unfettered excitement. The Malt Master role is a very different one today than it was in the 1960s, something McKechnie and William Grant & Sons Master Blender Brian Kinsman continually rib Stewart about. “Obviously, way back in the ’60s we had very little to nose,” Stewart says in a flash. When he joined the family-owned business under Master Blender and Balvenie Malt Master Hamish Robertson, Glenfiddich and The Balvenie weren’t being bottled as single malts and Grant’s Standfast blend was the company’s bread and butter. Today, the triumvirate nose samples from Ailsa Bay, Girvan Distillery, Kininvie, Glenfiddich and The Balvenie. From the new-make spirit to mature samples, bottling runs to all the vat samples, everything produced at the William Grant distilleries in Scotland and Ireland passes under the noses of Kinsman, McKechnie and Stewart. This equates to approximately 40-50 Scotch, Irish whiskey, Bourbon and rum samples per day. There are a number of parallels in Stewart and McKechnie’s stories, which they don’t even seem to realise. Both started in very different roles and eyed an interesting opportunity to nose spirits. Through serendipity and, one suspects, a tremendous amount of inherent skill and hard graft, the two found their way into the nosing lab. And once faced with row upon row of whisky samples, the pair knew in an instant that they found their calling. “I always say I have been very lucky,” McKechnie says. “I’m such a firm believer in timing. I came into the team at a time when I had built up enough technical process skills to understand how whisky is produced and carry out analysis, and do all these different things and apply it to blending.” In 2018, Kinsman and Stewart approached 26-year-old McKechnie to ask if she would be interested in learning all things regarding Balvenie and eventually moving into the Malt Master role. She’d been with the company for almost four years at this time, working her way from the lab to the whisky stocks team, from the Lowlands to the beating heart of the business in Speyside. So, what does it take to become a Malt Master and what did the two whisky patriarchs see in the young female scientist at the infancy of her whisky career? According to Stewart, one of the biggest things is the nosing aspect. “We can identify what’s right and what’s not, just by nosing the whisky,” he says. “And that’s what takes the time to learn.” Stewart had already been through the process of training a successor with Brian Kinsman from 2001 to 2010. It might be hard for some to fathom why this apprenticeship takes the best part of a decade, but so much of the role is about instinct and the finest of margins. In the same way Robertson brought in samples for Stewart – albeit not quite as many – all those years before, Stewart to this day brings in spirit samples for Kinsman and McKechnie. “Really, it’s nosing together; pointing out things,” Stewart adds. “I bring in samples from different cask types and different ages. Brian just worked with me and gradually he took over and I was doing less and less.” When asked if she thinks she has a natural gift, McKechnie says it’s curiosity above anything else that’s required to be a good noser. “I think everybody just needs to be curious enough to want to nose. Most often – apart from a few people where it is genetic and there’s one reason or another that they don’t have a sense of smell – I actually think so many people will be fantastic nosers.” And the difference between Joe Bloggs and the youngest-ever female Malt Master? The word association piece, according to McKechnie. “So often we’ll see when people are starting up that they can nose something and they can say ‘this is different’. So we do difference nosing. We have one glass and we’re just nosing it against another and saying ‘pick up the difference or not’ – it’s often easy for people but they can’t put into play what they can pick up.” Like any other skill, McKechnie says it takes years of practice and fine tuning. “It’s like using a different language,” she says. “To remain fluent, you need to