Quantum Limit Vineyards is a 69 acre property located above Wooden Valley on its southwestern border and northeast of Gordon Valley. This is rural Napa County but with an ease of access much more closely associated with Suisun Valley than Napa Valley; the property is about a 35 minute drive east of downtown Napa. The ranch is planted to 25 acres of grapevines, organized into 28 unique blocks, primarily western facing. The estate is owned by husband and wife Ph.D. biophysicists, Glenn Rice and Cynthia Hoy. Both have spent their careers in medical research including discovering and developing FDA approved drugs for cardiovascular, cancer, autoimmune and orphan diseases.
Glenn was born in Pittsburgh, PA; he moved to California and lived many years in the San Francisco Bay Area. He would bring friends to Napa Valley, exploring the region and visiting wineries. When he and Cynthia decided to purchase property in Napa Valley, they began looking along the Silverado Trail – interested in perhaps a small property with a front yard or backyard vineyard. Plans changed. In a big way.
One day their relator suggested they look at a piece of property “off the grid”. While touring this part of Napa Valley and the gorgeous property that was for sale, they noticed some of the neighbors were driving tractors; this, the remoteness of the location and the inspirational property appealed to them. The land had never been planted to grapevines. The first vines they planted were decorative; the vineyard has significantly expanded over two phases including in 2012 and then post fires in 2017. The fires that year burned about 40 acres of their property including right up to the homesite. Today there are approximately 55,000 grapevines on the property, planted almost entirely to Cabernet Sauvignon but with a small block of Cabernet Franc planted in 2024.
The property is at an elevation ranging from approximately 200 to 900 feet. It is perched overlooking what Glenn and Cynthia call the Howell Mountain Cordillera, a spine of the southern Vaca mountains which extends almost all the way to the San Pablo Bay. This cordillera includes two prominent peaks called the Twin Sisters of which the uppermost peak to the west of their property is 2,259 feet above sea level. From their property on a clear day, there are spectacular views to the south overlooking the 3,849 foot summit of Mt. Diablo and the San Pablo Bay. And both their elevation and proximity to the bay affects the temperature on their property; they sometimes experience fog in the early mornings during the growing season, which often burns away by mid morning.
The vines are managed in conjunction with Heritage Farming and Quantum Limit’s own employees. Glenn calls the vineyard complicated; when one visits the property one can see why. The vineyard blocks grow over a wide range of elevations, aspects and soil variations. The density of blocks vary featuring multiple clones and rootstocks. And a riparian zone runs through part of the vineyard; a number of animals live or roam through the property including deer, bobcat, coyotes, mountain lions, foxes and wild turkeys. A herd of about 100 cows graze on site but are kept separate from the vineyard.
Their vines are precision farmed, carefully limiting yields on each vine and mitigating water use. They utilize shade cloth when needed on both sides of their rows and misters are installed in all the blocks, used during periods of extreme heat. The majority of their grapes are sold with a very small percentage kept for the Quantum Limit wines. Glenn and Cynthia produced home wine for the first time from their property in 2012; their first commercial vintage was in 2019. Three of Napa Valley’s most well-respected and accomplished winemakers produce the Quantum Limit wines including Philippe Melka, Julien Fayard and Maayan Koschitzky.
Select Wines
Chardonnay
The 2022 Quantum Limit Il Maremmano Chardonnay; this wine is deep gold in in color; the bouquet is a beautiful expression of the variety, fully ripe but not over ripe and with its influence from oak a complementary character. Its scents include honeysuckle, golden apples, melon, a baking spice sweetness and a light note of caramelized sugars. On the palate there are flavors of golden delicious apples, Golden kiwi, apricot, peaches, yellow nectarine, pineapple and a lingering note of toasted nuts. And a hint of popcorn, especially on the finish; this aromatic is not buttery but of the popcorn itself. While this vintage isn’t quite as bright as the 2021, it is is superbly balanced. The mouth feel is rounded, creamy and sports a silken texture. Lingers rich, warm and ripe with a well endowed and persistent finish. This wine is sourced on the Napa Valley side of Carneros; to the north of Hudson Vineyard, growing on rolling hillsides. It is crafted by Julien Fayard with instructions from Cynthia to always make this wine as Burgundian as possible.
The 2021 Quantum Limit Il Maremmano Chardonnay Carneros Napa Valley was whole cluster pressed into 60% new French oak barrels; its barrel fermentation was cold and slow, lasting for 14 months. This wine is deep gold in color; the first aroma we noted was of freshly harvested honeycomb, which reminded us of when maintained our own bee hives in Calistoga before they all burned in the Tubbs Fire in 2017. Despite the vineyard source being the same as the 2022 vintage the aromatics are distinctly different. Other scents include jasmine and stone fruits of peach, apricot, yellow nectarine and pineapple. On the palate it expresses both ripeness but also freshness. This wine is absolutely singing at this age, four years post vintage. Its flavors include apricot, pineapple, honeycomb, peach, yellow nectarines, mango and papaya. Brightly lit, the vivacious acidity nicely complements the rich texture. The radiant finish lingers both balanced with a gentle character. While the 2022 bottling is more of a meal in the glass, this vintage is perhaps a more versatile wine to pair with a diversity of food.
