Roberts+Rogers

Roberts+Rogers was founded by Roger Louer and his partner Robert Young. We first came across this label at a Howell Mountain Appellation tasting at Charles Krug Winery and then followed up later with Roger who we met for a private tasting and visit to the vineyard on Howell Mountain the supplies the grapes for their Cabernet Sauvignon. Roger was one of the original founding partners of Calistoga Cellars; this winery was built in 2003 on property purchased from Les Chafen, the founder of Dutch Henry Winery; neither Calistoga Cellars or Dutch Henry Winery are still operating. The original home for Calistoga Cellars currently houses the the winery and tasting room for ENVY Winery. And the guest house on the property was used in the 1995 film, Ninth Months starring Hugh Grant and Robin Williams.

Louer comes from an agricultural background in Ohio where his family grew corn and soybeans. In the early 1970s he began a wine distribution business based in Oakland. He moved to Napa Valley in 1976 and has been involved in the local wine industry for several decades. Besides Roberts + Rogers, he also owns and manages the 34-acre Louer Vineyard (purchased in 1986) north of St. Helena where he sells the majority of the grapes to area wineries but also holds some back for the Roberts + Rogers wines.

In 1999 Roger and his longtime friend Robert Young pooled their efforts and interests in wine and planted an almost 18-acre vineyard with the intent to create a world-class wine once the vines were established. This vineyard is located off of Las Posadas Road on on the slopes of Howell Mountain; it is primarily planted to Cabernet Sauvignon with tiny blocks of Cabernet Franc and Merlot (used for blending). Consistency of viticulture each year translates to consistency and quality of production. This vineyard is in prime Howell Mountain terroir. Nearby historical winery neighbors include La Jota and Liparita had its start in the area. Just down the road is the former W.H. Smith Winery and vineyards, now home to Almacerro Estate. Roberts + Rogers maintained an extended lease on this vineyard for many years from its Kansas based owners, but no longer makes wine from this site.

This vineyard is planted to several clones of Cabernet Sauvignon. Clones are like spices in the kitchen; despite being from the same variety, each clone differs slightly from the other and all are used when determining the final blend of their Cabernet Sauvignon each year. The vines on this part of Howell Mountain grow on white chalky and volcanic tufa type soil resulting in an earthy character to wine from this site. The elevation of the vineyard ensures the don’t experience much fog; this effectively extends the growing season and increases the period of harvest. In addition, they maintain a very low yield per acre (usually around 2 tons) ensuring they are only harvesting the highest quality and intensely flavored grapes. Some of the grapes from this vineyard are sold to other producers.

Other premium vineyards are planted in this part of Howell Mountain including the well-regarded Bancroft Vineyard (Beringer sources grapes from this site) and one of David Abreu’s vineyards. This part of Napa Valley is still primarily forested land with small pockets of vineyards. Roger told us he traced the ownership of the property to an early homestead from 1878; rather than grapes, the property was planted to berries and the owner harvested redwood trees growing on the property. Much of the property is still wooded.

Winemaker Barry Gnekow has crafted the wines since the inaugural vintage. Barry is originally from Stockton, CA. After 30 harvests a winemaker unofficially becomes an industry veteran, after 40 harvests a winemaker is part of the ‘old guard’ and after 50 harvests a winemaker is considered an elder statesman. At the time of our latest update to this profile, Barry will work his 50th harvest in 2026.

He graduated from the University of California, Davis with a bachelor’s in biochemistry and later followed that with a master’s degree in Enology – also from UC Davis. He started Gnekow Family Winery (permanently closed) in Collegeville. Barry was on the forefront for using reverse osmosis for removing alcohol and while he was winemaker at J. Lohr Winery in Paso Robles, a dealcoholized wine he produced under the brand Ariel was the first widely sold product of its kind. Shoutout here to J. Lohr for sponsoring the teaching winery at our alma mater, Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Early in his career Barry began working with barrel alternatives. Since 1999 Barry has operated his own wine-making consulting business focusing on small brands.

The Roberts + Rogers red wines are generally high alcohol bottlings; but with that said are not high octane in terms of being over ripe or feeling ‘hot’. That is a important distinction; and that is hard to do in the range of 15.5% to 16% alcohol. But these attributes are obtained because these always retain their acidity resulting in an overall balance.

Select Wines
Whites
The 2021 Roberts + Rogers Reserve Chardonnay, Sonoma County is deep gold in color, pushing shades of amber. Two aromatics we immediately noted after needling and nosing this wine include honeycomb and ripe stone fruits of apricots, yellow peaches in light syrup and fully ripe yellow nectarines. Additional scents are of baked pineapple, baked apples not quite crossing into the territory of bruised apples, butterscotch, vanilla and light caramelized sugars including creme Brule; this latter aromatic will mostly likely become more pounced with additional bottle age. This wine is right at the age between freshness and transitioning into developing additional complexities both on the bouquet and the palate. This is a rich and vivid expression of the variety; on the palate there are flavors of golden delicious apples, glazed pineapple, ripe yellow peaches, apricot, Champagne mango, pear tart, dried orange peel, vanilla, a subtle toast character and a lingering and very noticeable phenolic grip resulting in a light but persistent drying character. Its mouth feel is silken and so smooth, kept light on its feet due to its vivacious and energetic acidity.

