Marketta Winery produces small quantity premium Napa Valley wines handcrafted by long time French and American winemaker Marketta Fourmeaux. Marketta was born in Finland and initially visited California as an exchange student in 1968 and 1969 and living with a family of grape growers. She returned to California in 1980, four years after the famous Paris tasting of 1976. At the time, Marketta was a wine taster for the Appellation d’origine contrôlée, AOC (in Bordeaux). AOC sent her to California to visit wineries and sample wines; six months into her trip after tasting several thousand wines, she filed a report back to AOC indicating their findings. Her report indicated California was developing into a serious wine producer and held significant potential.
After her research was completed, Marketta decided not to return to France. She fell in love with Napa Valley and with her husband at the time, Jean-Noel, settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. She and Jean-Noel decided to enter the wine business and work with grape contractors rather than owning their own vineyards. Their business eventually failed. Then the couple purchased their first vineyard in Napa Valley, a small parcel off of the Silverado Trail in Calistoga. Soon after their purchase, they sold this site and in 1988 purchased the 202 acre property that would eventually become home to Chateau Potelle Winery. In the early years, Marketta crafted the Chateau Potelle wines at Hess Collection with a focus on Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. She was also responsible for developing the hillside vineyards at Chateau Potelle.
With the success of Chateau Potelle she and Jean-Noel purchased land in Paso Robles (at one point owning nearly 300 acres) and produced wines under a separate brand called Gravity Hills. She oversaw their vineyard development while Jean-Noel was responsible for the marketing and sales. They sold the Chateau Potelle property in 2007 to Kendall Jackson who has long since torn down the old tasting room/winery.
And after the sale, Jean-Noel has continued to produce wines on his own, slightly rebranding the wines as VGS Chateau Potelle Winery. He also operates a tasting room along Highway 29 south of St. Helena.
After selling Chateau Potelle Marketta began researching custom crush facilities for making her own wines but quickly realized it made most sense from a wine making perspective to have full control of her wine making operations. She already owned a home near downtown Napa; within this old Victorian dating from 1887 and below the first floor was a 3.5 foot tall ‘crawl space’. Needing to be near her wine (and having a perspective of how small wineries operate in Burgundy) led her to excavate under her house entirely by hand. Five men worked, shovel by shovel, with dirt and rocks carted away in wheel barrels. The excavation was a year long project; ultimately she secured a bond to produce wine commercially ‘under the house’ in this residential neighborhood.
We have visited a number of “garagiste” wineries in Napa Valley and Marketta’s winery is one of the top three that we’ve seen, a list that also includes Portfolio Winery, Allora Vineyards and Sabina Vineyards.
She designed it from scratch to be a fully working winery (on a micro scale). While small, the winery functions well; there is space for barrels, several stainless steel tanks, a press and even an area to hand label each bottle. Her ‘crush pad’ is on the ground floor outside the winery with a ‘trap door’ that opens into the winery where her grapes can then be processed. Despite being a fairly ‘new’ winery – walking into this cellar feels like walking back in time with old medals and awards hanging on the walls, the use of old recycled wood and even old metal aluminum frames dating from the 1940s of an old plate and frame wine filter.
This is the third winery Marketta has developed in her wine-making career; the first was Les Jamelles in Languedoc, southern France followed by Chateau Potelle in Napa’s Mt. Veeder appellation. At each winery her production has decreased; at Les Jamelles in Languedoc as co-owner and winemaker she made about 100,000 cases annually, at Chateau Potelle over 25,000 cases and now she is focusing on only several wines including a Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and a red blend from a vineyard on Mt. Veeder. Her first vintage dates from 2007 and total production as of our latest update is only 200 cases.
From about 2015 through the early 2020s, Marketta did not produce any wine. Her winemaking has since resumed with the production of a Sauvignon Blanc from a vineyard in Pope Valley she developed, including choosing rootstock, variety and clones and a Pinot Noir from a small vineyard planted to multiple clones of this variety, located on the Sonoma side of Carneros. We will taste these wines as soon as they are released and will update our notes here accordingly.
