Failla Wines

Failla Wines was founded by winemaker Ehren Jordan and Anne-Marie Failla; the winery is named after the middle name of Ehren’s eldest daughter. Today, Ehren is the sole proprietor of Failla Wines. Ehren’s wine making career has been one of learning by doing. Rather than graduating from UC Davis with a degree in Enology and Viticulture, he graduated from George Washington University in Washington DC with a major in Art History and a minor in Classical Archaeology.

While in college one of his fraternity brothers told him about a job working at what he described as a liquor store; this was Bell Wine & Spirits in the center of Washington D.C. (founded 1933) where Erin took a job in the back of the shop stocking wine shipments. Soon he was promoted to the front of the shop where he was introduced to a number of fine wines around the world. See the bottom of this article for photographs from our visit to this wine store.

After graduating from college, he moved to Colorado where he skied during the day and worked in restaurants at night furthering his wine education. His introduction to Napa Valley was through one of the restaurants he worked at when he accompanied some of the employees on a trip to Napa. His first job in the valley was as a tour guide at Joseph Phelps Winery; while at Phelps, he also worked in their cellar and helped with sales.

Ehren is often associated with Turley Wine Cellars; that is because he spent 18 years at Turley helping create some of their well-regarded Zinfandels and other wines as their General Manager and Director of Winemaking.

The first Failla wine was from the 1998 vintage, a tiny amount of Viognier and Syrah bottled under the label Failla-Jordan. With part of their name conflicting with Jordan Winery in Sonoma County, they soon dropped Jordan. They opened their tasting room along the Silverado Trail in October of 2006; our first visit was the following year.

Until they purchased this property in 2004, they were a “virtual” winery without a tasting room or winery of their own and made their wines at other wineries including Turley and Neyers. The winery is located almost directly across from the popular Rombauer Winery (look for the large U.S. flag). The only signage from Silverado Trail is their painted mailbox with the address listed. They share the very first part of the driveway with their neighbor, Hunnicutt Winery. Parking used to be a gravel lot with access behind the tasting ‘lodge’, but since plans call for expanding their cave, parking and the main entrance have been moved to the front of the cottage.

Jordan offers a number of tasting experiences held on various parts of the property including inside the wine cave, weather permitting outside on tables under the redwoods or inside what is referred to as The Lodge. Because of the various tasting spaces, often several tastings will be going at any one time and during our previous visits, guests from multiple parties were combined in one tasting. The interior of the lodge feels like a mountain cabin with knotty pine and a stone fireplace – one could almost be tasting up at Lake Tahoe rather than in the hills of Napa Valley. A side room with a thick piece of wood sitting on top of two wine barrels serves as the tasting counter or for a more personal tasting (small groups only) you can sit down with your host.

This is a historic property. The Silverado Trail was originally built in 1852 and was the first permanent north south road in Napa Valley. You can even see parts of the old Silverado Trail which used to run through the property. We were told the famous stagecoach robber, “Black Bart” was actually apprehended on site in 1883.

Visitors may see apple trees planted on one of the slopes; these were left from previous owners who planned on producing apple cider using the small wooden building next to the entrance to the cave. Ehren is originally from Pittsburg, and it is obvious from the sign on this building that he personally hung here that this is “Steelers country”.

The 12,000 square foot wine cave was used for the first time during the 2008 harvest. Ehren uses a variety of different sized fermentation vessels including concrete (eggs); a number of these are located throughout the various parts of the cave, oak barrels and stainless-steel tanks. He also uses larger wooden casks (not often seen in Napa wineries).

Visitors to the 10-acre property might be surprised the site is not covered in vineyards. There are two reasons why grapes are not planted here: the property is mostly steep hillside land and Napa County prohibits new vineyards from being planted on slopes greater then 30% and the grapes that grow here best are Bordeaux red varietals – and are varieties that Failla does not make wine from.

