Group CEO Patrick O’Connor reflects on Bordeaux 2025: a hot, dry and early vintage defined by small yields, precise viticulture, restrained winemaking and a new wave of estates delivering wines of real distinction.

Patrick O’Connor, Group CEO, explores Bordeaux 2025: a hot, dry, early vintage shaped by precision, small yields and standout wines.

Bordeaux 2025 en primeur: vintage overview      

Bordeaux 2025: vintage overview               

Inspired by a Russian, first made by a Hungarian, who was succeeded by a Frenchman and then a German, the winemaking lineage at Masseto has been decidedly international – until now, that is. Since January 2024, the leading Super Tuscan and Ornellaia’s sibling estate has had its first native at the helm: Marco Balsimelli – born in Arezzo, not far from Siena, took the reins from longtime Production Director Axel Heinz.  Balsimelli comes with his own illustrious pedigree, having long been based in Bordeaux, working at Gruaud Larose and, since 2010, alongside the famous Eric Boissenot as a consultant winemaker to many of the region’s leading estates, but the chance to work at Ornellaia and Masseto – iconic names from his Tuscan homeland – was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.  It was André Tchelistcheff (the Russian-born Napa winemaker) who first suggested to Lodovico Antinori that a particular hill on the Ornellaia estate would be perfect for Merlot. Tchelistcheff was consulting for Antinori, and recognised the potential of the parcel of blue clay – the same soil that is synonymous with Pétrus. Back then, in the 1980s, Merlot was barely planted in Tuscany and remained an unknown quantity in the region, with only Castello di Ama – based further inland in Chianti Classico – having some vines (today used for its flagship L’Apparita). Nevertheless, the Ornellaia team took a chance and planted most of the seven-hectare swathe of clay in 1984 (additional planting took place in 1995).  The first vintage of Merlot from the site was made in 1987: Masseto was born. The name comes from “masso”, Italian for rock, after the large boulder-like clumps of clay that dot the vineyard’s surface. It didn’t take long for the wine to earn international acclaim, with Wine Spectator giving the 2001 vintage 100 points, and its place was cemented in vinous history.  Although Tchelistcheff consulted until 1989, replaced by Michel Rolland from 1991, Hungarian Tibor Gál was the property’s first winemaker. Gál was succeeded by Thomas Duroux (now of Ch. Palmer), who in 2005 passed the baton to Axel Heinz, the German-born winemaker who preceded Balsimelli. The property has changed hands over the years too, with the Mondavi family taking a share in 1999 before buying it outright from Lodovico Antinori, and selling it onto the Frescobaldi family, who took full ownership of Ornellaia and Masseto from 2005.  Much might have changed, but the terroir hasn’t. “It’s a very special site,” Balsimelli tells me. The all-important clay dominates the topsoil, which is only about a metre deep. When it rains, the clay swells, making it near impossible for the vines’ roots to develop. High sodium levels in the soils only accentuate the problem. “For the roots, it’s a battle every day,” he says. It’s that struggle, he feels, that you can taste in the concentrated, high-acid fruit from the site.  The climate is key too, lying just 10 kilometres from the Tyrrhenian Sea. Fresh marine breezes mean the temperature is around 5°C lower than that in central Tuscany, with a drop of circa 15°C from day to night. Combine this with the light reflected off the sea, and you get a long growing season, preserving aromatics and acidity, yet encouraging phenolic ripeness – wines that combine perfume and power. Surrounded by forest, there is a reason that Masseto is run as an entirely separate project to Ornellaia, with its own unique identity – even if it has always shared a winemaker (and, until 2019, a winery) with its sibling estate.  For Balsimelli, the project has provided a fresh challenge. The shift away from a consultant role – no longer offering advice before moving on to the next project, but sitting with each and every decision – adds a new weight of responsibility. “I spend a lot of time thinking about the technical questions and the consequences,” he tells me. Since most of his work with Boissenot had been based on Bordeaux’s Left Bank, focused on Cabernet-driven blends from larger estates, working with a small property, focused on just one variety and various sub-plots is a different sort of jigsaw puzzle. The approach, for him, is much more Burgundian – all about expressing the purity of the site and its blue clay. “You have to be perfect with only one type of soil and one grape variety,” he explains.  The quest for perfection was started long ago at Masseto and today the vines average between 20 and 30 years in age. They’ve also been moving from cordon-trained to bush vines – first trialled in 2008 and something which they have found helps temper the effects of global warming (coping better in dry conditions and shading the fruit from the heat of the sun). Farmed organically since 2012, there has also been a significant focus on encouraging biodiversity across the site, including using cover crops to reduce soil compaction, increase organic matter and retain humidity in the soils.  Balsimelli’s first vintage was 2024, which won’t be released until 2027. But he’s clearly excited by the site, as well as how he can tweak and improve a wine that is already lauded by critics and consumers. “When you taste old vintages of Masseto, you can feel the legacy, taste the terroir,” he says – and that’s exactly what he wants to do moving forward, channelling the Boissenot philosophy: understanding a piece of land and finding the best solution to express it in the glass. For him, that solution will be all about accentuating the wine’s elegance.  He notes how there was – across the world of wine – a trend towards low yield and high levels of maturity in the early 2000s, but his preferred vintages are those that saw more balance. The 2006, for example, is his favourite at the moment – a year with more rainfall, more vigour, and – he feels – more energy as a result. It’s a vintage that he believes is “the key for the future”.  The site is one that can ripen quickly, and he plans to focus on freshness, maybe picking a little earlier, reducing extraction and lowering temperatures for maceration. The 2022 is the vintage set to be released this September – a wine that Balsimelli notes shows just how good the site is – performing even in tricky conditions such as 2022’s hot growing season. It is, he says, “the magic of Massseto”. Magic it may be, but Balsimelli is set on elevating this special estate even further.   Explore all current listings of Masseto or read more Editorial 