Reds
The 2022 Roberts + Rogers Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa County Louer Family is deep ruby in color and nearly opaque; the nose is an expression of fully ripe red and darker fruits with secondary scents providing a strong complementary character. This wine smells like dark cherry, dark raspberry, boysenberry jam, blackberry pie, dark plum and red licorice with additional notes of Graham cracker, toasted cedar, mocha, nutmeg and roasted coffee bean. On the palate, the entry is broad with flavors of blackberry jam, boysenberry, Persian mulberry and ripe Santa Rosa plum. This bottling features layers of ripe fruit which are kept in check by a balanced acidity; the finish lingers with flavors of plum, cherry, chocolate and smoked cedar – accompanied by gravelly textured, dusty and chalky tannins which fully coat the palate. The oak tannins outweigh the grape tannins. Its texture persists in tandem with fruit for quite some time. This wine is 15.7% alcohol.

The 2021 Roberts + Rogers Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve Napa Valley Signature Series is 100% varietal. This wine was aged in 100% new French oak barrels for 2 years prior to bottling. It is deep ruby and opaque; the bouquet offers an immediate union of ripe fruit and barrel influences. These scents are of dark cherry preserves, baked plums, cassis, boysenberry, blackberry compote, dark chocolate, old cedar box, mocha, dark cocoa powder and roasted coffee bean. The secondary scents become more noticeable as the wine evolves. Plush and mouth coating, the palate reveals flavors of dark cherry, blackberry, boysenberry, Pakistani mulberry, baked plums, dark chocolate and Graham cracker. But the focus here is clearly on its core of fruit. And the palate is as layered as the bouquet. Perhaps even more so. The extended finish features loads of dark fruits, dark chocolate, smoked cedar and dried herbs including sage. The acidity is bright and bountiful, persisting with texture featuring a grainy and gravelly character. If we were to summarize this wine in a couple of words, it simply has more, as in more layers and more complexities. Its alcohol is 15.7%.

The 2021 Roberts + Rogers Old Vine Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County is from grapevines ranging in age from 50 to 100 years. This wine is deep ruby and nearly opaque; ripe, the nose is a union of both fruit and secondary spices. These includes scents of blackberry jam, boysenberry preserves, dark raspberry, Pakistani mulberry, dark cherry and toasted cedar. As the wine evolves, it opens to additional layers of baker’s chocolate, mocha, espresso, cardamom and nutmeg. The palate mimics the bouquet to some extent; it is fully ripe but perhaps not as ripe as one would expect from its listed 15.9% alcohol, I.E. it is not overly jammy or sweeet. Its flavors include dark cherry, blackberry jam, boysenberry, mulberry and cherry. A lively thread of acidity keeps the palate energized. Finishes with notes of toasted cedar, dried tobacco leaf and grainy/gravelly tannins sporting a light to moderate grip. We don’t always associate high alcohol Zinfandel with being a food wine, but this bottling would be a good candidate. Two items come to mind in terms of pairings: ravioli and a tomato based pizza.

The Roberts + Rogers Napa 5 Five Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley non vintage is produced from block 5 in the Louer Vineyard plus grapes from other Cabernet Sauvignon sites within Napa Valley. This wine was aged for 18 months in French oak barrels. It is deep ruby in color and opaque; despite the listed 15.4% alcohol the nose doesn’t smell overly ripe. Somewhat brooding, its initial scents include damp potting soil and mushroom, evolving to black plum skin, charcoal, black cherry, blackberry, dark raspberry, sweet tobacco, espresso and dark chocolate. Darker fruited on the palate, it offers flavors of blackberry, dark cherry and boysenberry along with a lasting savory character. It finishes with notes of dried tobacco leaf, dried herbs include sage, toasted cedar and dark cocoa powder. It is less opulent than we would have expected. The grape and oak tannins are long lasting and persist with a moderate grip and a dusty character. This wine over delivers for the price point. We wouldn’t mind pairing this with a spicy dry rub ribeye steak covered in an assortment of dried herbs.

The 2004 Roberts + Roberts Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby and dark crimson in color. The bouquet is initially very earthy with aromas of dust, crushed rock and mineralities. As the nose opens it reveals wisps of old cedar box, blackberry and chocolate. There is a pleasing thread of black cherry on the palate with a very long finish layered by nuances of vanilla. This wine has firm structure yet is is well-balanced due to the intensity of flavor. This is not a light bodied Cabernet Sauvignon! This wine will pair well with big meats, thick sauces and anything on the barbecue. This was the first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon from Roberts + Rogers; production was only about 300 cases. It saw 24 months on oak, 60% of which was new French oak, and the remaining was slightly used oak.

Looking to add another wine to their portfolio, in 2009 Roger began making a small amount of wine from his St. Helena vineyard; he selected only the best barrels of grapes this year for this particular wine. Receiving excellent praise from friends and family, they continue to produce this wine every year. 2012 was the first vintage commercially released.

And the production has since expanded; they now produce a Napa Valley Zinfandel, Napa Valley Chardonnay (mostly from Carneros) and a unique non-vintage wine from a select part of the Louer Vineyard called Napa Five Non-Vintage Napa Valley Cabernet.

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And in 2014 Roger and Robert brought on two additional partners; Drake Sneed who is also involved with Wheels Up a private aviation company and Todd Grow. The wines regularly receive handsome scores from wine critics and place well in a variety of wine judging competitions including the annual San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

The best way to acquire the wine is via their mailing list or their website. Production has grown significantly from the first 300 cases to now several thousand cases a year with some distribution through Total Wine & More. For more information, to purchase wine and or to join the Partners Case Club (requires a case purchase), visit: www.robertsandrogers.com

Former source vineyard, Roberts + Rogers Howell Mountain