With that said, a tiny old-school dry-farmed head-pruned hillside Zinfandel vineyard that Ehren planted in 2011 is located above the cave. With its small footprint and wide spacing, this vineyard only produces a small amount of wine each year. It is a part of Ehren’s Day Collection, a portfolio focusing primarily on cooler weather Zinfandel sites with wines sold through retailers and restaurants.

Ehren creates wines with several philosophies in mind; one is to make wines that make you salivate upon the first taste, and another is to source from cold climate vineyards which tend to have strong marine influences. The Failla wines feature lively acidity, balance and showcase an overall freshness even with older bottlings. As a result, they tend to pair very well with food and are highly age worthy.

Some California Pinot Noirs are built like a race car that never strays from a racetrack – they are linear focusing on showcasing California sunshine in favor of varietal typicity. These are never the Failla wines. We prefer our Pinot Noir to stray a little, to have character, and not be a ‘racecar’ confined to a track.

Typically, their wines are un-fined and unfiltered for maximum color and flavor and fermentation is done using indigenous yeast (rather than inoculated yeasts). The Chardonnays tend to go through malolactic fermentation. The reds see a varying number of stems, including during fermentation based on the quality/ripeness of the fruit and the variety.

Failla specializes in three wines, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah all sourced from very cool weather vineyards ranging from Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino counties all the way up to Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Arguably Failla is most known for their Pinot Noir -; as of our latest visit, they were producing 17 different wines from this variety (some made only for their wine club members). Failla used to source from one of our favorites far western Sonoma County coastal sites, Whistler Vineyards. If you can find some of these older bottlings, purchase them.

Ehren purchased 40 acres in what is now the Fort Ross-Seaview appellation in Sonoma County in 1995. Helen Turley, a prominent winemaker told Ehren about land that was for sale near her Marcassin Vineyard. At the time part of the property was being used for growing marijuana. Ehren eventually had the site planted to grapes and later purchased more land. Today Failla owns 82 acres here of which 11 acres are planted.

This part of Sonoma County is above 1000 feet, typically above much of the fog line which hovers much lower to the coast. Some of the California’s closest vineyards to the coastline are planted here. While the climate is generally cool here (ideal for growing Pinot Noir), their vineyard actually receives quite a bit of sunshine throughout the growing season due to its elevation.

Failla currently owns 5 individual vineyard properties, three in Sonoma County, one in Oregon and their winery estate.

Select Wines
For a relatively small winery they produce a wide diversity of wines from both estate properties and growers they purchase grapes from.

Whites
The 2022 Failla Chenin Blanc Olivet Ranch, Russian River Valley is medium gold; a diversity of aromas greet the nose including of yellow apple, honeysuckle, passion fruit, ginger, chamomile, and some citrus driven scents including lime and lemon verbena. A shout out here to Coombsville, Napa Valley based ERDA Tea where we were first introduced to their dried lemon verbena leaves. We are very comfortable using the word intense to describe the this wine’s aromatic character. Lightly textured, but offering plenty of flavor, the palate delivers notes of tangelo, not fully ripe kiwi, lemon juice, honeydew melon on the greener side and mint. The finish is energetic and brightly lit from its acidity. Mouth watering. Balanced. We spend several months of every year in Thailand; we are going way out on a limb here for most palates, but we would love the company of this wine with Goong Chae Nam Pla, raw shrimp with raw garlic, bitter melon slices, mint and a spicy nam prik dipping sauce.

The 2021 Failla Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is medium to deep gold in color; honeyed and sweetly fruited aromas including honey harvested straight from the hive – this lovely aromatic reminds us that we need to eventually replace our bee hives which burned in the fires just north of Calistoga. And there are additional scents of stone fruits: apricot and peach accompanied by apple pie, pineapple and mango. There is a mouthful of flavor here including pear, Golden Delicious apples and some light citrus notes. Lightly textured across the palate; there is no viscous oiliness here that sometimes we find with riper more opulent showings of this variety. And that is refreshing. This is a great example of a fully ripe Chardonnay that is not oaky, buttery or pushing the upper alcohol window for California grown wines from this variety. This wine is a blend of This 100% Chardonnay is a blend of the following Russian River or Green Valley vineyards in Sonoma County: Olivet, Keefer Ranch, and Flood Gate. The grapes are whole-cluster pressed and then fermented using indigenous yeasts. The wine was aged sur lie for 9 months in stainless steel, concrete egg and French oak barrels.