Often considered the Pétrus of Italy, Masseto is a wine like no other. Ahead of the new release, we sat down with Marco Balsimelli – the man at the helm today – to talk about the special site and what lies ahead for the Super Tuscan 

Talking to the Super Tuscan’s new Production Director Marco Balsimelli about Masseto, Ornellaia sibling estate and its unique Merlot wines

The magic of Masseto - Marco Balsimelli

The magic of Masseto

The 2024 vintage in Bordeaux brought record rainfall – but there’s much more to the year than this. As the first wines are released, Sophie Thorpe reports on a complicated year and the wines it produced

Explore the 2024 vintage in Bordeaux and the wines it produced – looking at the growing season and style of the wines as they’re released en primeur

Bordeaux 2024 wines en primeur – vintage overview

Bordeaux 2024: vintage overview  

Alphonse Gros was the first in his family to settle in Vosne-Romanée, in 1830, and purchased the monopole Clos des Réas, still worked by the family today. His son Louis-Gustave took over the business and bought more vineyards. He married and – by the mid-19th century – the wines were bottled under their combined name, as Domaine Gros-Guenaud. In 1882, he purchased two hectares of Richebourg – vineyard land that remains under the Gros family today. Louis-Gustave’s son, Jules Gros, inherited the business from his father and, similarly to his father, labelled the wines under his and his wife’s name, as Domaine Gros-Renaudot. In 1920, he purchased two parcels of Clos Vougeot, later adding Les Grands Echezeaux and three hectares of Echézeaux, in the lieu-dit Les Loächausses.  Louis Gros, Jules’s son, took over in due course, and bottled wines under Domaine Louis Gros and later Domaine Louis Gros & Fils. He passed away in 1951, leaving four children: Jean, François, Gustave and Colette, who continued running the family estate until 1963, when they divvied up the property.  Gustave and Colette joined their shares together to create Domaine Gros Frère & Soeur.  Jean and François worked together, making wine under the name Gros Père & Fils, but divided their holdings in the early 1970s. Jean established his own estate, Domaine Jean Gros.  François continued to produce wine under the Gros Père & Fils label (négoce bottlings), but also under Domaine François Gros. In 1978, he stopped bottling wine due to health problems, and for a decade all the wine was sold to a négociant, with both the domaine or négoce ceasing production. Despite previously studying the arts, his daughter Anne Gros shifted too winemaking and revived the family domaine in 1988, under the name Domaine Anne & François Gros, changing this to Domaine Anne Gros in 1995.  Jean had three children: Bernard, Michel and Anne-Françoise. Bernard Gros took over Domaine Gros Frère & Soeur, while Michel Gros starting making wine under his own name at Domaine Michel Gros. Anne-Françoise established Domaine A.-F. Gros (she later married François Parent of Pommard, who brought family vines with him to the operation). The next generation is now taking over, and even setting up their own estates – with Anne Gros’s son Paul Tollot-Gros having made his first handful of vintages under his own name.    The Gros estates today  Domaine Gros Frère & Soeur: Bernard Gros has now handed the running of this domaine over to his son, Vincent Gros.  Domaine Michel Gros: Michel Gros is still at the helm of this estate, although his son Pierre is now working alongside his father.  Domaine A.-F. Gros: This estate, with a large winery in Beaune as well as a property in Pommard, is now run by brother-and-sister Caroline and Mathias Parent, with Caroline in charge of the commercial side of the business and Mathias running the vineyards and winery.  Domaine Anne Gros: Anne Gros is still in charge at the estate, but her children – Julie, Paul and Marine – are all involved. Paul has now also set up his own label (see below). She also has a project in the Minervois, under the name Jean-Paul Tollot & Anne Gros  Paul Tollot-Gros: Anne Gros’s son, Paul Tollot-Gros, set up his own label as of the 2022 vintage.   

