Del Roba Vineyard was founded by Bruce and Simone (Sima) Nixon with their first vintage produced in 2019, a single vineyard designate Merlot. Bruce was raised in San Mateo where he graduated from San Mateo High School. His first introduction to wine was during high school; Bruce’s friend would bring wines from his father’s cellar to enjoy on the weekends centered around San Mateo High School football games. Bruce remembers these wines were much better than the cheap stuff his parents were drinking. He later discovered these bottles were from a variety of First Growth wineries in Bordeaux. And then his friend’s father became wise to the missing bottles. As expected, the supply of great wine quickly came to an end.
And while in high school Bruce joined the rock climbing club; it was while rock climbing in Yosemite that he remembers being introduced to wines from Napa Valley for the first time including from distinguished and storied producers such as Louis Martini and Inglenook. Bruce wanted to be a winemaker since high school, but his path detoured and he became a doctor. But now as he says, “I can do both”.
He made beer in college while attending the University of California, Berkeley for his undergraduate degree. While waiting for acceptance for medical school he was accepted at the University of California Davis to pursue a Master’s Degree in Viticulture. He was prepared to go to UC Davis but then he made a last minute pivot to go to medical school.
His enthusiasm for wine continued throughout college. He returned to Stanford for his residency and discovered Vin Vino Wine, a neighborhood wine store still in business in Palo Alto. He remembered it was through this shop that he discovered his enjoyment of French wines, especially how well they paired with food in comparison to some of the California wines which showcase fruit more than freshness.
Beltramo’s Wines & Spirits in Menlo Park, long since closed, was another of his favorite places to visit. He began collecting wines, starting with Napa Valley. While practicing medicine for nearly 40 years in Fremont his dream of becoming a winemaker was put on hold. But nearing retirement age, he and Sima started toying with the idea of possibly finding a weekend home in ‘wine country’. It took them more than 8 months to find a property that ‘spoke’ to them, initially looking in Sonoma and then in Napa. One weekend, their realtor mentioned a parcel in Coombsville that was about to be listed with the owner in a hurry to sell it.
They saw the property for the first time in February on a rainy day. The one appellation in Napa Valley we most associate with small front or back yard vineyards is Coombsville. Not even knowing which varieties were planted at the time, part of the appeal to both Bruce and Sima was the fact the house was surrounded by vineyards on all four sides. They purchased the property in early 2019. Previous owners had horses stabled stabled here with a small riding corral. Soon their plan of a weekend home transitioned to a full time residency. But work still needed Bruce; he commuted to and from Fremont twice a week for two years. And then as soon as he fully retired, he met a doctor over a game of bocce who said something like, “we could use a radiologist at St. Helena Hospital”. Bruce keeps ‘one foot’ in the door, working very part time at St. Helena Hospital.
From neighbors, they discovered the age of their vines and the variety; they soon realized they had something truly special growing on this property. Their Merlot is approximately 50 years old; its age is somewhat ambiguous due to the fact no records were kept when it was planted. But nearby neighbors recall it was planted sometime in the early to mid 1970s. The previous owner was selling the grapes. An adjacent block of old vines planted at the same time on a neighbors property has since been pulled and replanted.
The property is about 3 acres of which 2.2 acres are planted to grapevines, divided in three distinctive blocks. In a good year, the old-vine Merlot produces merely 0.8 tons per acre, resulting in only about two barrels of wine. And in 2024, Bruce interplanted Cabernet Franc among the old Merlot vines, taking advantage of the original wide spacing. And his decision was influenced somewhat based on favoring wines from the Right Bank in Bordeaux where Merlot is the dominant grape and Cabernet Franc often fills a supporting blending role. As a result, this is probably the only vineyard in Napa Valley planted with rows alternating between old Merlot and young Cabernet Franc. He chose clone 214 for the Cabernet Franc, influenced by the wines Julien Fayard produces from this particular variety, and the high scoring wines that Arrow & Branch has made, also from this particular clone.
The old Merlot is clone 6. Two blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon are planted to clone 4 and 337 with the vines in the oldest block planted in the mid 1980s. The Cabernet Sauvignon is sold to winemaker Chris Dearden who makes an exceptional Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon with grapes from this property blended with grapes from other small Coombsville vineyards.
According to a business listing published in The Napa Valley Register dated Wednesday April 5, 1989 their vineyard used to be called Winterbrook Vineyard.
Sima is originally from Iran, having left due to the Iranian revolution in 1979. Del means heart in Farsi and roba means to steal or rob. So when combined, these words refer to ‘stealing the heart’, a romantic connotation. But the words are also associated with Italian and Spanish. Regardless, it was ‘del roba’ that Sima quietly said to herself when she first walked onto the property during that rainy February day in 2019.
And it is Sima who assisted with the design of the label, which continues to be a work in progress; the look and feel changed from the previous design starting with their 2022 vintage. She also oversees the sales and marketing for the wines.
In 2019 Bruce placed an advertisement to sell some of the grapes in Wine Business Classified. Winemaker Kent Rasmussen answered the ad. Bruce remembers eating at a restaurant in Santa Cruz when he took Kent’s call. Naturally, Kent wanted to know the exact location of the vineyard in Coombsville. Bruce told him. And Kent’s reply was, “Are you the house with the funny shaped pool in the back?” After this was confirmed, Kent mentioned he made wine from those grapes at least 30 years previously; he was greatly impressed with their quality then.
