Handwritten Wines

Handwritten Wines was founded by three couples (all with medical backgrounds) two of whom live in South Dakata and one locally in Napa Valley. The couples also own Jessup Cellars which is located just north of the Handwritten tasting room in Yountville. See our review of Jessup Cellars for more information about these couples and their South Dakota connections.

Handwritten Wines are small production wines sourced from premium, primarily hillside vineyards; as of the latest update to this review, all their wines are from Napa Valley. A prior exception was their Pinot Noir from the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County on California’s “central coast”.

The overall focus of their wines is on hillside grown and produced Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Total annual production is around 2,000 cases with the majority of the wine sold direct to consumer. Each of their wines is produced in very limited quantities, sourced from small vineyard sites.

SOYO House Tasting Room, Yountville
Tastings were held for several years in a completely renovated 1947 bungalow located in the south part of St. Helena, which is where we first tasted the Handwritten wines, but this tasting room closed years ago due to a change in use request by their former landlord. Following that location, tastings were held in a small 100-year-old cottage next to their sister winery, Jessup Cellars in the NoYo part of Yountville. This was a temporary space and merely a part of the evolution over the years towards towards having their own dedicated space. The cottage closed for tastings in late 2019 and is now used for hosting VIP clients for Jessup Cellars.

Handwritten owns a piece of property in the southern part of Yountville (SoYo) and in early 2020 finished building a modern space (around 3,000 square feet), exclusively for the Handwritten wines. The building surrounds a courtyard. One side of the building houses Montecristi Panama Hats (with a separate entrance) which opened prior to the Handwritten Wines tasting room. This hat shop moved from the second floor at the V Marketplace Shopping Center just up the street to this much more visible location. Another side of the building houses a sizable prep kitchen used by Handwritten for some of their pairings.

Drivers take note, a small room has been set aside for you – with some snacks, drinks, TV and place to plug in a laptop. This is always appreciated, as not many wineries in Napa Valley have a dedicated space for drivers.

Walk-in tastings are welcome and are hosted at several tables in the foyer, next to the main entrance or weather permitting in their courtyard. More in-depth tastings must be made by appointment and are hosted in a much larger adjoining room. Multiple groups will be hosted in the main room but are physically spaced apart so that it never feels to crowded. And a tiny private room (for small groups) can be reserved for the most intimate tastings.

Most of the furniture and interior décor items are for sale in the main room through a partnership they have with San Francisco based Battersea gallery. As a result, once these one-of-a-kind items are sold, new items are replaced. In the theme of being, ‘handwritten’ two small nooks with desks are built into this room – one with a number of oversize postcards that guests can fill out and then send from on site. And or hand write notes on several sized pieces of paper and leave for the next guests to read.

Handwritten offers one of the more unique tastings in the valley, the Bread & Butter Tasting with their wines paired with a variety of tasty artisan made breads and butters along with Jamón (kept in cold storage in their kitchen). Select compound butters are also offered (butter infused with additional ingredients for flavor) – often varying in selection. Examples of secondary ingredients might be truffle oil or various herbs. And Handwritten can also bring the Napa Valley experience and their wines to people’s homes around the country.

Select Wines
Whites
The Author
The 2024 Handwritten, The Author Proprietary White Wine Napa Valley is 100% varietal Sauvignon Blanc from Oakville. This wine was fermented and aged in a combination of both used French oak and concrete eggs. This wine is medium gold in color; bright, floral and layered, the bouquet offers scents of honeysuckle, jasmine, golden delicious, apples, pineapple, white nectarine and Babcock peach. Bright without being green or grassy, and that is always an important distinction when describing this variety. Rich and intensely flavored, running the length of the palate with an extended finish, this wine tastes like honeycomb, golden plums, pear, golden apples, kiwi, pineapple, loquat, and some citrus notes including of loquat and mandarin orange. The mouth feel is lightly rounded but never heavy, supported by an energetic and lively acidity. At two years post vintage, this wine is super fresh – and should age well for another 5-8 years. Pair this with a fatty fish, such as a salmon or a wild caught trout.