There are several different Gros estates in Burgundy – but how are they all related? Here, we dive into their vinous dynasty

There are many different Gros estates in Burgundy – but how are they related? We dive into Gros Frere & Soeur, Michel Gros, Anne Gros, A-F Gros and more

The Gros family domaines in Burgundy 

Untangling the Gros family’s estates in Burgundy

What is Cristal – and who makes it? 
The Grande Marque Champagne Louis Roederer produces Cristal. Founded in 1833, Roederer is the largest independent, family-owned Champagne house today. Cristal is their prestige cuvée – the very best wine they produce, only made in the finest years. Always a vintage wine, it's a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The current Chef de Cave (and Executive Vice-President) at the house is Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, who is responsible for the entire Louis Roederer range. When was Cristal first made? The wine is considered the first and original “prestige cuvée”. It was first made for Tsar Alexander II in 1876, after he asked Louis Roederer to reserve the house’s best wine for him and his court. At the time, Roederer was one of the few house’s to own its own vineyards (a legacy that continues today). A gold capsule and label was used to indicate that the wine was the best in the range, as was common at the time. Reportedly, the Tsar lived in fear of assassination – and as such requested that the wine be bottled in clear glass, so that he could see if it had been poisoned, and with a flat bottom so that bombs couldn’t be contained in the punt (the traditional indent in the base of Champagne bottles). The glass used was lead-crystal – giving the wine its name, “Cristal”. When the Russian Revolution took place in 1917 and the Tsars were no more, Roederer continued to make the wine – releasing it commercially for the first time in 1945. Although the wine would originally have been sweet, the dry style of Champagne gradually became more popular (made initially for the English market) and Cristal evolved with the fashion. Today it is one of the most sought-after Champagnes in the world, alongside other prestige cuvées such as Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne, Dom Pérignon, Krug, Pol Roger’s Sir Winston Churchill, Veuve Clicquot’s La Grande Dame and Bollinger’s Grande Année. How is Cristal made? Until 1999, Cristal was blended solely on taste. Different parcels from Roederer’s estate vineyards were tasted blind and the best-possible wine created. From 1999 onwards, however, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon took over and started using the same 45 plots, all mid-slope with chalky soils across seven different Grands Crus. These plots have all been farmed biodynamically since 2012. Only fruit from vines more than 20 years old is used for the prestige cuvée, with any younger-vine fruit declassified to the Collection bottlings (the estate’s vintage, Blanc de Blancs and rosé wines all come from specific vineyards). Typically, it’s a blend of around 40% Chardonnay and 60% Pinot Noir. The base wines are mainly fermented in stainless steel, with a proportion in oak. The wine undergoes secondary fermentation and is aged on lees for a minimum six years, then aged for at least eight months after disgorgement prior to release. With climate change and general trends in Champagne, the dosage has been reduced – from 12-13 to around 8g/l today. The final blend is still blind-tasted by the family to ensure the wine is up to scratch. Around 300,000 to 400,000 bottles of Cristal are made a year. 