The 2022 Failla Platt Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast is deep gold in color; the bouquet is immediately open knitted offering scents of honeycomb, vanilla, creme Brule, honeysuckle, caramel, freshly cored Golden Delicious apple, and plenty of orchard fruits including apricot, canned peach and nectarines. And tropical notes including mango, papaya and baked pineapple. The texture is rounded and supple. On the richly flavored palate there are notes of baked pear, pineapple, mango, yellow apples, and yellow nectarines and a hint of vanilla on the finish. Not oaky or buttery – the palate is brighter than the bouquet would lead one to believe. Lingers refreshing with balanced acidity and immediately begs another sip. This wine drinks exceptionally well in its youth.

Reds
Trousseau is a red variety (not to be confused with Trousseau Gris, which makes a white wine) and originated in eastern France. It is primarily grown in Portugal where it is known as bastardo and used in fortified wines. Some plantings are in Sonoma County and also in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Our first introduction to this wine from a Napa Valley based producer was Brendel Wines, which blended a small amount of this variety into a red blend. We are not aware of anyone yet growing this in Napa Valley. Failla produced their first ever Trousseau in 2021.

The 2021 Failla Trousseau Russian River Valley is medium ruby in color; our first word was rustic to describe the initial aromas including of damp potting soil, raspberry, blueberry, bramble, wintergreen and mint. Light bodied, and lightly flavored it offers notes of red cherry, currant and cranberry accompanied by a finishing touch of white pepper and dried herbs. The tannins are lightly grainy and outlast the fruit on the brightly lit finish. Energetic but not rambunctious acidity. This variety often results in higher alcohol wines; this wine is not one of those and is a refreshing 13.2%. We would file this in our ‘delicious daily drinker’ category – and the price is right to. Our first thought of what to pair this with was a tomato based pasta or perhaps the wood-fired Spicy Italian Pizza served up daily at Oakville Grocery by the humble Italian pizzaiolo.

The 2022 Failla Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast is medium ruby; our first word to describe its aromatics was earthy but it is also brooding and spicy. It offers scents of rusting iron, red plums, bramble, currant, white pepper, Tonka bean and cedar wood. We let this wine evolve in the glass for 30 minutes; the aromatics remain true to their initial offering. Delicious, is a generic word but it gets the point across very succinctly. That was the first word we wrote to describe the palate. The wine is focused with bright fruit flavors including Rainier cherries, cherry cola, pomegranate, red plum and sarsaparilla. Lingers with a note of dried herbs, white pepper lightly grainy tannins. Balanced beautifully. We want more. We remember the fresh Halibut we caught at Waterfall Resort in south Alaska; we would love roast some of that in the company of this wine.

The 2022 Failla Peay Pinot Noir is medium ruby in color; the bouquet smells elegant and is a union of both spice and fruit. These aromas include sweetly fruited notes of red plum, dark raspberry and cherry accompanied by dried rose petals, white pepper and vanilla. Brightly lit across the palate but simultaneously delicate this bottling offers flavors of raspberry, cherry cola, cranberry, pink peppercorn and a lingering sweetness of vanilla. Its texture offers lightly grainy tannins which are felt more on the front of the palate than the back and persist beyond the fruit on the savory and bright finish. This wine is easy drinking in its youth. Brown meat, Thanksgiving turkey and cranberry sauce please. Or BBQ pork shoulder.

The 2012 Failla Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard Sonoma Coast (first tasted 10 years post vintage date) is pale ruby with noticeable brickish color influences. The bouquet shows some bottle bouquet and offers brooding aromas after all this time including earthy smells including of leaves on a forest floor in late fall, mushrooms and barnyard (gamey). Also shows notes of rose petal, violets and dried herbs as the wine evolves in the glass. Let it continue to open – it will transform and reveal additional fruit aromatics. The palate is elegant and still bright with flavors of cranberry, pomegranate and red cherry. This wine is seamless from start to finish with supple tannins which are very well integrated into the finish. This wine still has life ahead of it although it is tasting very well 10 years post vintage date. And we again tried this beauty 12 years post vintage; it continues to hold up very well.

