J Gregory Wines was founded in 2005 by vintner Mark Jessup. Mark was born and raised in Napa Valley. He was attracted to vineyards from an early age. When his family lived in St. Helena, he remembers exploring vineyards, watching the vineyard workers work on the vines and being attracted to the smells of being out in a vineyard as well the sweet smells of fermentation during harvest, especially from the winemaking operations at what was the Napa Valley Co-op Winery (now the site of HALL St. Helena).
He later enrolled at Napa Valley College and took wine and viticulture classes. His first wine job in Napa Valley was working in the cellar at Inglenook vineyards in 1978. From there he worked the 1979 harvest at Robert Mondavi Winery (the winery was only 12 years old at the point) through 1994. He credits his work and contacts at Robert Mondavi as influencing his career. As a young winemaker he recalls being influenced by other winemakers he met at Mondavi including Charles Thomas, Mike Farmer (now running Euclid Wines), Bob Mueller (McKenzie Mueller) and Richard Arnold. Mark was on the original wine making team at Opus One, back when the wine was made in the city of Napa prior to the winery being built. He remembers there were only a team of four people working on those wines at that time.
Mark began Jessup Cellars on his own in 1996 and was winemaker there until 2008 when he decided to leave and focus on J Gregory Cellars. Jessup was so successful and had grown rapidly that it was no longer a tiny winery and required a much greater time commitment. As Mark says, it was time to “slow his soul down”. The vision for J Gregory Cellars is to remain small – under 3,000 cases with most of the production sold direct to consumers either through visits or the wine club.
Mark’s father said something like this during his final days to Mark, “when you look back on your life no one ever says they wished they worked more”. To this Mark has created a lifestyle around the J Gregory Wines – keeping production small enough so he and his wife Kandice can easily manage the business, spend time doing winemaker dinners in the select states their wines are represented in and have enough time left over to be able to travel.
Winemaking
Mark’s philosophy of wine making is rooted in Napa Valley’s past and in old world traditions. He picks the grapes when they are ripe but not over ripe; he desires a balance between pH and acidity when the grapes come into the winery. Balanced fruit in the vineyard equates to balanced wines. He wants elegant wines with pleasing mouth feels (that can be enjoyed young but will age well) instead of being dominated by alcohol and tannins.
Rather than owning vineyards Marks looks for premium sites and enters long term leases (they have a 40-year lease on one of their source vineyards). Mark works closely with several long-time farming families and has direct input and makes decisions on how the vines for his wines are managed.
In the winery, Mark takes a hands-off approach – preferring to ferment with yeast already present on the grapes when it arrives at the winery. He tries to manipulate the wines as little as possible. While at Mondavi Mark worked with a master coper and ultimately made barrel purchasing decisions for the winery. As a result of his experience with barrels, barrel selection and when to use and or not use certain types of barrels are a critical part of his wine making. The wines are crafted with balance in mind in terms of flavor, ripeness, texture and acidity all complementing each other and never leaning too far in any one direction. Mark told us, “I am never going to sacrifice the quality of my wines because I want to drink these for the rest of my life”. Well said. And to his point, these are wines that are enjoyable upon release but are also highly age worthy.
Select Wines
Chardonnay
The 2023 J Gregory Chardonnay, Carneros Napa Valley is deep gold in color; this wine smells fully ripe, expressing lots of California sunshine, but its alcohol is a refreshing listed 13.5%. The bouquet offers alluring aromas of orchard fruits including apricot, yellow peach and yellow nectarines along with honeysuckle, glazed pineapple, butterscotch, creme Brule, vanilla and the aromas resulting from starting to boil apple slices prior to making apple sauce. And for us the associated memories and scents of our youth – helping harvest Golden delicious apples in late August from our parents tree, and then using an apple corer to fill up several pots. This wine tastes like baked apples, apricot, pineapple, ripe papaya and warm butter. Its texture is oily, slippery and satiny and slides smoothly across the palate as running one’s fingers across the gentle caresses of a cashmere sweater. The finish is generous in terms of both its flavor and length while being supported by a bright but balanced acidity. In terms of pairing, choose something creamy to hold up to the weight of this wine, perhaps a pasta alfredo with lots of grated cheese on top.