What does Cristal taste like? Cristal is an incredible Champagne – and one of the most age-worthy. With vibrant acidity and refined minerality, it is a linear and precise style of Champagne that rewards time in bottle. Complex, expressive and aromatic, critics have awarded the wine multiple 100-point scores over the years – notably the 2002 and 2008 vintages. To further emphasise its ageability, in 2017 Louis Roederer released the first of a new series of Vinothèque bottlings – aged both longer on lees and then for a further 10 years on cork. The first Vinothèque wines were from the 1995 vintage, but wines from 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000 have since also been released. These are available in extremely limited volumes, but offer a taste of the wines with maturity. They tend to have a slightly lower dosage than the earlier-released wines. Is Cristal rosé? Yes and no. The original prestige cuvée is a white wine, however a rosé sibling was introduced with the 1974 vintage, created by Jean-Claude Rouzaud. The wine celebrates old-vine Pinot Noir from Grand Cru vineyards in Aÿ, historically from three sites (Bonotte Pierre Robert, Gargeotte and Côte du Moulin), but now also from La Villers. Pinot Noir typically represents 55% of the blend, complemented with Chardonnay from Pierre Vaudon in Avize and Montmartin in Le Mesnil. Cristal Rosé is made using the saignée method – pressing the grapes to extract colour, with the Pinot and Chardonnay then co-fermented (rather than blending). From the 2008 vintage, the Pinot Noir sees a cold-soak "infusion" with no punching over/pumping down, for up to 10 days. Around 20% of the base wine is aged in oak. The wine goes through secondary fermentation in bottle and is aged on lees for around eight years prior to release. Why is Cristal wrapped in plastic? The trademark gold cellophane wrapper is to protect the wine from UV light. As the wine is bottled in clear glass, UV light can cause “light strike” – a fault that causes cabbage or rotten-egg aromas in the wine. As such, the plastic should be kept on the wine until it is served. Cristal’s street cred and controversy Cristal was once the choice of hip-hop’s most famous names. “Cristal forever/Play the crib when it’s mink weather,” raps the Notorious B.I.G. on Jay-Z’s Brooklyn’s Finest. Raekwon, 50 Cent, Big L and many more were all fans. Tupac even created a cocktail with Cristal called “Thug Passion”, a combination of Cristal and Alizé Gold Passion liqueur. In 2006, however, Frédéric Rouzaud – seventh-generation of the Roederer family and CEO – was asked in an interview about the wine’s association with a “bling” lifestyle. In response he said, “What can we do? We can’t forbid people from buying it. I’m sure Dom Pérignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business.” Jay-Z responded: “It has come to my attention that the managing director of Cristal, Frédéric Rouzaud, views the ‘hip-hop’ culture as ‘unwelcome attention’. I view his comments as racist and will no longer support any of his products through any of my various brands, including the 40/40 Club, nor in my personal life.” Others followed, and soon Cristal was replaced by other wines and spirits. Jay-Z’s own brand of Champagne, Armand de Brignac, was launched later that year – thought partly to be a retaliation. Browse all Cristal listings or read more Editorial 


Cristal is one of the world’s most sought-after wines – but how did Champagne Louis Roederer’s prestige cuvée come to be, and what makes it so special? Here’s everything you need to know about the wine

Everything you need to know about Cristal – Champagne Louis Roederer’s cult prestige cuvée, from its Russian beginnings to hip-hop credibility