The 2013 Failla Hirsch Vineyard Pinot Noir is medium ruby with a light brickening in color. For reference, we tasted this wine 11 years post vintage. The bouquet offers aromas of cherry cola, raspberry, sarsaparilla, mocha and vanilla. The rounded and supple mouthful offers a creamy texture. On the palate there are flavors of raspberry, root beer, blood orange, currant and red plums. Like other vintages of Failla from this particular vineyard, this wine shows younger than its actual age. The finish is bright and balanced and lingers with a note of white pepper.

Keefer Ranch in the Russian River Valley of neighboring Sonoma County has a special significance to Failla; this vineyard produced the first Pinot Noir that Ehren made bottled under Failla wines; he continues to make wine from here every year. The vineyard owners originally were planning to grow vegetables on the property and sell to local farmer’s markets but when Dr. Robert Keefer took classes on grape growing, he realized the value of their location and decided to grow grapes and sell the fruit (planted in 1988).

The 2015 Failla Keefer Ranch Russian River Valley Pinot Noir features elegant fruit on the bouquet; this is an attractive nose which offers floral notes (dried rose petals) with hints of dust. Bright on the palate, this wine reveals red cherry, currants and a gravelly nuance. Lively acidity along with seamless tannins linger on the supple finish.

Syrah lovers take note; this variety rounds out Failla’s repertoire. The 2015 Failla Estate Vineyard Fort Ross-Seaview Syrah is one of the more ‘elegant’ Syrah’s we have tasted from a Napa Valley based producer. Elegant is not a word we typically use to describe California wines made from this variety. The bouquet shows bittersweet dark chocolate aromas, with darker fruits along with being slightly savory. Shows bright fruit both on the bouquet and on the palate with the focus of this wine on the fruit rather than any influence from oak. With lively acidity and good structure, it should be quite age worthy.

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For more information, to schedule a visit, to purchase wine, or to join one of their wine clubs, visit: www.faillawines.com

Exterior/Vineyard Napa Valley

Cave/Winery, Napa Valley

Hospitality House, Napa Valley

Bell’s Wine & Spirits, Washington DC

Failla Patton Valley Vineyard, Oregon
The first wine from Oregon bottled as Failla was in 2001 from the Goldschmidt Vineyard. In May of 2018 Failla Wines opened a small tasting room at Zenith Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills appellation in Oregon’s Willamette Valley; this site is where they used to produce their wines. Failla is no longer making their wine or tasting their wines here as they now own Patton Valley Vineyard near Gaston, OR in the Tualatin Hills AVA. This approximately 73-acre property is Failla’s first estate vineyard in Oregon and is where the Failla wines from Oregon are produced and where visitors are hosted for tastings. The vineyard is planted to Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Noir, Valdiguié and Syrah.

The winery and tasting room is located about 45 minutes from the center of Portland at 9449 SW Old Highway 47. They are open year round from Wednesday through Sunday with appointments recommended, especially on the weekends. As of our latest update to this review, Failla sources grapes from six non-estate vineyards in the Willamette Valley.

Tastings focus on their Oregon grown and produced wines although. In addition to a general tasting of their Oregon wines, an additional experience is offered showcasing a comparative tasting between Failla wines from California Oregon.

Only one wine was made from Oregon in 2020 due to the resulting smoke from forest fires – a Pinot Gris.

Select Failla Oregon wines
The 2020 Failla Grüner Veltliner Chehelem Mountain Vineyard is medium gold in color; its scents include a light note of beeswax, peach blossom, white nectarine and a light note of apricot. We love the texture at this age; it sports a rounded a lightly creamy and silky character which is buoyed high by the accompanying vibrant acidity. Still highly youthful five years post vintage, this wine is singing soprano at this age. Finishing refreshing with finish that quickly invites a sip based on its invigorating acidity. Its flavors include green apple, Meyer lemon and not fully ripe pear. This wine is sourced from grapes first planted in 1968.

