Arborum Estate was founded by Caren and Nick Orum; the Orum’s are originally from the southern part of the U.S. Nick from Texas and Caren from Arkansas and Louisiana. Nick graduated from Stanford and Caren from Emery; their careers in investment and finance took them to New York and San Francisco; they became residents of Calistoga in 1999. They purchased this highly historical tiny slice of St. Helena in 2013 from the previous owner, the San Francisco Ballet and produced their first wine in 2021.
This twenty acre property was once under the ownership of John (JC) and Hannah Weinberger (John’s first wife died in 1866). John helped organize the Bank of St. Helena, served as its director and also was a founding member of the St. Helena Viticultural Society, organized in 1875. Hannah is recognized as the first woman winemaker in Napa Valley, a role she assumed after the untimely death of her husband. As an appropriate last name, Weinberger in German refers to a vineyard or ‘someone living near a vineyard’.
The Weinbergers purchased the original 240-acre estate from prominent vintners Charles and Carolina Krug in 1868 and were contemporaries of a number of early pioneer St. Helena winemaking families including the Krugs, Beringers and Lewellings. For reference, 1868 was the year the railroad was completed spanning the distance between the city of Napa and Calistoga. Carolina married Charles in 1860; her dowry was 540 acres of land. It is interesting to note that a number of German wine pioneers settled in or near St. Helena while a short distance away to the north east of town, was part of the valley known ‘dego valley’ (now Italian Valley) and attracted a number of Italian and Swiss/Italian settlers.
The property went through numerous owners over the decades and was ultimately subdivided into smaller parcels; by the time it was acquired by the Orum’s much of this hillside landscape had been overtaken by the surrounding forest including the original vineyards first planted in the 1870s.
And the Orum’s discovered a grove of 150 original olive trees, planted on 1.5 acres, also dating from the 1870s. The trees had not been cared for and the grove had been encroached upon by the surrounding forest. These are among the oldest living original planted olive trees in Napa Valley; additional old groves include the trees at Sabina Vineyard lining the original road leading to the Bale Grist Mill and also the Monte Olivos grove (dating to the 1880s) now used for making olive oil bottled under the Grove 45 brand. Alternate bearing, the Orum family owned historical grove still produces olives. In addition to their estate wine, Arborum crafts a very limited amount of olive oil each year.
Three distinctive vineyards blocks are planted (2.5 acres) all to several clones of Cabernet Sauvignon. The blocks were planted in 2019 and 2020 and are referred to as 1871, Hanna and the Hidden Key. The property ranges in elevation from approximately 400 to 800 feet with an average vine slope of 26 degrees.
The vineyard is precision farmed organically and regeneratively by Renteria Vineyard Management; data collection even on a small site such as this, helps make informed and thoughtful decisions. Sap flow sensors are installed within the vineyard, measuring vine transpiration rates every 15 minutes, this data helps make knowledgeable irrigation decisions. Several weather stations send out alerts for high temperatures and automatically active the vineyard cooling system utilizing the vine foggers. Shade clothes are manually installed among the vines, helping mitigate both heat and sun on the canopy and clusters of grapes. And through aerial mapping, vine vigor, canopy temperatures and water stressed parts of the vineyard blocks can be measured. Balanced vines equates to balanced wines.
The property overlaps almost equally between two of Napa Valley’s sub appellations, Spring Mountain District and St. Helena. The upper vineyard block is within Spring Mountain while the two lower blocks are within St. Helena. Neighboring or nearby winery properties west of Highway 128 include Fantesca Winery, Lokoya’s Wurtele Vineyard, William Cole, Morlet, Vineyard 29 and Grace Family. The still standing wooden hunting lodge on the Orum property was built in 1939 with an addition later added in the 1970s.
Arborum in Latin means, “of the trees” or “belonging to the trees” and is a name that is directly connected to the property. And it cleverly incorporates their last name of Orum. A large oak tree grew on the property near the old hunting lodge. Nick and Caren’s young children discovered a ‘hidden key’ nestled among where two branches intersected. One day soon after the Orum’s acquired the property, it split completely in half.
Arborum produces three wines each year, a Proprietary White from grapes grown in Coombsville, the Arborum Red Blend dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon but blended with Cabernet Franc and their estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Winemaker Andy Erickson has crafted the wines since the inaugural vintage; his assistant winemaker at the time Jessica Tarpy assisted with the Arborum vintages 2021 through 2023 with Andy’s current assistant winemaker Patrick Nyeholt, assuming this role in 2024. Erickson’s winemaking style focuses on balance and harmony, an integration between flavor, acidity and texture, with neither attribute dominating. Or to use a single word to best sum up his winemaking efforts, we we are very comfortable using the word, finesse.
The Arborum Proprietary white wine stands head and shoulders with some of the best white wines being produced in contemporary Napa Valley. And that is a heady, whose who list, including Lail, Rudd, Vineyard 29, Stony Hill, Arkenstone, and Ladera. And we feel confident saying this having tasted through some of Napa Valley’s most thoughtful and limited production white wines.
Select Wines
Proprietary White
The grapes for this wine each year are fermented in approximately equal parts new French oak barrels, neutral oak barrels and stainless barrels; the individual components are aged separately from each other on the lees for up to 8 months before being blended together to continue their aging in tank. Total time aging is usually between 16 and 17 months before being bottled.