The 2022 Handwritten The Author, Proprietary White Wine Napa Valley is a blend of 90% Sauvignon Blanc and 10% Semillon. This wine is medium to deep straw in color; vibrant immediately upon opening, the exuberant and highly aromatic bouquet is a mix of spring florals: citrus blossom, honeycomb & star jasmine along with lemon pith, pineapple, kiwi and red delicious apple. After a long rainy winter, the skies are finally filled with warm sunshine in Napa Valley; this wine smells and tastes like spring and summer. In the mouth there are flavors of white nectarine, pear, mandarin orange, pineapple, honeydew melon, guava and subtle mint. Shows a vibrancy from the acidity complemented by a suppleness from its lightly rounded texture. Lingers with a light warmth in the back of the throat. This wine was fermented entirely in concrete egg vessels. 15.1% alcohol.

Chardonnay
The 2024 Handwritten Chardonnay, Carneros Napa Valley (Truchard Vineyard) was made from clone 8809. This wine is deep golden in color; the bouquet smells ripe and floral even when served extremely cold. This wine smells like honeycomb, glazed pineapple, creme brule, butterscotch, vanilla, peaches in light syrup, apricot jam and ripe papaya. This a full octane expression of this variety. If one is guessing what the palate will express, based entirely on the rich and ripe bouquet, one might be quite surprised. Not heavy, not flabby, and not overly buttery. The palate is built upon a backbone of a bright vein of acidity. On the palate, there are stone fruited flavors including apricot and yellow peach, accompanied by baked pineapple, ripe cantaloupe, butterscotch, vanilla, warm butter and a lingering spice and toasted note, a contribution from its time in oak. Despite the up front flavor richness, the texture holds a back seat, and the acidity keeps this wine highly energetic.

The 2022 Handwritten Chardonnay, Carneros Napa Valley is deep gold in color; the bouquet is an intriguing union of both chamomile and assorted ripe fruits including dried apricot, yellow nectarine, pineapple, vanilla, honeyed notes and corn tassel. The bouquet offers an intensity of fruit from its ripeness, but it also features some distinctive characteristics that perhaps would identify it against in a blind tasting of equally ripe Chardonnay wines from Carneros. The palate sports honeyed flavors including of ripe stone fruits, peaches in light syrup, apricot, nectarines, almost overly ripe pineapple, crème Brule, melted butter, boiled corn, and assorted sweet baking spices. Intensely flavored, the life of the party, and showy, this wine features a long warm and fruit-filled finish. Not oaky. 14.9% listed alcohol. This is a very limited production wine available exclusively for those who are a part of the Handwritten Member Circle.

The 2011 Carneros Handwritten Chardonnay was made from an extremely limited vintage due to the early onset of bad weather during harvest. As a result, only 80 cases of this wine were produced (although with good Botrytis that year they also crafted a rich dessert wine from these grapes). Despite the challenging conditions, the wine shows excellent aromatic expression. It is very aromatic on the nose with floral notes, stone fruit blossoms and hints of white pineapple. As the wine breathes, the bouquet gradually becomes more tropical in nature, revealing additional aromas of ripe pear and mango. The aromatics are expressive yet delicate, offering a pleasing sense of freshness. This is a style of Chardonnay enjoyed by itself; it is soft and very rounded on the palate with a smooth, gentle texture. Subtle fruit flavors echo the aromatics while the balanced structure keeps the wine approachable and easy to drink, finishing with a lingering softness.

Sometimes we discover other Napa Valley wines that really stand out for whatever reason. Take the 2011 Handwritten late harvest botrisized Chardonnay grown in Carneros. There is no middle ground on this wine; you either love it or hate it. It was harvested at nearly 42 brix still containing a residual sugar of nearly 25 percent – the alcohol is moderate at only 11%. This wine is super aromatic on the nose with intense fruit. We’ve been trying to find an appropriate analogy for the mouth feel – it is like trying to move through water quickly – it just does not happen easily. The mouth feel is oily with a generous degree of viscosity. The palate delivers a rich concentrated (very satisfying) meld of both flavor and sugar. If you enjoy rich dessert wines where the focus is on intense flavor, sugar, and viscosity, take note – this is one of the more intense wines of this kind that we have come across in the Napa Valley.