Your ultimate guide to Cristal Champagne

Everything you need to know about Cristal Champagne

For more than two decades, Donum has been quietly crafting single-site, single-clone and sometimes single-barrel wines. With a new estate vineyard to their name, Rachael Ryan – Senior Buyer at our US arm, Vinfolio – sat down with winemaker Dan Fishman to find out more about the ambitious estate  Like most of the New World, California eschews a hierarchy of vineyards. Yet in the absence of Grands Crus and First Growths, some vineyards are just acknowledged as being a notch above the rest. Ask any winemaker for a wish list of vineyards, and a handful of familiar names is repeated. One of these is the Savoy Vineyard.  Nestled at the north end of the Anderson Valley, Savoy was first planted in 1991 and quickly became a source of Pinot Noir for some of the most respected wineries in Northern California, including Littorai, Williams Selyem, Radio-Coteau and Peay, with many more on the waiting list. Last year, however, it was acquired by Donum, a winery based in Carneros with a reputation for producing small lot Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, sold exclusively to private collectors and therefore rarely seen on the market.  Since it was created in 2001, Donum had slowly expanded its reach beyond Carneros, with vineyards in the Russian River and Anderson Valleys, as well as the Sonoma Coast. With the acquisition of Savoy, however, their already envious collection of vineyards took a very notable – and sizable – jump. The gain of this prestigious vineyard marks a shift for Donum, who will now produce wine from estate fruit only: 130 acres at their estate in Carneros, 16 acres at the Winside Vineyard in the Russian River Valley, 20 acres at the newly planted Bodega Vineyard on the Sonoma Coast, and the 42 planted acres at Savoy Vineyard in the Anderson Valley.   Already well-known for their world-class art collection (with over 50 works by the likes of Keith Haring, Yayoi Kusama and Ai Weiwei), what many visitors may not realise is that Donum now has a solid foothold in each of the premium Pinot Noir and Chardonnay winegrowing regions in Northern California.   In some ways, the vineyards owned by Donum are innately similar, perhaps most closely linked the marine layer. This dense fog rolls in from the Pacific Ocean most afternoons during the growing season and is a key characteristic of each of these vineyard sites. The mechanics of this cooling marine layer are somewhat straightforward. As temperatures climb in inland California, the hot air rises, creating a vacuum into which the denser, colder air sitting over the Pacific Ocean rushes. On a typical summer day, coastal areas are fully clouded over by late afternoon, and the fog continues to creep further inland, searching for gaps and valleys in the coastal ranges to extend its reach. This cold, moist air both lowers sunlight hours and keeps temperatures low. In other words, this coastal phenomenon is an extremely useful aide in the production of lively wines that retain a fresh edge.  Aside from cooling fog influence, however, the vineyards Donum farms are topographically quite different. The estate property in Carneros, with its gently rolling hills and proximity to the bay, straddles the southern portion of both Sonoma and Napa counties (though Donum’s property is firmly situated on the Sonoma side), with consistent winds blowing from the southeast over the San Pablo Bay giving the region a wide diurnal shift and the resulting wines a sense of energetic tension. The Anderson Valley, on the other hand, is a narrow swathe cut through dense, old redwood forest, and it's difficult not to mentally connect the rugged hills that line the valley on both sides with a similar evergreen, earthy core in the wines. The Russian River Valley is a warmer microclimate, further removed from the cooling influence of the ocean or bay, with loamy soils producing a more concentrated style of wine with opulent fresh fruit.  But for Dan Fishman (Vice President of Winemaking and Vineyards) perhaps the most unifying characteristic across each site is a hyper-focus on farming, which he believes is the best – and perhaps the only – way to showcase these unique terroirs. When he joined Donum in 2007 as a cellar intern, the farming was conventional, with routine application of herbicides and synthetic fertiliser. In recent years, however, he has spearheaded a pivot towards organic farming.   