The label for their Chardonnay varies slightly each year but always features an image of their three beautiful Italian Maremmano-Abruzzese Sheepdogs, a livestock breed that is native to the Maremma region of Tuscany and Lazio. In 2022 they submitted an image of their dogs to ChatGPT with some few basic instructions including, “don’t create an image with their tongues hanging out”. The image on their 2022 vintage of Chardonnay is AI generated.
Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2021 Quantum Limit Cabernet Sauvignon Twenty Eight blocks is 96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot and 1% Merlot and was aged for 20 months in French oak barrels; this wine is deep ruby, opaque and the rim is an amaranthine color. The bouquet is a bit shyer than the 2019 vintage. It smells minerally and chalky, with sweetly fruited scents of Santa Rosa plum, dark raspberry, red cherry, currant and a hint of tomato leaf. Higher toned the bouquet also offers a floral component including of violets and lilacs. It is surprisingly plush and supple across the palate, especially on the entry. Fully ripe it sports a lovely flavor profile of dark cherry, boysenberry, blackberry, mulberry and dark chocolate. The tannins linger with a noticeable full-coating density, a moderate gravelly and grainy grip, with an accompanying dusty/drying character. The texture is one of the hallmark characteristics of this wine. This bottling is already showing in a sweet spot 4 years post vintage and has loads of life ahead with the proper aging.
The 2019 Quantum Limit Cabernet Sauvignon Twenty Eight Blocks (100% varietal); is deep ruby and opaque; the bouquet smells like the variety and has character, all attributes we love so much about Cabernet Sauvignon. And its scents are lifted nicely by floral notes including lilac, lavender and violets with notes of red chili spice, smoked sage, old cedar and other dried herbs including thyme. Its fruit character includes red cherry, red plum, blackberry, and boysenberry. As the wine evolves further it opens to a note of milk chocolate and mocha. Balanced, with flavors of dark cherry, currant and plum, the palate lingers with a light note of dried tobacco leaf. The tannins are remarkably soft and supple at this age, 6 years post vintage; they are lightly tumbled with a rounded character. Lingers savory with flavors of dried herbs including sage and a toasted cedar. This wine is always block driven; Julian walks the blocks during harvest and identifies what he feels are the best blocks to incorporate into this bottling.
Estate Cabernet Franc
The 2021 Quantum Limit Cabernet Franc. The Cabernet Franc was sourced from a site in Oakville with the blend including 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Petit Verdot. This one-off bottling was aged 22 months in both new and neutral oak. This is a riper expression of this variety both in terms of the bouquet and the palate. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; the bouquet smells both fruity but also fresh. Its aromas include cherry fruit roll up; dark fig, blackberry, boysenberry, Pakistani mulberry and dark spices including cloves. Plush across the palate and dark fruited, its flavors are of Satsuma plum, dark cherry, blackberry and boysenberry jam. The palate is brightly lit, fresh and balanced and lingers with a note of dust, dried sage, dried tobacco leaf and a persistent chalky character. We love this type of texture; firm enough to be noticeable but not overtly edgy or grippy. The tannins are lightly grainy and well-integrated in the finish.
Entanglement
In partnership with the team at Château Lynch-Bages, in Bordeaux, Quantum Limit creates a single Cabernet Sauvignon dominated red wine each year called Entanglement. The focus of blending this wine is to use grapes from premium vineyards from both the left and right banks in Bordeaux and choose lots that would most resemble a new world wine. One of the vineyard sites is L’Enclos, a vineyard that was highlighted by The Wine Spectator in 2024 as being one of the world’s top ten historic vineyards.
The 2022 Etangled Quantum Limit is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. When preparing to blend this wine, Glenn and Cynthia picked up barrel samples in Santiago, Chile, shipped from France and on their way back from Antarctica in the middle of the Drake Passage they were part of an international blending session with Château Lynch-Bages in Bordeaux and Melka in Napa. This wine is noticeably more restrained aromatically then a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon; it is deep ruby and opaque. The nose reveals scents of violets, lavender, a light red chili spice, dried tobacco leaf and red plum. As the wine evolves it opens to additional scents including a light barrel influenced spice. The palate is darkly fruited and savory with flavors of dark plum, blackberry and dark currant. This wine features plenty of textural depth and lingers dusty and chalky with notes of dried tobacco and dried herbs. Minerally. Pencil shavings. The firmly gripping still tight and edgy tannins linger with a persistent drying grip which far outpaces the fruit on the finish. As this age, this wine needs lots of time in the glass; but those who let it fully express itself will be rewarded.
Château Lynch-Bages
Those interested in tasting the Quantum Limit wines in Napa Valley can do so by appointment at the state of the art Eleven Eleven Winery in the city of Napa. Additional experiences are hosted on their private Riva Yacht which in the winter is generally sailing in the Caribbean or is berthed in Florida and in the summer is based in the Mediterranean. And serious collectors looking for an even more elevated experience can reach out to Glenn or Cynthia to book a visit to The World Private Yacht. Launched in 2002, this is the planet’s largest private residential yacht; it houses 165 private residences. The World, a modified expedition ship maintains a staff of 300 people and counts 150 families from across 20 countries as its residents. It continuously cruises around the plant circumnavigating the globe about 1.5 times over the course of a year. And onboard, owners and guests are treated to The World’s Nobel Laureate Lecture Series featuring talks by Nobel Peace Prize winners and leaders in the fields of medicine, economics and science.
Their wines are sold direct to consumer and through their website. They are not yet distributed. For more information, to purchase wine or to schedule an experience, visit: www.quantumlimitvineyards.com
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