The 2022 Failla Chardonnay, Pearlstad Vineyard, Eola-Amity Hills is medium to deep gold in color; immediately compelling the attractive bouquet smells like glazed pineapple, apricot, yellow peach, yellow nectarine, honeycomb, honeysuckle and baked pears. The nose is both fruity and bright. The wine is superbly balanced at this age, 3 years post vintage. Its flavors include golden delicious apple, comise pear, apricot, white nectarine, pineapple and walnut skin. The texture offers a lightly viscous fleshy character, lifted nicely by the vibrant acidity. The influence of oak is kept to a minimum, instead fully focusing on the purity of the variety. Finishes bright and immediatley begs another sip. This wine was fermented in 1/3 stainless steel tanks, 1/3 in concrete eggs, and 1/3 into French oak barrel with a mix of both new and used and a puncheon.

Ken Pearlman and Dana Baker, the owners of the Pearlstad Vineyard located in the Van Duzer Corridor, are previously from Santa Rosa, CA. They would visit Ehren at Failla Napa Valley and joke about someday starting their own winery or perhaps planting a vineyard when they retired. This dream came to fruition; Raj Parr and Sashi Moorman of Evening Land Vineyard helped Pearlman and Baker locate potential vineyard property. Today their 85-acre property is planted 100% to Chardonnay spanning 18 acres on an old seabed including fossilized seashells.

The 2023 Failla Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley is sourced from multiple vineyards including a significant portion from Failla’s Patton Valley Vineyard. This wine is pale to medium ruby in color; there is no mistaking this for any other variety other than Pinot Noir as soon as one smells the bouquet. Its scents include raspberry, cherry cola, strawberry and white pepper. The aromatic profile is a purer expression of the fruit character of his variety, rather than expressing any sort of “pinot sweat”. As fruit focused on the palate as the bouquet this wine tastes like raspberry, strawberry, red cherry and red plum. Shows a savory character that isn’t readily expressed on the bouquet, with a lingering notes of dried sage, bay leaf and white pepper. Savory far outpaces the fruit on the finish. The tannins are seamlessly integrated with a light but broadly palate coating dryness.

The 2023 Failla Pinot Noir Patton Valley Vineyard is pale to medium ruby in color; attractive, this wine smells like cherry cola, ripe raspberry, strawberry, rose petals, white pepper and a very subtle note of Tonka bean. Balanced, the palate features the delicacy of the variety, its elegance and its purity. Focused very much on the fruit, the palate tastes like strawberry, red cherry and raspberry with light herbal finishing note including of sage, bay leaf and pink peppercorn. The tannins are present and feel lightly grainy, lingering with a persistent dusty and savory character. The acidity is bright but balanced. We would love to pair this with pork shoulder.

The 2023 Wyatt Cuvee is made entirely from grape grown at Patton Valley Vineyard; this wine is named for Ehren’s son Wyatt. This wine is medium ruby; the aromatics are compelling and bright with scents of raspberry, strawberry, cherry cola, dried sage and a subtle note of root beer. Generous on the palate in terms of flavor, this wine tastes like raspberry, strawberry, red cherry and a finishing note of sage. This is a textural expression of the variety, a grip we really appreciate because we don’t often feel this in Pinot Noir from California in which the texture is bled out by ripeness. The tannins are grainy, gravelly and broadly coating. They outpace the fruit by far on the finish. This wine is thoughtfully made from both a block and selection of their barrel best barrels off of this vineyard each year. Despite seeing a bit more new French oak during its élevage, the influence from the oak takes a backseat to the fruit.

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Failla offers several wine club options including cool, cooler and coolest (4, 6 or 12 bottle shipments, 3x a year). For more information or to schedule a tasting at their Oregon location, visit: www.faillawinesoregon.com

Failla Wines, Patton Valley Vineyard

Failla Wines, Oregon, previous tasting room