McKenzie-Mueller Vineyards & Winery is located in the heart of the Carneros district, about a 15 minute drive from either downtown Napa or Sonoma. The winery is open to visitors by appointment; their schedule is often fairly flexible, even with last minute appointments. Founders Bob Mueller and Karen McKenzie used to live on site – today their daughter Samantha lives across from the winery and is Director of Operations (overseeing all aspects of the business from hospitality, to vineyard and wine work).
They purchased their Carneros property in 1987 which included an old run down dairy barn; they renovated the interior and it now houses their tasting room. The winery was founded in 1989 (their first vintage was in 1990, 500 cases); both Bob and Karen grew up in Napa Valley. Karen was raised in the former farming community of Monticello in eastern Napa County which is now buried under under many feet of water from Lake Berryessa. The site of Monticello is off shore closest to the dirt/gravel East Side Road about 9.5 miles in from the junction of Berryessa Knoxville Road. This road roughly parallels the shoreline on the eastern side of the lake for about 3/4 of the lake’s distance before terminating. However at about mile marker 6 this dirt road is gated and locked and one can drive no further.
One can roughly look across the lake on the western shoreline at where Monticello used to be located from the Smittle Creek Trailhead. We will rent a boat or a jet ski at some point to reach the over water location directly above where the town used to be located. When Lake Berryessa was created, the town of Monticello was removed down to each buildings’ foundation so underwater, nothing really remains of the town itself.
Bob gained much of his early wine making experience by working at Robert Mondavi Winery for 16 years before starting McKenzie-Mueller. There have been a number of well-regarded wine makers who worked at Robert Mondavi Winery over the years who have either started their own wineries or successful brands. There is a reason Robert Mondavi has earned the phrase among local wine insiders, “the College of Mondavi”.
Bob planted his vineyards during a time when Carneros was just coming out of the shadow of being known as Napa Valley’s, “next door neighbor”. It was a time when Carneros began to build its reputation primarily on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. McKenzie-Mueller owns two vineyards: the home ranch surrounding the winery and another 8 acre piece of land north of the city of Napa on Big Ranch Road in the Oak Knoll district which is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. Their Carneros property is 50 acres and is planted to a diversity of varietals including Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon. There is not a lot of Cabernet Sauvignon planted in Carneros – in what is generally a cooler growing region as compared to ‘up valley’.
To enter the winery, drive down a short gravel driveway past rows of vines and olive trees. They produce olive oil from these olive trees but it is not available for tasting on site – although visitors can purchase bottles. Additional olive trees line the edge of their property along Las Amigas Road and are often white in color because they are sprayed with a type of organic compound which discourages olive flies from laying eggs on the olives.
The actual tasting room is in the wooden “wine shed” behind the winery; it is cozy and intimate and contains a small wine bar. Karen was formerly a high school art teacher (now retired) and is a painter and some of her works are on display hanging on the walls of the tasting room.
Visits may also include a tour of their production facility where you might meet the cellar master German Valdez (pronounced, Herman). German is originally from the state of Oaxaca in Mexico; as soon as you meet him, you can tell he loves what he is doing. He was doing construction and stucco work until the recession of 2008 – at which point the housing market slowed dramatically. Looking for another line of work and a complete career change he began his first winery job with McKenzie-Mueller. He acknowledges Bob for for providing much of his vineyard and winery education. Today he is responsible for overseeing the cellar work and helps with the management of their vineyards. And if he is in the cellar when visitors stop by – he might just offer up a barrel sample.
Total production is currently around 2500 cases per year. They make excellent Pinot Grigio (first winery to plant this varietal in the Carneros region), and their flagship wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon. However they have developed a strong following over the years for their Cabernet Franc.
McKenzie-Mueller also maintains a very limited selection of older wines in their wine library for sale. At the time of this update, they have wines up to 20+ years old; most Napa Valley wineries do not have an inventory like this of older vintages for sale and it is a unique opportunity to taste and or purchase wines which have been cellared for so many years. Bob’s philosophy is that wines often get better with age; select older vintages are included in the tasting (a rare opportunity to taste wines in Napa that have some age behind them). And their winemaking style is conducive to aging – the wines we have tried during several visits all have excellent hallmarks for aging including balance, acidity and a pleasing texture.
From the vineyards to the winery McKenzie Mueller is very much a by hand operation; their vineyards are pruned and harvested by hand. Only small tanks are housed in the winery along with 1/2 open top fermentors. Their wines are unfiltered with minimal fining; do not worry about any tartrate crystals you might see floating in the bottom of some of their bottles as these are totally harmless. They used to bring in a mobile bottling line but have since acquired a small bottling line on site, along with a separate labeling machine.
Select Wines
The 2017 McKenzie-Mueller Pinot Grigio is medium to deep gold in color; this wine is quite aromatic showing notes of peach, apricot, honeycomb, honeysuckle, dried straw and melon (cantaloupe). Offers a lovely texture across the palate which is supple with an almost saline or briny feel. We tried this wine 5 years post vintage date and it continues to show quite well. On the palate, it offers layers of flavor including lemon, ripe pear and honeycomb with a rich and still bright fruit filled finish. Tasting this wine made us think of pairing it with seafood, perhaps scallops or halibut.
The 2017 Mckenzie-Mueller Cabernet Franc is medium ruby in color; the bouquet is diverse and shows aromas of sweaty leather, mushroom, a meaty character, old cedar box, Graham cracker, white pepper, blackberry and spicy Santa Rosa plum skin. Be patient and let it continue to evolve in the glass; the reward will be more fruit as the bouquet continues to open. This wine is beautifully balanced from start to finish with flavors of red cherry, red currants and strawberry. The tannins show a light to medium grip and are rounded, finer grained and are integrated nicely into the overall structure. Features a juicy finish with more red fruits than darker fruits and lingers with a note of dried tobacco leaf. This is a very food friendly bottling with lots of life ahead.
The 2008 McKenzie-Mueller Cabernet Franc (tried 9 years after vintage) has certainly aged well on the bouquet; it is still very aromatic with plenty of fruit showing along with other characteristics including an herbal note, dust, truffles and hints of smoke. The palate is lively with bright acidity and flavors of red cherry. The tannins are well integrated and slightly dusty in nature. It appears that this wine still has plenty of life ahead of it.
The 2009 McKenzie-Mueller Pinot Noir reveals notes of mushrooms, an earthiness initially – the fruit takes some time to show with notes of plum and strawberry. Very well layered on the palate, this is a fairly robust wine of this varietal. Shows darker fruit on the palate with hints of mocha. Good structure with both fruit and oak tannins showing.
The 1998 McKenzie-Mueller Merlot was still drinking great after 10 years – a testament to the structure, fruit and acidity of this wine. A newer vintage (2009) also shows great acidity.
NOTE: this review needs a significant update including tasting notes for current releases. We will revisit and taste through additional wines by 3rd quarter 2022.
—
The wines are mostly sold direct although they maintain limited distribution in Atlanta, GA and at the Blue Note in Tokyo (a high end Jazz club). A specific bottling for this club is labeled as Napa Jazz and features Samantha’s colorful artwork on the label. For more information, to schedule an appointment or to join their wine club, visit: www.mckenziemueller.com
Leave a Reply