Reds
Their winemaker does not filter or fine the red wines. Some of the wines are made with the “cap” (the seeds and skins) submerged during the fermentation, with the idea to produce a more intensely focused wine.

Homage
The 2022 Handwritten ‘Homage’ Red Blend is deep ruby and nearly opaque in color; dark fruited and well-layered, this wine smells like Satsuma plum, blackberry, boysenberry, dark mulberry, fig jam, dark chocolate, old cedar box and a light note of tobacco spice. There is a lot to like about this bouquet, in a challenging year in Napa Valley due to the extreme heat. The palate is ripe but never crosses into the territory of being over ripe; its flavors including dark plum, dark cherry, boysenberry, dark mulberry and dark raspberry. The focus here is on the fruit with its influence from barrel, hanging out in the backseat providing a complementary character. The tannins are ripe and at 4 years post vintage, very well integrated into the finish. The acidity is bright and balanced. Finishes a bit savory including a union of both barrel toast and dried herbs. The linger in tandem with dark fruits with a lightly gravelly and well tumbled textural feel.

The 2021 Handwritten ‘Homage’ Red Blend is their first red wine bottled as Handwritten from their estate property in Wooden Valley. This wine is a unique blend of 33% Cabernet Franc, 27% Petite Sirah, 22% Petite Verdot and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon. It was aged for 22 month in 80% new French oak barrels. It is deep ruby in color; the attractive bouquet offers initial aromas of tobacco spice, dust, old cedar box and sweet baking spices. But there’s plenty of fruit at play here to, and it soon opens to dark raspberry, red cherry, currant jam (there’s a bottle of this sitting in our refrigerator) and red plum. The palate is superbly balanced between flavor, acidity and texture. Brightly lit. The palate is mostly red fruited with flavors of raspberry, currant, cranberry, pomegranate and red cherry. And a light perceived sweetness of fruit. The tannins are grainy and persist with a lightly textured but noticeably herbal but not green grip ultimately outpacing the fruit on the finish. While tasting this we are trying to decide what type of meat on the barbecue it would pair best with. Perhaps a medium rare spicy dry-rub flank steak.

Cabernet Franc
The 2022 Handwritten Cabernet Franc, Calistoga Napa Valley is deep ruby and opaque; like a well dressed handsome individual who is the center of attention at a party, the bouquet immediately attracts one’s attention. Ripe fruit says hello up front. The bouquet is far removed from perception of this variety – i.e., IBMP 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine pyrazines contributing to ‘green’ notes. None of that here. This wine smells like blackberry, boysenberry, dark plum and dark mulberry. Its non fruited notes are of dark cocoa powder and dark chocolate. The thread of acidity is here wide and fully encompassing the palate with its brightness. And its persistent. This wine tastes like red cherry, black currant and Japanese plums, with a savory edge on the finish – a union of juicy acidity, dried herbs and an earthy character. The tannins are firmly gripping and long lasting with a dusty and gravelly character. This wine is uncharacteristically right for both this hot vintage in Napa Valley, plus Calistoga which tends to be one of the warmest parts of the valley. This wine has lots of age ahead of it with the proper cellaring.

Three Words
The 2009 Handwritten Three Words is 2/3 Cabernet Sauvignon with the remainder split between Malbec and Cabernet Franc (somewhat unique is all three varieties were co-fermented together). Three words: “bestselling wine” and “oh my god” are both common phrases are associated with this wine! The story behind the name involves a party held by one of the owners – before this wine was named, they enjoyed a few unlabeled bottles at the party (shiners). One of the bottles was passed around with the instruction to write three words on the outside. Presumably, “I Love You” was one of the phrases. In any case, the name Three Words stuck and is now produced each year. The 2009 Three Words offers sweet aromas with deeper hints of spice and vanilla as it opens. Blackberry, black cherry show on the palate – with good acidity and higher-toned red fruits (red cherry) showing towards the finish.