Kent purchased both the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; that year he made one barrel of Merlot while winemaker Leo Tellez made the other barrel. Bruce met Australian born winemaker Tom Sherwood (proprietor of BXT Wines, a California sparkling wine producer) when Tom was consulting for an Italian wine client. Tom was interested in purchasing some of Bruce’s grapes but ultimately didn’t purchase them due to smoke taint that year. Tom told Bruce, “if you ever want to make wine, I’ll help you”. Bruce now calls him his wine coach; Tom took over the winemaking for Del Roba starting with the 2022 vintage.
In early 2025 Bruce bonded a small building as a commercially producing winery on his property. This might just be the smallest producer in Napa Valley with a bonded winery.
Select Wines
The 2019 Del Roba Vineyard Old Growth Merlot, V.2 is is 98% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. This wine deep ruby in color; the elegant and subtle bouquet offers aromas of blackberry, dark plum, boysenberry, dark cherry and hints of dark chocolate, cardamom and cinnamon as the wine further evolves. The focus here is on the fruit with the oak a light complementary character. It is superbly balanced and supple from the entry through to the finish. The palate offers flavors of dark raspberry, blackberry, dark plum and boysenberry. This wine is drinking in sweet spot at this age. The flavorful finish lingers with a gentle textural touch featuring tannins that are well tumbled, sporting a soft and rounded feel. Both flavor and this light texture persist in tandem. If there was a descriptor we would use to describe this wine, it would be: crowd friendly. There are no sharp edges here. This wine was aged in neutral oak, using oak stave inserts.
While their other vintages are 100% varietal, winemaker Mark Gagnon suggested they blend a small amount of Petit Verdot in 2019. During blending trials it was decided that 2% was just the right amount. But after it was bottled it was so muscular and structured they couldn’t drink it. One of Bruce’s friends said he decanted the wine every day for four days and on day four it was drinkable.
And the 2019 bottling was the co-winner, along with another Coombsville producer, Ackerman Vineyards of the Volcanic Wine Award in 2024 by Wine and Spirit magazine. After submitting this wine for consideration, Bruce and Sima forgot about their entry. While both were tasting at a winery in Bordeaux later that year, in conversation they mentioned they owned a winery in Napa Valley. The gentleman they were talking with googled Del Roba Wines; one of the entries he clicked on indicated Del Roba had recently won this competition.
Del Roba produced Merlot in 2020.
The 2021 Del Roba Vineyard Old Growth Merlot was aged in one 100% new French oak barrel. It is deep ruby; the nose is markedly different from the 2019 vintage – a product of no Petit Verdot in this vintage and also its oak aging. The bouquet is sweetly fruited but also features a simultaneous higher toned aromatic profile. On the nose there are ripe aromatics of blackberry, boysenberry, Persian mulberry, plum, lilac and some accompanying baking spices. Generous and equally ripe across the palate, this wine tastes like blackberry, Santa Rosa plum, boysenberry, mulberries and dark cherry. Shows riper than the 2019 vintage. It has no residual sugar but the palate lingers with a light perception of sweet fruit. The tannins are gravelly and persist in tandem with the fruit on the finish offering a subtle chalky character. We would love to pair this with bone-in dry herb roasted rack of lamb. In a party featuring a diversity of Napa Valley Merlots, this would be the life of the party and potentially the crowd favorite. Time has been kind to this bottle and softened its texture.
The 2022 Del Roba Vineyard Old Growth Merlot (100% varietal) is deep ruby and nearly opaque with an amaranthine rim; ripe and sweetly fruited, the bouquet offers scents of blackberry jam, boysenberry preserves, dark raspberry, dried plum and dark cherry liqueur with underlying floral layers of violets and lilacs. The fruit is very much forward and center. After smelling the ripeness and sweetness on the bouquet we weren’t expecting the brightness and freshness on the palate. This wine offers dark fruited flavors of dark plum, blackberry, boysenberry, Persian mulberry, blueberry, cherry and a character almost crossing into the territory of being sanguine. Lingers with notes of dried herbs including sage. The broadly coating tannins are grainy, gravelly and linger with a firm grip. This has been one of their most popular vintages. We can see why. We would love a juicy ribeye steak from the BBQ paired with this wine. The grapes were harvested after the extended Labor Day period of extreme heat – at 25 brix (the initial sugar perhaps was higher once fermentation started). As a result part of the wine was bled off to concentrate the remaining. One can taste that ripeness in this bottle.
The 2023 Del Roba Vineyard Old Growth Vineyard is deep ruby and opaque; the nose is lifted nicely by floral characteristics of violets and lilacs accompanied by loads of fresh fruit including dark raspberry, cherry, blueberry, fresh boysenberry and blackberry. The palate offers a union of both red and dark fruits including cherry, currant, raspberry, Santa Rosa plum and blueberry. Bright and lively; at this age the tannins are still bouncing around the palate like a boisterous teenager with a resulting grainy and gravelly texture. Finishes brightly fruited with a light tart attribute and a note of dried sage. This wine is built to age and should start reaching its sweet spot in another 5 to 10 years and hold that plateau for years following. For reference, we tasted this three days post bottling. This wine was produced from 3/4 free run and 1/4 pressed wine. Bruce tasted this as it was being pressed; eventually it reached 1.2 bars and he said stop the press. It tasted and texturally felt good at that point.
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Their total annual production is merely two barrels of Merlot. The wines can be purchased directly from Bruce; interested parties can contact him directly through his website. With such a limited production, they limit their consumer tasting outreach to pouring their wines at the Discover Coombsville tasting, hosted by the Coombsville Vintners and Growers Association, held annually in April. For more information, visit: www.delrobavineyard.com
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