continually keep nosing and to be able to relate those words to what you’re picking up in nose and taste. I actually think everyone has a gift, if that’s what you want to call it, or the ability to do it. It’s just about really working out what flavour this is and what do we call it.” Sometimes tasting notes for spirits and wines can be a little, shall we say, creative. For this reason, at William Grant & Sons, free words are banned. “We’re really strict about what people can call the different spirits,” McKechnie explains. “It could be too easy for somebody to say ‘this smells like a walk in the park’ and we can find ourselves in a bit of a pickle.” When starting out, as a professional or merely an appreciator of spirits, this word association piece can be a barrier, according to McKechnie, but it shouldn’t be. “There is no need for whisky to be intimidating at all,” she says. “For me, I think it’s because people are so passionate about it. It gets everyone a little bit puffed up – I’m guilty of it as well. But there really is no need for it at all because it really is such an open area that there isn’t one strict answer so I’ll always say that to people – if you are new to it, make sure you get lots of water in there because whisky is just such a flavour bomb. I think people don’t really know what they’re nosing because there are 50-100 different flavours coming at you at once.” So, do the three professional nosers ever disagree? “Because I’ve only ever learned to nose and blend from David who has learned from Brian and vice versa, we don’t often butt heads or have a difference of opinion –  but it does happen,” McKechnie says with a coy smile. Rather than being daunted by the spectre of the longest-serving Malt Master and Kinsman – who has racked up a fairly daunting 24 years in role – McKechnie seems energised by the legacy and is visibly thrilled at the prospect of one day imparting this knowledge to her own apprentice. “I think it would be a massive compliment to be able to give someone the knowledge you have gained,” she says. “I really like the thought of actually one day being able to train someone.” When it comes to the future at The Balvenie, McKechnie says they have “many things bubbling away in the warehouses” and they have “a few more Balvenies tucked up our sleeves”. But, on a personal note, “it’s working with Brian and David day-in-day-out and gaining more of the understanding about what makes Balvenie so unique. Understanding more around the stock model and that 50-year horizon and ensuring that I’ve got the skills to make sure the next 50 years is looking good and that we’re not laying down all the wrong things.” The Balvenie maintains a lot of the traditional whisky-making traditions. It is the only Scotch whisky distillery to grow its own barley, use traditional floor maltings and keep coppersmiths and coopers on site. Rather than being gilded handcuffs, these ties to traditions allow the team to experiment at the point of distillation and Stewart has spearheaded a number of trials that have come from the maltings throughout his career. “I think if there is one thing that David has ever taught me, it’s about how important innovation is,” McKechnie says. “We always talk about the fact we’re the home of cask finishing. It was something that was second nature in David’s role until people started calling it innovation. “And it’s something that we always want to pass on. We’re constantly thinking about what’s next and how can we do something unique and what exciting things we have in the distillery that we could release and bring to everyone. “Obviously the Scotch Whisky Association is pretty strict, in a good way, so that no-one is going to mimic us, but we also like to push the boundaries a little bit and say, what can we really get away with here?” With a glint in her eye and an unmistakable enthusiasm in her voice, you can’t help but feel The Balvenie, when it comes to honouring tradition and driving innovation, is in very safe hands for the next 50 years and beyond. Browse all whisky or read more Editorial

