ROAM Napa Valley. Founder and winemaker Mario Sculatti grew up in the Napa Valley influenced by a number of individuals from his parents' generation who were involved in the wine industry including his father Ron Sculatti who was one of several people who helped create the award-winning 1973 Chateau Montelena vintage along with Mike Grgich, Bo Barrett and … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2020
Lawer Estates
Lawer Estates is a small family run producer operated by Betsy and David Lawer (he died in 2021); they are Duke alumni, which is where they first met and both have strong ties to Alaska. The First National Bank of Anchorage was founded in 1922 in Anchorage; Betsy's grandfather Warren N. Cuddy began purchasing stock in this bank in the 1930s and in 1941 … [Read more...]
The Debate Wine
The Debate. In today's fast paced world where conversations are often relegated to the digital space - especially so in cities around the world where it is a common site to see people fully engaged with their cell phones, the Debate was created as a platform to bring people together and to stimulate discussion about contemporary topics - ideally with glasses … [Read more...]
Greer Wine
Greer Wines. The Greer Vineyard is 7 acres of which 5 acres are planted entirely to Cabernet Sauvignon. Located in western Rutherford on the lower edge of the Rutherford bench, the vineyard is planted on very slightly sloping soils - the tail end of deposits that have eroded off of the Mayacamas mountains over the millennia. This property was purchased in … [Read more...]
Forthright Winery
Forthright Wines was founded by four partners including Patrick McEvoy and Rafer Caudil who share the winemaking duties and Ed Stritch who lives in Chicago and Sel Fich who resides in London. Rather than simply being business partners, all four individuals are friends having known each other for many years - whose paths have crossed at various times in their … [Read more...]
Tognetti Family Winery
Tognetti Family Winery. Family patriarch, John (Jack) Tognetti was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area; he passed in early 2022 at age 104. His grandfather moved to California from Italy and settled in Watsonville where he grew a number of fruit trees. Jack remembers spending summers at his grandfather's ranch while growing up. It is here that … [Read more...]
Napa Wine Project Year in Review, 2019
In 2019 we revisited and updated reviews for 250+ Napa Valley based wineries, brands and tasting rooms - continuously updating our existing reviews. Due to all of our revisits and travels seeking Napa Valley around the state of California, the country and internationally, we visited and reviewed only 32 'new' Napa Valley based producers this year (well below … [Read more...]