Notable features of this approach include an on-site composting program, where manure from local dairy farms is added to pomace from the winery and canes from pruning. Other eco-friendly initiatives include an integrated pest management system, extensive cover cropping (Fishman estimates Donum currently uses 20 different cover crop blends comprised of over 40 different plants), as well as animals brought into the rows for winter grazing. All these systems have improved the soil structure, “bringing more back to the soil than we’re taking from it”, he explains.  A peek into the rows at the Carneros estate reveals this shift in viticultural philosophy, with verdant cover crops and bees hovering. Tucked between the sculptures that dot the property are vines that are farmed meticulously. While the art is spectacular and very difficult to ignore, the attention to detail in the vineyards is perhaps even more impressive. Donum is now one of the first wineries in Sonoma County to achieve Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) status for all its estate vineyards, and they’ve also been certified organic from the California Certified Organic Farming Association (CCOF) since the summer of 2022. The ROC status, however, is one that Fishman is particularly proud of, as it encompasses not just soil health and land management, but also animal welfare and the working conditions of the employees.    When asked if he has seen a difference in the behaviour of the vines, and in the quality of the fruit, since undertaking a rigorous approach to organic viticulture, Fishman’s answer is an emphatic yes. He points to the 2023 growing season as a prime example. In a year marked by record-breaking rainfall that extended into early spring, the threat of mildew was abnormally high. “Our conventional neighbors were spraying like crazy and still had mildew,” Fishman says, “but we were obviously using organic methods and applying them less frequently, and we had way less mildew. I think the vines’ natural resiliency was coming out.”   In line with a larger overall trend in Northern California, Fishman says he also has been trying to fine-tune the weight and concentration of the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir produced at each vineyard. If Burgundy’s biggest challenge historically has been to achieve even ripeness vintage to vintage, California’s problem cultivating Pinot Noir and Chardonnay been quite the opposite: how to tame abundant sunshine and control vigour resulting from warm days and fertile soils. While the fog assists with this task, one unexpected benefit of the winery’s intensive focus on farming, Fishman explains, is that the vines are more in balance. “It’s on the subtle side,” he says, “but our wine chemistry is looking better too – higher acidity and more flavour at lower sugars.” Opulence has given way to restraint and nuance.   The resulting range of wines at Donum is an impressive display of small-lot vinification, broken down not just by appellation or vineyard, but also often by individual blocks. In 2021, the winery produced six distinct Chardonnays and 17 Pinot Noirs in total from Carneros, the Russian River Valley and the Anderson Valley. With the development of their newest vineyard on the Sonoma Coast, Donum’s already complex patchwork quilt of wines is about to get even bigger.   With a gentle hand in both the vineyard and winery, Fishman hopes to highlight the most minute of variations in each wine, allowing the innate characteristics of each site to shine through. “We have a really intense focus on vineyard flavour first,” he explains.    “We’re not trying to force a house style, just let the vineyard or block do the talking,” Fishman continues, “We’re trying to make the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in California, wherever that comes from.” With access to such an extensive assortment of prime locations, now including the illustrious Savoy Vineyard as a feather in its proverbial cap, to say that the future at Donum is exciting is an understatement indeed. While many may think of California Pinot Noir and Chardonnay as one group of wines, a monolith with little variation in style, Fishman and his team at Donum hope to change that mindset, one vineyard at a time.  The Donum wines have historically been available only to those on their mailing list, but we are now working directly with the estate: browse all current Donum listings. 