David Stewart MBE is the longest-serving Malt Master. Kelsey McKechnie is the youngest female Malt Master Apprentice. Holly Motion speaks to the two Balvenie record-breakers about passing the baton, the weight of a legacy, and what it really means to lay down stocks for the next generation

Balvenie's longest-serving Malt Master David Stewart MBE and his successor Kelsey McKechnie on upholding tradition while driving innovation at the distillery.

The Balvenie, making of a master

The Balvenie: the making of a master

Last year Colgin celebrated its 30th harvest. In a relatively short time, this Napa estate has become one of the most successful wineries in the region, if not the world. Its three single-vineyard wines – Cariad, Tychson Hill and IX Estate – regularly receive 99-100 points scores across the board, establishing it as one of the region’s cult Cabernet estates that has put Napa on the international fine wine map. Despite its international repute, however, Paul Roberts – Master Sommelier and Colgin’s COO – believes the estate, and Napa Valley as a whole, is still only just starting to tell its story. Napa, more than anywhere else, has been massively influenced by wine critics’ scores. While there is much fanfare over being awarded a perfect 100 points, these headline-grabbing scores have distracted from the actual reasons why this hugely heterogeneous region can produce such great wines, and that the wines themselves are distinctly varied, both in style and flavour profile. For some collectors, if a wine from Napa doesn’t have a 99 or 100-point score then they aren’t interested; however more engaged collectors are starting to identify the nuances within the region and are eager to learn more. Roberts has noticed this first-hand. “[People] don’t want to rely only on a score for guidance but instead begin to look for reasons why they really like these wines from Pritchard Hill, for instance… this is an evolution.” It reminds Roberts of a conversation he had with Dominique Lafon (Domaine des Comtes Lafon) when visiting Burgundy. Lafon said to Roberts, “When Domaine Faiveley sued Robert Parker in 1993, it was the best thing that could have happened to Burgundy. Parker left Burgundy and no other critic at the time had the influence like he did.” Lafon felt that it forced the wineries in Burgundy to focus on the story behind their wine – the characteristics of each vineyard – instead of a score. “This has to be the next evolution in understanding the great wines and the great terroirs of Napa,” says Roberts.  While Roberts emphasises that Colgin doesn’t trade on its scores, it is fortunate to have them. “But Napa is about a place – and we need to talk about this more,” he says. “The place is going to outlive you, me, Robert Parker, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Antonio Galloni, all of us will be dead and gone, but the land abides. The place will hopefully begin to take on its own unique story, just in the same way you think Romanée-Saint-Vivant is different to Richebourg.” Tasting Colgin with Roberts, you quickly realise that for him tannins (their shape, intensity and mouthfeel) are an important aspect of understanding Napa’s different terroirs, as well as what really sets Napa apart from other Cabernet-growing regions around the world. Firstly, there’s the sheer volume of tannins. Top Napa Cabernets have higher skin-to-juice ratios than even the First Growths, notes Roberts, and therefore much more “antioxidant” tannins than their Bordeaux counterparts, vital for long ageing and development in bottle. Colgin’s mountainside IX Estate vineyard on Pritchard Hill produces berries that are, on average, 30% smaller than those grown in Pauillac and, to Roberts, have a completely different tannin profile. “While we love and enjoy drinking Bordeaux wines,” says Roberts, “Napa shoots itself in the foot every time we keep comparing our wines to Bordeaux. The climate, the terroir, the soils, they are just completely different.” When asked to describe the differences between the various regions within Napa, Roberts wants the tannins to guide you. While the reality is more nuanced, generally Roberts finds that the further south you are, the more elegant the tannin profile. In the south it is slightly cooler, something further exaggerated by the elevation. The northern part of the valley, however, produces “exotic, fleshy, powerful wines”. He finds that the mountain appellations – Spring Mountain, Howell Mountain and Diamond Mountain – produce powerful, dense, tannic, structured wines.  
Today Napa wines are often divided into those from the valley floor and those from mountain sites. While this binary division is one way to approach the geographical distinctions within Napa, but it is, Roberts feels, overly simplistic. Most importantly, it doesn’t allow for wines that are neither valley floor or mountain – the hillside vineyards, such as Colgin. 
Napa’s climate is influenced heavily by marine fog. Every day during the growing season, a layer of fog forms over the vineyards. Valley floor vineyards sit below the fog line and are protected from the full daytime power of the sun, moderating the climate. Mountain sites are above the fog line and are therefore constantly exposed to the California sunshine, which, according to Roberts, produces “a different berry structure” to the grapes on the valley floor. “The berries are smaller and have much thicker skins, very different tannins and much later picking cycles, since the mountain appellations are cooler due to elevation,” he explains.

“This cloud layer, that determines whether you are in a valley floor appellation, or a mountain appellation, tops off around 1,400 feet,” says Roberts. “ Howell Mountain’s vineyards starts at 1,400 feet; Diamond Mountain – most properties sit between 1,600-2,600 feet; Spring Mountain have some vineyards at 3,000 feet.” These then sit comfortably above the fog line and are rightly classified as mountain appellation wines. But Colgin, along with some others, Roberts believes, are wrongly considered mountain wines.