Only 100 cases were produced of the 2013 J Gregory Chardonnay. The grapes for this wine were sourced from Mark’s friend and longtime Napa Valley farmer Buck Bartolucci (proprietor of Madonna Estate Winery). The vineyard is located on the Napa Valley side of the Carneros District. Mark ferments half of this wine in stainless steel tanks and the other half in new French oak barrels. He allows the wine in barrel to undergo full malolactic fermentation whereas the secondary fermentation in stainless is completely inhibited. On the nose the wine shows notes of ripe stone fruits and pear. The palate is beautifully balanced between weight, flavor of fruit and acidity. It offers a noticeable texture with a rounded viscosity, while also retaining a crisp character. The palate reveals flavors of citrus including orange and mandarin with a subtle tart character persisting on the finish for quite some time.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Celebration
The 2021 J Gregory Celebration Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley is deep ruby and opaque; the bouquet is a harmonious union of both red ripe fruits, savory characteristics and darker spices. These scents include Satsuma plum, red cherry, black currant, boysenberry, raspberry and red licorice accompanied by white sage, old cedar box, incense and pipe tobacco. And some floral tones including lavender and lilac. As the wine evolves in the glass it opens to layers of chocolate and mocha. Filled with movement and the exuberance of both the vintage and its youth (we tasted this 4 years post vintage), this wine reveals flavors of red cherry, red plums, raspberries, currant, boysenberries and not fully ripe Persian mulberry. The finish is strongly red fruited, lingering with both a brightness from the energetic acidity and a resulting tartness. And savory to, with a variety of roasted herbs including sage. The broadly coating tannins are grainy, gritty and still edgy at this age, outpacing the fruit with their persistent dusty character. This wine showcases plenty of personality and is going to be extremely age worthy. Well marbled protein, please.
Willy’s Reserve
The 2019 J Gregory Willy’s Reserve Napa Valley is primarily Cabernet Sauvignon with a skosh of co-fermented Petit Verdot; this wine is deep ruby and nearly opaque. The bouquet is initially restrained but becomes more open and friendly as it evolves in the glass. Give it time you will be be aromatically rewarded. Its scents are very much focused on a dark core of fruit with aromas of dark raspberry, Satsuma plum, blackberry and blueberry with a light note of dried herbs including sage, dark chocolate and baking spices, i.e., cloves and cardamom. This wine is balanced, easy drinking and still very much bright 6 years post vintage. Its flavors are more red fruited than dark and include cherry, boysenberry, raspberry and plum. Lingers with gentle kiss of tannins; their texture is well tumbled and persists with a light gravelly character. And it also finishes with notes of dried herbs including sage and bay leaf. What we call a crowd favorite, this wine drinks quite comfortably at this age.
Extol
Extol is a red blend always dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon while the accompanying varietals vary in terms of their blending percentages each year. Every year this wine showcases distinct characteristics. And the word ‘extol’ means to praise enthusiastically.
The 2019 J Gregory Extol is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon with the balance 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. It was aged for 24 months in French oak barrels. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; the first aromatics we noted are prominent baking spices including star anise, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. These scents in particular dominate in this particular vintage of Extol. Additional aromatics include dried rose petals, white pepper, raspberry, strawberry and red plum. Perfectly balanced, its flavors include cherry, Santa Rosa plum, currant, raspberry and boysenberry. And some of the baking spices shown on the bouquet are also mimicked on the palate but at a lower threshold, especially on the finish. Lingers with lightly grainy tannins which persist in tandem with the fruit with neither really pulling away. Easy drinking. This wine still shows loads of fruit on the palate 6 years post vintage, with the oak providing a lighter but supporting role.
The 2018 J Gregory Extol is 95% Cabernet Sauvignon 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot; the elegant bouquet sports aromas of old leather, bittersweet chocolate, and floral overtones including violets and lavender along with dried tobacco leaf, smoked sage and assorted baking spices. Distinctive. And the aromatics are not just about the fruit. We like that. Generous across the palate in terms of both flavor and texture, this wine tastes like red cherry, blackberry, raspberry, red plum and currant. Bright, balanced and layered. The tannins have held up remarkably well, sporting a grainy and gravelly texture that lingers with a persistent dusty character which outpaces the fruit on the finish. Still fresh, juicy and loaded with movement seven years post vintage. The mouthwatering finish immediately invites another sip; this wine has lots of life ahead. This wine is tasting in a sweet spot at this age.