Cabernet Sauvignon
All their Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings are 100% varietal.

The 2022 Handwritten Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville Napa Valley is deep ruby and completely opaque; sweetly fruited in terms of both fruit and barrel influence, this wine smells ripe with aromas of fig jam, cherry pie, boysenberry spread, blackberry and dark raspberry. And some sweet baking spices including cinnamon stick and cloves. Ripe across the palate, but with a brighter edge due to the lively balanced acidity with flavors of cherry jolly rancher, fig spread, boysenberry, dark raspberry, blackberry and plum compote. The tannins are ripe, resolved and rounded, lingering with a well tumbled and lightly gravelly character. Intensely flavored due to its ripeness. Rather than any longer term aging, we would hold this another 5-7 years and see where its at, at that age.

The 2022 Handwritten Cabernet Sauvignon, Mt. Veeder is deep ruby and opaque; the generous, ripe yet pretty bouquet offers scents of blackberry jam, boysenberry spread, ripe Santa Rosa plum, plum compote, dark cherry and dark mulberry. The fruit is clearly the star of the show here. On the palate, this wine tastes bright, with a lively thread of acidity running the length of the palate, holding an uncharacteristic for this vintage in Napa Valley, freshness. Savory, the palate sports flavors of Satsuma plum, blackberry, boysenberry, dark cherry and Persian mulberry. Finishes savory with a mouth watering cadence. Both acidity, flavor and texture all run in parallel for some time before the texture finally pulls away. The tannins persist with a firm, dusty and drying grip which broadly coats the entire palate. In terms of food pairing, we could pull this bottling without hesitation for BBQ night with friends on a warm summer evening.

The 2009 Handwritten Leap Cabernet Sauvignon is dark in the glass; this is a wine all about the dark fruit starting with the layered bouquet – somewhat brambly, meaty, with dark berries – to the palate with its show of big fruit and muscle from mid palate through to the long finish. It shows multiple layers now despite being a very young wine. It should age wonderfully and continue to develop complexity as it integrates over time. Napa Valley is certainly known for its big bold Cabernet Sauvignon wines; the 2009 Handwritten Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon is the perfect example of this type of wine.

Pinot Noir
The 2010 Handwritten Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir is a leaner to medium bodied wine, reflective of the cooler coastal influences of this appellation. The nose is a little earthy, almost with a mushroom element to the aromatics, gradually evolving in the glass to reveal brighter red fruit notes including cranberry, raspberry and red currant. Subtle hints of dried leaves and light spice add additional complexity to the bouquet. On the palate the wine shows a pleasing depth of flavor with the red fruit profile carrying through from the aromatics. A touch of minerality and gentle acidity keeps the wine lively and balanced. There is depth of flavor and moderate tannins (for a California Pinot Noir) on the finish, providing structure and a clean, lingering conclusion.

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SOMM Series – these special events are held very selectively throughout the year, where the Handwritten Sommelier will lead tastings focusing on wines from specific parts of the world.

For more information, to purchase wines, to request a tasting, to join their mailing list, or to become part of their Member Circle, visit: www.handwrittenwines.com

Tasting Room

Handwritten Cottage (No longer used for tastings)

Construction

ARCHIVED NOTES
Farmhouse Tour Existing Allocation Circle Members can request (by appointment) a private culinary focused farm and farmhouse tour with Chef. Chef’s house is about an 8 hour walk from the tasting room in Yountville. Drive instead; driving time is only about 20 minutes away. This experience begins in a 1909 built Craftsman Farmhouse which Chef told us is “the new kid on the block” as compared to some of the neighboring homes which were built in the 1800s.

Tucked away in a side valley in the northern part of Napa Valley, minutes from the Silverado Trail, guests are treated to a personalized farm tour with chef which includes education about the sustainable practices implemented on the property. And there are a number of animals that live on site including chickens and several pretty goats (their milk is used for home-made goat cheese). Also, on the property are beehives and an orchard.