Colgin’s vineyards sit between 300 and 1,400 feet, and remain in or below the fog line. So, in some ways, they are similar to the valley floor, but, because they are on a hillside, they benefit from what Roberts calls “the devigourating nature of a hillside rocky soil”. These hillside vineyards have their own distinct climatic and geological influence – that doesn’t fit with mountain terroir or valley floor, but shares elements of both. For Roberts, Colgin’s vineyards are better described as a mid-slope hillside appellation, and it finds itself in good company.  
“If you look back at the time when we released our first vintage,” says Roberts, “we were labelled among a number of wineries as one of the cult Cabernet estates. Harlan Estate, Bryant Estate, Eisele Vineyards and ourselves – you look, and all of them are planted on mid-slope hillsides." Screaming Eagle (another cult Cabernet estate), Roberts admits, is strictly valley floor, but it is still on a slope. “A lot of people at the time said you are not going to be able to get Cabernet ripe and it’s too hard to plant in the rocky soils on these mid-slopes,” says Roberts. “But now this is where you see a lot of the great estates are situated.” “Even if you look at a famous vineyard like To Kalon,” says Roberts, “it is roughly the same size as Clos Vougeot. We all know Clos Vougeot is a Grand Cru, but within the vineyard it has some Grand Cru quality terroir, some not so good Premier Cru quality and even some village quality terroir, all within the same delineated boundary. Well, To Kalon is the same. If you get close to the road (Highway 29), it is a totally different style of wine than if you are further back on the toe of the hill where there is deeper gravel. That to me is like the Grand Cru part of To Kalon and that part, like Screaming Eagle, is on a slope, and behaves closer to a mid-slope hillside appellation than valley floor.”  The great advantage of these mid-slope hillside appellations, according to Roberts, is not only better drainage and the natural devigouration of the rocky soils, but a different ripening cycle. Because the soils are that much drier, they warm up quicker at the beginning of the season, pushing the hillside vineyards to bud earlier and to ripen more quickly than those on the valley floor and in the mountain appellations. This helps them avoid the late season rain that can disrupt a vintage. The result, therefore, is much more consistency year to year. Roberts notes that more and more producers are realising the virtues of the Napa hillsides, with the likes of Tim Mondavi now planting on Pritchard Hill. Despite demand for these hillside plots, which have proven their potential, Roberts doesn’t expect to see the “appellation” expand much more. Regulation and restrictions from California’s Land Use Law prevents any new plantings on Napa’s hillsides, preserving key natural habitats. And that might be no bad thing, since the residential properties being developed in the region and their ornamental plantings of lavender and rosemary, Roberts argues, pose a huge fire risk for the region. California faces a tumultuous future. As aquafers dry up and fires rage around the state, California sometimes feels like a perilous place that needs protecting. Colgin know the dangers only too well. On 17th August 2020, a freak storm hit California. The state saw 10,000 lightning strikes in 24 hours. One of the two huge fires that the storm caused started directly opposite Colgin’s vineyards. “Within four hours, we were in an evacuation zone,” says Roberts. “The fire couldn’t be put out by a fire crew because it was on such a steep hillside, they couldn’t get to it. All air assets had been deployed to southern California, since that is where they thought the storm would hit.” Fortunately, vineyards act as firebreaks and Colgin’s vineyards were saved – although they didn’t make any wine in 2020 because of the smoke damage. Such a close call has Roberts and his team doing everything they can to minimise the risks. A massive amount of brush clearing, putting in fire roads as well as bringing in new technology to minimize the risks. At the top of Colgin’s vineyards, Roberts recently approved a heat camera that can sense and detect the emergence of a fire, allowing them to deploy helicopters and put fires out early, before they have a chance to spread.