The 2012 J Gregory Extol Cabernet Sauvignon (Bordeaux Blend) is an expression of the soils of the vineyard; the bouquet shows a pleasing dustiness, like dry rocks in the shade on a hot summers day or perhaps a rock pile on the slopes of eastern Oakville. But in reality, this vineyard is from Wooden Valley located about 25 minutes driving east of the city of Napa. This earthiness lingers for some time and as the wine opens the bouquet reveals darker fruit especially a brambly character including blackberry. The palate shows darker fruits and is mouthwatering with bright acidity. The tannins are well integrated on the long finish.
The 2011 J Gregory Extol is deep ruby and 13 years post vintage is starting to show some brickish red fading color; sweetly fruited its aromas include boysenberry, blackberry, dark raspberry, currants, red licorice, dried tobacco leaf, suede, black tea leaf, library book and a light kiss of dried bay leaf. This wine is not green or herbal or overtly musty, characteristics often associated with red wines from this vintage from Napa Valley due to the much cooler growing season, rain at inopportune times and the resulting sorting challenges of not fully ripe grapes or grapes with botrytis rot or other mildew issues. It is still very much brightly lit across the palate due to its lively acidity. The fresh fruited edge of youth from this particular vintage, has been somewhat softened by time in the bottle. Its flavors include red cherry, dried blackberries, red plum and currants with a finishing layer of tobacco. finishes lively, juicy and mouth watering with lightly gravelly textured tannins. This wine is holding up well, while perhaps it has plateaued, it still has years of life ahead it.
Cabernet Franc
The 2014 J Gregory Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley is sweet and ripe-fruited with scents of baked plums, raspberry jam, blackberries and boysenberry spread, accompanied by roasted coffee, dark chocolate, old baseball mitt leather, lavender, dried sage, dried thyme, star anise, pencil shavings, cinnamon and pipe tobacco. There are a great deal of aromatic layers at play here in addition to its fruit. Savory, red fruited and spicy, the palate reveals flavors of raspberry, red cherry, currant and cranberry with additional notes, primarily noticeable on the finish of dried sage and other roasted herbs, dried bay leaf, creosote and crushed peppercorn. Smelling and tasting this wine reminds us of of walking through the chaparral lined hillsides of the Pyrenees mountains in southeastern France. It finishes with fully coating, dusty, grainy and still somewhat gritty tannins, 11 years post vintage. Shows a light flash of warmth deep on the finish. Lively, fresh and mouth watering. For best results pair this wine with a juicy T-bone steak covered in a spicy dry rub of assorted herbs and peppers, a BBQ and a warm summers evening. This wine is aging particularly well.
Petite Sirah
The 2012 J Gregory Petite Sirah. This wine is from a vineyard east of Lake Berryessa in Yolo County. This bottling is noticeably dark in the glass as it often is for this variety. Aromatically it shows darker fruits including black currant, blackberry with a note of dried mushroom in the background. It features an attractive nose that becomes prettier as it opens. As with all of the J Gregory wines tasted, this wine has bright acidity. On the palate, flavors of chocolate and raspberry are woven between surprisingly well integrated tannins. While their production is already small several wines from the 2011 vintage were impacted by the earthquake in August of 2014 including the loss of barrels for this wine.
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Their logo is a series of four fingerprints placed together. The number four represents Mark’s four boys; his third son, Jonny Gregory Jessup was born with a disability and is the namesake for the wine. The third fingerprint is highlighted on the label to honor Jonny. In addition, Mark pointed out that the look of the fingerprints roughly mirrors the look of a topographic map – perhaps similar in shape to a hillside vineyard.
In 2014 J Gregory Wines opened a tasting room (by appointment only) in a two-story set of offices appropriately called the Cooperage Square Business Center in north Napa. This location is ideal as it is right next to the east side of Highway 29. Tastings are private and often are hosted by Mark and or Kandice. They partnered with the chef at nearby Fume Bistro & Bar to prepare 3 and 4 course lunches on site with the J Gregory Wines. For more in depth lunches – Mark and Kandice work with Meadowood and guests can meet with either of them at lunch (paired with the J Gregory Wines).
And typically, every year, Mark and Kandice host a river cruise somewhere in Europe featuring select J Gregory wines; these destinations often include Burgundy and or Bordeaux.
And unlike many small brands, J Gregory has a decent collection of library vintages, some of which can be tasted at their tasting room and some are sold through their website. For more information, to purchase wines, to schedule an appointment for a tasting and to join their Celebration wine club visit: www.jgregorywines.com
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