Donum’s focus on site sets it apart. We talk to winemaker Dan Fishman about the wines, vineyards and estate’s significant ambitions

Discovering Donum’s single-site wines

First place: Donum

“I was broken-hearted,” says Tim Mondavi, his eyes glistening at the memory of how his family was forced out of their business, Robert Mondavi Winery, 20 years ago. Wine runs through the Mondavi family’s veins. Cesare Mondavi – Tim’s grandfather – made his first vintage in 1919, and the family purchased Charles Krug Winery in 1943, before Robert broke away to establish Robert Mondavi Winery in 1966. Luckily, when Constellation took over the business, the Mondavis left with “a bag of money” – something, Tim says smiling, that is better than being heartbroken and broke. He went in search of “a new love”, and so he built Continuum. The concept was simple: to “shoot for the stars”, Tim tells me, and craft a wine that would rival Bordeaux’s First Growths – as well as continue his family’s legacy in Napa. Having seen how their family business had grown, shifted and ultimately fallen into corporate hands, he and his sister Marcia wanted to keep things simple. The first few vintages were made with fruit sourced from Robert Mondavi, largely To Kalon – vineyards that Mondavi had worked for 30 years and knew inside-out. But he knew that site was everything, and thinking of Burgundy’s best wines, he looked to the hills – keen to find his own slice of “Grand Cru” terroir. So he “kicked a lot of dirt” – and in 2008, he found something.  Up-slope from Dalla Valle, above the fog line and neighbouring Colgin, a marine biologist called Leighton Taylor had planted vines on Pritchard Hill in the 1990s. He was a wine-lover and saw the roots he put down in these rocky, volcanic soils as his retirement plan. His children didn’t share his passion, and he decided to sell: enter the Mondavis. Tim Mondavi instantly realised the potential of the site and bought the 173-acre property. Southwest-facing, with sparse top-soil and the intense sunlight that this altitude offers, he named it Sage Mountain Vineyard, after the abundant wild sage found across the property. The area had been conventionally farmed and needed work, and Mondavi brought two of his old team onto the project. Together they worked to realise the potential of these rocky 70 acres of vines, regrafting, replanting and refining the farming – drawing on organic and biodynamic practices. Gradually, they started using fruit from the site for Continuum, and from the 2012 vintage the project was exclusively estate-grown, all coming from Sage Mountain Vineyard. In 2013, they completed work on a winery on-site – meaning everything was done in-house by their own team – a first for the family. For Tim, it was a big moment. The vintage happened to coincide with his 40th harvest, as well as the 100th anniversary of his father Robert’s birth – and the label bears a dove in tribute to him, flying over the vines.  Robert was not just the patriarch of the family but of the entire valley. He passed away in 2008, just a month after Tim had shown him Sage Mountain Vineyard. He was a force of nature, who not only built the family empire but put Napa on the map, fighting relentlessly for the region on the world stage. It’s hard to imagine that he was an easy man to have as a father. “There was no such thing as too much,” says Tim. “But there was no such thing as enough.”  Robert was, Tim tells me, “go, go, go” – and it’s clear Tim wants something different for his family. With Continuum, he wanted a project that could provide a balanced life – smaller than the smallest project at Robert Mondavi. Tim’s children haven’t run away from their fate or the family business. They’ve all worked at Continuum at one point or another: sons Carlo and Dante have gone on to establish Raen, their own Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir project in 2013, while Chiara has joined her father and is firmly in situ as winemaker at Continuum.  The Mondavis might be Napa royalty, but they’re also farmers – and they’re more aware of the challenges that climate change brings than anyone else. “Mother Nature has so many ways to remind us we haven’t been taking good care of her,” Tim says ruefully. The wildfires of 2017 brought that closer to home than they’d have liked. The Continuum team was two-thirds of the way through the harvest when Tim saw the glow on the horizon from his house. He instantly called to cancel the harvest, and ensure everyone stayed far away from the winery and vineyards – but his vineyard manager ignored him and drove straight up the estate, to check that none of the crew were already on-site ahead of their early pick. Luckily the team was all fine – but those fires filled Tim with fear.  They didn’t make a 2020 vintage, so the latest release – the 2021 – is the first for two years. They’ve been gradually increasing the proportion of Cabernet Franc in the blend, and the 2021 has the highest percentage to date (representing over a third of the blend). It is, Tim says, “our finest effort” – something he attributes not just to the year’s conditions, but over a decade spent getting to know each of Sage Mountain Vineyard’s 44 blocks. “To be truly great, you have to understand the site,” he says. The wine is elegant and pure, with a saline, earthy minerality that is an imprint of the property – something that runs through every vintage. Tim’s been making wine for 50 years now, but knows that he’s in a generational business. Continuum might be his new love, but he didn’t build it for himself – it’s for his children. “Our aspirations are large enough to contain the pursuit of excellence,” he says. Ambition’s never run short in the Mondavi bloodline – but, as Continuum proves, it’s backed up by not just good instincts but the drive, grit and hard graft to make those dreams a reality. The latest release of Continuum is available now

The Mondavis shaped the Napa we know today – but now Tim Mondavi is building a new future for his family with Continuum. As the 2021 vintage is released, Sophie Thorpe spoke to Tim about the project – and how it’s about much more than wine

How Tim Mondavi is building a new future for his family with Continuum, a special wine estate on Pritchard Hill in California’s Napa Valley