Minimalistic winemaking is key to Marketta’s winemaking style. As she says, “the less you manipulate the grape, the more you bring out the site specific characteristics” – terroir if you will. And natural fermentation using indigenous yeasts is an important characteristic of her winemaking. This type of winemaking certainly takes more “babysitting” as she says – it is more time intensive and detail oriented. However with more than 30 harvests under her belt she has long since overcome the challenges created by natural fermentation.
Rather than the common 7-12 days of fermentation that occurs after inoculating with commercial yeast, Marketta’s wines sometimes take up to 2 months to finish their primary fermentations. Marketta has noticed that fermenting her wines with true natural yeast result in different flavors and characteristics – flavors that have long been sought out by her consumers. And this is especially true with each barrel – it is its own entity with its own unique flavors and characteristics.
Marketta was trained in a classic style of wine making in France and has developed “her” style of wines over the years. Marketta is not in wine making to follow fads, trends or gimmicks – she follows her own style. There are a number of vintners in the valley fermenting using indigenous yeasts; Marketta says true natural fermentation is fairly difficult. The most important aspect of natural fermentation is that a winery needs to be in a “neutral” location – meaning it is not subjected to additional yeasts from commercial fermentations or is nearby other wineries. New barrels are needed (for both fermentation and aging) and cleanliness is critical in the winery.
Similar to styles of cooking, the length of time aging makes a difference with wine and allows the flavors to integrate and develop additional complexities and nuances. Nothing is done quick here. Once the wine is in the bottle it is aged for significant more time before it is released; take for instance her Sauvignon Blanc; most winery current releases are typically several years younger than Marketta’s current vintages. Most of her current releases are 6 and 7 years past the vintage date including her Chardonnay, which is built to age longer than many quick to market wines of this variety.
Select Wines
Sauvignon Blanc
The 2007 Marketta Sauvignon Blanc, Pope Valley has benefited, from additional aging, like all of Marketta’s wines. The bouquet is elegant and initially shows notes of tangerine, citrus blossom and as the wine opens an enticing honeycomb aroma emerges as well as fainter notes of pineapple. This wine is rounded, yet retains a bright crispness. Additional aging has helped the wine develop complexities and nuances on both the bouquet and the palate. Superbly balanced. In 2025 Marketta had only 5 cases of this wine remaining; not thinking it would have lasted this long she kept these cases stored in a small space in the winery. A friend asked to open one of the bottles; both were surprised by how well this wine had held up, 20 years post vintage. Great vineyard, thoughtful winemaking, choice of bottle to open based on color, and a bit of luck.
Chardonnay
The 2012 Marketta Reserve Chardonnay, Napa Valley is deep gold in color; highly attractive the initial scents are honeyed, stone fruited and tropical. These aromas include honeycomb, melting butter, peaches in light syrup, apricot, ripe papaya, glazed pineapple, dried nectarines, baked apples, and ginger with finishing aromatic layers of creme Brule, vanilla, butterscotch and toasted cashew. Still very much balanced between flavor, texture and acidity, this wine sings brightly 13 years post vintage. Its flavors include apricot, canned peaches, ripe pineapple, Alphonso mango, ripe papaya, butter, creme Brule, caramel, and a whisper of toasted almond on the finish. The mouth feel sports a silky and supple texture, lifted by both its richness of fruit and balanced acidity. The finish is long and flavorful. We can only hope that we age as well as this wine over the next 13 years. We would enjoy pairing this wine with a lobster tail with a recipe calling for garlic, lemon and butter and a view of the Maine coastline in late spring, perhaps in the tiny peaceful community of Ogunquit. Those who experienced this vintage in Napa Valley may remember its growing season was extended due to the mild weather, resulting in long hangtimes, even ripening and moderate sugars.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2011 Marketta Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley is deep ruby, nearly opaque and shows some brickish coloring 14 years post vintage. The bouquet still smells like 2011 even after all these years. This was an unusual vintage in Napa Valley because it was cold during inopportune times throughout the growing season including rain in early summer and in late summer and into fall. We remember rain causing complications during the annual Napa Valley Wine Auction the first weekend in June. Hillside vineyards this year generally did better than valley floor sites. Its scents include red chili spice, a hint of jalapeno and dried tobacco leaf but the herbal characteristics expressed that this vintage was commonly associated with, are mostly restrained. Other aromas include dark cherry, Satsuma plum, raspberry, boysenberry and dried rose petals, bittersweet chocolate, old cedar box and as the wine evolves further, a layer of dark cocoa powder. The savory and spice notes dominate the fruit. Very much still bright across the palate, this lighter bodied wine offers flavors of red cherry, currant, plum, red chili, not fully ripe blueberry, and cranberry. Loaded with vitality at this age, but with less depth and length than its surrounding vintages, the juicy and bright palate lingers red fruited with some dried herbs including sage. The tannins are still present, but are harmoniously integrated into the finish with a light gravelly character. This wine will probably remain at its peak for at least several more years.