While these issues have become a day-to-day concern in the region, Roberts is confident Napa is turning a page in its history. If you look beyond the headlines of high scores and wildfires, Napa’s vineyards and varied terroir are starting to find a voice – and that’s where the real story is. Your guide to Colgin’s three single vineyards: IX Estate, Tychson Hill and Cariad While Colgin’s three single vineyards all share mid-slope hillside positioning and the climatic benefits this brings, the sites produce three very different styles of Cabernet, due to their different soils and microclimates. IX Estate IX Estate is an 8.07-hectare vineyard situated on Pritchard Hill overlooking Lake Henessey at an altitude of between 1,100 and 1,400 feet. The IX Estate vineyard’s bedrock is made up of old lava flow, full of iron. The soil looks red, dotted with large volcanic boulders. According to Colgin’s COO Paul Roberts MS, the iron component gives an almost sanguine nature to the tannins. “There are lots of them, but they are very, very fine,” says Roberts. “Then there is an almost bloody note – not as much as in the Northern Rhône – not full blood – not that extreme, but more mouth-watering, not from the acidity but from the flavour/nature of the tannins.” The wines from IX Estate have a distinct red fruit profile on the palate which is a classic element of this part of Napa. The wild flora and fauna around the vineyard, to Roberts, “add an almost herb component, as close as you get to garrigue in the south of France – thyme, rosemary, wild sage.” Tychson Hill Tychson Hill is an historic vineyard site, first planted in the 19th century. The vines were pulled out during prohibition, with the site only replanted by Anne Colgin in the mid-1990s. The vineyard is north of the town of St Helena at an altitude of 300-422 feet. In total 2.42 hectares are planted to vines. The bedrock is also volcanic, but with a very different volcanic origin to IX Estate, with a mix of gravel and obsidian black stone (a black volcanic glass). According to Roberts, the wines from Tchyson Hill has less tannin than IX Estate and they are rounder, without the edges you get in IX Estate. “The tannin quality of the wine begins to emulate the shape of the stones you find in the vineyard,” says Roberts. “Tychson Hill is a much older material – so a finer quality of tannin.” The diurnal shift at Tychson Hill also has a distinct effect on the wines, with a shift of up to 9-10˚C – which provides much more aromatics and more red fruit character. “The climate can fully volatilise and metabolize tannins,” says Roberts, “so they appear much softer.” It is also, he believes, Colgin’s most approachable wine in its youth. Cariad Cariad is a steeper vineyard site, 3.2 hectares in the western hills of St Helena at an altitude of 400-500 feet. The vines are grown on what is an uplifted, old gravel riverbed. The tannins, according to Roberts, are “more spherical because of the rounded stones in the vineyard”. The fruit is more purple in character. Earlier vintages of Cariad were a Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend that typically was the slowest maturing of the three, needing the longest time for the tannins to fully integrate, but today much of the Merlot has been replaced with Cabernet Franc, which Roberts believes brings a much “fleshier beauty” early on in its maturity. Browse all Colgin listings or read more editorial

Napa’s finest wines receive stratospheric scores – but there’s much more to the region’s story. Gavin Smith talks to Master Sommelier and Colgin COO about why it’s time to stop focusing on critical acclaim and let Napa’s vineyards speak for themselves

Exploring how Napa’s vineyards are finding their voice with a spotlight on Colgin’s three single vineyards: IX Estate, Tychson Hill and Cariad

Exploring a new chapter for Napa

A new chapter for Napa

Wine writer Tamlyn Currin is well known for her love of off-the-beaten track wines, in particular wines from Germany. FONDATA asked her to consider why it is that Riesling fans (of which she is most certainly one) are so much more zealous than fans of other grape varieties.

Examine Riesling's authenticity as a terroir ambassador and its varied styles. Dive into its global celebration and why it's cherished by enthusiasts. 


FONDATA: Exploring Riesling's popularity

Riesling, it’s a tribal thing

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