Exploring Tim Mondavi’s Continuum wine estate

A lasting dream: Continuum

For the aperitif For Domaine Long-Depaquit’s Matthieu Mangenot it is the energy and power of Champagne Brut Nature Les Marnes Blanches from Jeaunaux-Robin, that makes it his choice at Christmas. “I can't say for sure if it is the 100% Chardonnay selection or the very elegant vinification in Burgundy barrel that is this Champagne’s (hidden) tribute to our region but there is absolutely no ‘make up‘ with this Champagne. With no dosage it is a true expression of Chardonnay and terroir. To me, it is the best sparkling to get you ready for Christmas dinner!”  Klaus-Peter Keller (Weingut Keller) and his family love Champagne Bérèche & Fils or Krug, “but we will definitely enjoy some sparkling wines from Germany too!” he adds. Gianlorenzo di Neri from Montalcino’s Casanova di Neri is also choosing something local, with a 2002 Trentodoc – Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore, as well as a family favourite, Champagne Egly-Ouriet’s Blanc de Noirs. Saskia de Rothschild (Ch. Lafite-Rothschild) breaks the mould and prefers to drink ice-cold Sauternes as an aperitif rather than sparkling wine. She is still toying on whether to go young or old, deciding between a 2017, an 2007 or 1989 from Ch. Rieussec. The whites White Burgundy seems the overwhelmingly popular choice for the Christmas table. Francisco Baettig (Viña Errázuriz, Viñedo Chadwick and Baettig wines) opting for a bottle of Pulingy-Montrachet Les Combettes from Etienne Sauzet. “I love the elegance and balance of this appellation, and the purity of the wines from this producer.” Neri is saving his last bottle of 2005 Bourgogne Blanc by Coche-Dury alongside a 1991 Terlano Rarita, a Pinot Bianco blend released 25 years after it was made, proving the incredible ageing potential of top whites from Alto Adige. Mangenot has also opted for a rarity for the special day – a magnum of 2012 Nuits-Saint-Georges Blanc from Château-Gris (Albert Bichot). Chardonnay accounts for just 2% of the Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation. “The wine has a lot of richness and a beautiful tension due to the altitude of the vineyards,” says Mangenot: he is pairing it with cod fillet and citrus cream. Keller is bucking the trend and unsurprisingly opting for dry Rieslings, specifically from the 1990s, along with an eagerly awaited bottle of 1959 Mosel Piesporter Schubertslay. In 2008, Keller (although based in Rheinhessen) took over 0.7 hectares of this incredibly steep slope in the Mosel and he is using his Christmas dinner to do some research on this Mosel site with some serious bottle age. The reds Keller is not holding back on the reds: he’s got a 1966 Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion and a 1991 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru from Hubert Lignier lined up. Gianlorenzo di Neri is also opting for a Clos de la Roche, although his is a 2006 from Armand Rousseau. At the Neri household they love to compare Grand Cru Burgundy with their Brunellos, “It should be amazing to taste our 2006 Tenuta Nuova alongside.” Beyond Brunello and Burgundy, they will also be enjoying some top Nebbiolo, but it’s not an easy choice. “For Barolo we love so many producers, Elio Grasso’s Runcot – 2008 should be delicious now – or possibly Giacosa’s 2007 Barbaresco Asili Riserva.” For Mangenot, “The middle of winter is a good period to open a bottle of sunshine like Cornas Vin Noir 2012 from Domaine du Tunnel (my wife loves it!) – concentration, density, beautiful complexity, silky tannins… And a bunch of aromas that turns your dinner into a summer journey in a convertible car with your nose in the wind!” Beattig is also opting for Northern Rhône Syrah from his favourite producer Pierre Gonon, a Saint-Joseph. “I love the complexity of aromas, the spiciness. The structure of the wine, but at the same time the polished tannins. The mix of freshness, complexity and depth... love it.” At the Rothschild household it will of course be Lafite: “1988 or/and 1996: two absolute favourites of mine these days,” Saskia explains. “The 1988 is pure Lafite, extremely complex and evolving and the ’96, thanks to its perfect balance, is just so easy to drink that you’ll finish the bottle without even noticing it.” Jean-Guillaume Prats (CEO of Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite) is staying pretty loyal too, opting for Pomerol’s Ch. l’Evangile 2010. To finish Finally the sweets and fortifieds: there is never a better time to open aged Ports to go with the cheese and desserts of Christmas. For Lafite’s Jean-Guillaume Prats it will be Dow’s 1977 – in his words, “perfection”. Mangenot is also going for Vintage Port: Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos 2001, “to go with a homemade chocolate mousse, and the rest of the bottle definitely to enjoy slowly by the fire with the family… Fruits, flowers, creamy character, it is a treat for the nose and the palate I wouldn't miss it at any price.” Keller decides on the sweet wines more spontaneously: “One of our favorite combinations is matching 40 and 50-year-old Ausleses with game dishes. It can taste so great. The anticipation is already great.” If fortifieds are not your thing, then take Jean-Sébastien Philippe of Lafite’s recommendation: he’ll be having a glass (or two) of Cognac de Lafite Très Vieille Réserve. He believes it is one of the most astonishing selections of old eaux-de-vies in Cognac. Browse our full range

There’s no better time than Christmas to open a treasured bottle or two. Ahead of the big day, we asked a handful of our favourite winemakers – from Saskia de Rothschild to Klaus-Peter Keller – to tell us what they’ll be uncorking

We find out the special bottles some of our favourite winemakers and distillers are uncorking this Christmas

What winemakers are drinking this Christmas

Causse Marines

France

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