Heritage Collection
The 2012 Marketta Heritage Collection, La Pastière is 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon from Mount Veeder. Wines were bottled under the Heritage Collection from 2004 through 2014; Marketta tasted through select bottles from each of these years in 2024 and determined, regardless of vintage, these bottles are all aging extremely well and have years of life ahead of them. This wine is deep ruby with a brickening of color due to its age. For reference we needled and nosed this 13 years post vintage. Sweetly fruited with some bottle bouquet, the aromatics are generous, layered and still very much lively. Its scents include ripe blackberry, dark cherry, plum compote, dark raspberries, dried mission figs, chocolate covered cedar box (if there were such a thing), mocha, a light note of toast and a sweet tobacco spice. Fruity, yet also juicy and refreshing, this wine tastes like dried blackberries, Santa Rosa plum, blueberries, boysenberries and cherries with a subtle note of dried tobacco leaf on the finish. The acidity zips across the palate like a youngster in the driver’s seat; it has kept this wine more youthful than its age would indicate. The lightly gravelly tannins persist in tandem with the fruit on the finish. Marketta recommends pairing this wine with a hamburger; our choice would be the Kimchi burger, available at any of the Gott’s Roadside locations within California. This wine spent 20 months in 100% French oak barrels, of which 75% were new barrels. Production was miniscule; only 22 cases were produced.
The 2014 Marketta Heritage Collection, La Amalgâme is 50% Malbec, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot, all from Mount Veeder. This wine was aged for 23 months in 100% French oak barrels, of which 78% were new barrels. Deep ruby in color and nearly opaque, this wine is holding its color quite well 11 years post vintage. This wine smells like raspberry, blueberry, ripe blackberry, dark chocolate, mocha, espresso, old cedar box, sweet pipe tobacco and assorted dried herbs including sage and bay leaf. Balance is not an adjective often used to describe aromatics, but in this bottling the aromatics are as balanced as the palate. This wine sports flavors of red cherry, blueberry, boysenberry, Persian mulberry, dark raspberry, plum and a finishing note of dried tobacco leaf. If the oak were a passenger in a stretch limousine, it would be seated the furthest away from the driver. Its influence is complementary here, like all of Marketta’s wines. This wine lingers savory, with a bright and still youthful cadence, grainy, gravelly and lightly dusty tannins accompanied by lots of fruit. Neither texture nor flavor pulls away from each other anytime soon on the finish. This wine is showing in a sweet spot right now, both on the bouquet and the palate.
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Marketta’s efforts throughout her decades in the business speak through her wines but it is always nice to be internationally recognized as well. In 2008 she was awarded the Medaille de L’Ordre du Merite Agricole by the French President and Government (a past recipient was Louis Pasteur). Her wines are available direct through her website and mailing list as well as select restaurants in Napa Valley. Her production is so small that she focuses her very limited distribution locally.
Visits are by invitation only and are available for groups of 2 to 10 people. For more information, to purchase wine and to join her mailing list visit: www.markettawinery.com
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