The 2022 Arborum Proprietary White is a blend of 37% Sauvignon Musqué, 33% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Semillon; this wine is medium golden in color. Distinctly different than the 2021 bottling, the bouquet offers scents of fresh beeswax, an aromatic that reminds of of pulling out sheets of honeycomb from our bee hives in Calistoga before they were taken by the 2017 Tubbs Fire, honeysuckle, a light note of saran wrap, apple skin, kiwi, Babcock peach, citrus blossom, grapefruit, and herbal notes including thyme, lemongrass and kaffir lime. The bouquet foreshadows a similar brightness across the palate with an invigorating vein of acidity that keeps this wine refreshing and loaded with movement. This wine offers plenty of citrus overtones and tastes like grapefruit, green apple, pomelo, guava, gooseberry, lime and lemon zest with a light but lingering note of chalk. Its supple and silky texture is buoyed high by its bright and fresh acidity. The long lasting finish is filled with fruit, lingering mouthwatering and refreshing. Balanced. Compared to the 2023 vintage which would be the wine we would pair with dinner, this vintage would be the wine we would enjoy before dinner. It drinks very nicely by itself. Superbly balanced and highly enjoyable, this wine alone is worth joining their allocation list.
The 2023 Arborum Proprietary White is a blend of 37% Sauvignon Musqué, 36% Sauvignon Blanc and 27% Semillon. This wine is medium gold in color; highly floral and aromatically generous, the bouquet offers scents of star jasmine and orange blossom, accompanied by passion fruit, pineapple guava, white nectarine, Babcock peach, papaya, and golden delicious apples, reminding of when we used to core these fruits in preparation for making apple sauce in early fall. Thoroughly bright, this wine sings soprano at this age, 2 years post vintage. Its flavors include mandarin orange, green apple, dried herbs including thyme, and finishes with note of kaffir lime and lemon zest. Not overtly herbal and not overtly tropical either, but saddled right in between. The finish persists with a citrusy tang, fresh and loaded with plenty of movement. The mouth feel sports a silky and satiny feel. Based on its overall cadence, this wine will pair with a diversity of food. We would start dinner with with a fresh spring salad followed by lightly seared scallops, both in the company of this wine.
Reds
The 2022 Arborum Red Blend is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Arborum Estate with 22% Cabernet Franc from Pritchard Hill. The wine was fermented in French oak barrels, of which 61% were new followed by 26 months of aging prior to bottling. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; ripe but with an elegant bent, this wine smells like African violets, lilacs, dark plum, dark, cocoa powder, dark chocolate, sweet tobacco spice, red chili spice and old cedar box. We love the aromatic diversity here, it’s not just about the fruit. Superbly balanced, the palate offers dark fruits, including plum, boysenberry, blackberry, cherry and boysenberry. The grainy tannins are integrated nicely at this age, 3 years post vintage and linger with a light gravelly character in tandem with the fruit. Its also savory, offering notes of tobacco, roasted herbs, dust, chalk and a light touch of pepper. Perhaps this will be one of the more age worthy 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. Finishes fresh and thoroughly satisfying.
The 2023 Arborum Red Blend is 67% Cabernet Sauvignon and 33% Cabernet Franc; this wine was blended with more Cabernet Franc because this was the first year they released a stand alone estate Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; up front savory, spicy with some herbal notes, this wine smells like white sage, old cedar box, tobacco box, petrichor, with a brambly fruit core showcasing scents of dark raspberry, boysenberry, blackberry. As this wine evolves it opens to layers of milk chocolate and dark cocoa powder. Fresh, lively and layered, on the palate there are flavors of boysenberry, raspberry, blackberry and dark plum. Lingers savory and spice filled with firm but not edgy tannins; their textural grip fully coats the palate with a lasting dusty character. Additional notes include dried sage, roasted herbs, cloves, dried tobacco leaf and chalk. This wine is showing well in its youth, 2 years post vintage, but has all the stuffing to age for years to come with the proper care. Beautiful. This wine was aged for 20 months in 2/3 new French oak. And from personal experience, this wine pairs exceptionally well with Prima Donna, an aged Dutch gouda.
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The label and branding are the work of Madeleine Corson, of San Francisco based Madeleine Corson Design Office. Her works have been used by other premium wineries including Napa Valley based Kerr Cellars, Ovid, Pine Ridge, Spottswoode, Trujillo and Vine Hill Ranch. The individual photographs used on each of their wine labels were taken by her husband Thomas.
In 2024, in conjunction with artist Laura Friedman, Caren & Nick’s daughter Moss Orum published, A Point Reyes Herbarium, Explorations of a Young Naturalist. At 12 years of age, every week for a year both Orum and Friedman would collect and press samples of plants from Point Reyes. This book is a photographic collection of 60 of these plant specimens accompanied by short descriptions of each plant. Available at the Bear Valley Visitor Center park store, 100% of the proceeds from the purchase of this book supports The Point Reyes National Seashore Association (PRNSA) Youth in Parks (YIP) program.
Arborum actively supports a diversity of non profit and charitable organizations focused on Napa Valley vineyard workers and their families and the environment; in fact 100% of their net proceeds from the sales of their wines are donated to charity. And before they even launched the brand, they committed to $1,000,000 to local organizations. Some of their recipients are 10,000 Degrees, Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation and Save the Redwoods League.
And we will leave you with a quote from the Orum’s written on every bottle, “in the acorn sleeps a forest”. While written as short verbiage, this is powerful prose; its meaning can be interpreted a number of ways. To us it means the power do good comes from each and every one of us, creating a ripple effect.
The first several vintages were produced at Eleven Eleven Winery in Napa. Starting in 2025, production moved to the state of the art ELLMAN Family Winery. Total production across all their wines is around 600 cases annually. The wines are sold via a membership allocation list with a very limited number of cases available at premium restaurants and retail shops. And for serious collectors, Arborum will participate in a wine dinner hosted in the convenience of your own home. For more information or to join this list, please visit: www.arborum.com
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