Shifflett Ranch and Vineyard. Patriarch Wade Shifflet Sr., and his wife Mary Elizabeth purchased this land at the end of Darms Lane from the Darms family in 1942. This 120-acre property is located within a short drive south west of Yountville. The original Darms here, Balthasar and his wife Elizabeth settled in Napa Valley in 1883 and had seven children. A mention in the Napa County Reporter dated April 27, 1883 mentions Balthasar Darms purchased sixty two acres near Dry Creek from Theodore Ellis. The article also mentions that, “the land is excellent for vineyard purposes and 36 acres have already been planted in two-year old vines”. The sales price was $9,000.
The Shifflett Ranch is gorgeous featuring a diversity of terrain covering both the valley floor and lower foothills of the Mayacamas mountains up to about 600 feet in elevation. An old cinnabar mine producing the ore from which quicksilver (liquid mercury) is extracted from, was located on the property but has since been filled in. Perhaps more of an exploratory pit, most of the quicksilver mines in Napa County were located in Aetna Springs in Pope Valley, although some mines were also located in the Mayacamas mountains above Oakville and Rutherford.
Wade Sr., was a prominent local businessman; he was born and raised in Grinell, Iowa and entered the lumber business along the Mississippi River as a young man. He eventually moved to California, later settling in Santa Rosa and marrying Mary Elizabeth, before moving to the city of Napa in 1917 to become manager of the Napa Lumber Company which he held through the 1930s. He owned lumber yards in Boyes Springs in Sonoma County, by the Hatt Building in downtown Napa, where Safeway is now located in St. Helena, in Calistoga, in Clear Lake Highlands (Lake County) and in Healdsburg.
In 1939 he oversaw the acquisition by Napa Lumber Company of McKinnon-McNair Lumber Company. Well liked and actively involved in the community, he spearheaded efforts in the early 1920s to build a baseball field in Napa and in 1926 he became president of the Credit Association of Napa. He sold his lumber business in 1942 and remained general manager of the company until retiring just before his death in 1946 at age 63. Sadly he never lived on Shifflett Ranch.
For decades the property was home to cattle along with peaches, plums, cherries and plenty of hay. In fact the ranch had their own shed for drying plums. Wade Sr’s son Wade Shifflett Jr. was a Napa County Judge and assistant District Attorney for many years. He ran for state senate in 1960, and according to an article in the February 25, 1960 edition of the Napa Journal, that same year he met with Vice President of the U.S. at the time, Richard Nixon.
Wade Jr (died 1991) and his wife Olga decided to plant grapes on the property with the help of their five children; their first variety was Chardonnay in 1982. Daughter Kathryn remembers planting the first vines on a weekend, with everyone pitching in to help including family and friends. They planted 25 acres and sold the grapes to their first buyer, Raymond Winery in 1984, a relationship which lasted through 2024. Kathryn recalls calling approximately 30 wineries before Roy Raymond agreed to buy their Chardonnay. Eventually more clients purchased grapes including Elyse and Freemark Abbey. Over the years, the vineyards were destroyed by phylloxera and pierce’s disease; a major replanting occurred in the early to mid 1990s and then again in the early 2000s.
Today the property is planted to about 52 acres of vines including the five primary Bordeaux red varieties along with Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah with the intent to eventually plant up to 60 acres in total. Chardonnay no longer grows on site. And the property was originally considered too cold to plant Cabernet Sauvignon. Most of grapes from the estate are still sold to premium area producers; past clients who have purchased grapes from the property included Duckhorn, Raymond Vineyards, Neal Family and Blackbird Vineyards. Others currently purchasing grapes include Revana, Darioush, Dakota Shy and William & Mary Wine Company.
Based on elevation and a diversity of exposures the property features a number of micro climates, all factoring into the decision where to plant certain varieties. And the property is geologically diverse, ranging from its volcanic rocky hillsides to the deeper alluvial fan deposits on the lower parts of the ranch.
And grapes from the property have in part been used for the the family’s own wines. Wade and Olga’s son, Jeffrey Shifflett, Sr., former lawyer turned vintner began his own label in 1998 focusing on producing mostly Cabernet Sauvignon wines from both the estate and other parts of Napa Valley. His first few vintages were produced in partnership with Mark Neal (Neal Family Wines) and were labeled Neal Shifflett Cellars. Their wines were originally made at Neal Family, bottled at Miner Family Winery and stored at Shifflett Estate. After the partnership dissolved, wines bottled under the Shifflett brand were produced through the 2011 vintage.
The property is owned by Wade and Olga’s five children including Jeffrey, Kathryn, Michael, Steven, and Mary. The five siblings partnered to create their first wine bottled under Shifflett Ranch and Vineyard, a Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine along with their 2018 Sauvignon Blanc were their first two wines released. Another family owned label, Hunter Glenn is owned by Jeffrey Sr.’s son Jeffrey Shifflett, Jr., and his sister Caroline. Jeffrey Jr., helps manage the property and is also the winemaker for Hunter Glenn Wines, a partnership with his sister. Josh Clark of Clark Vineyard Management manages their vineyard.
Total production each year is usually under 400 cases of three wines. Today, Kathryn Hoff, the oldest sister is the managing member of the wine partnership. Founding winemaker Will Segui who is married to Kathryn’s daughter produced the wines through the 2021 vintage. Starting in 2022, Sarah Donley took over as winemaker.
At first glance, their wine logo looks like steep hills lined up in a row. But this image is rooted in the family home, a mid century modern built on the property in 1964. Wade & Olga originally were planning on building the home with a gable roofline, but then decided to change it to a set of multiple gables lined in a row. And this is where the Wade and Olga raised their five children. And in deciding to include the word ranch in the name of the brand, they paid homage to what the family always called the property, dating back to Olga.
This part of Napa Valley has certainly seen significant changes, especially since the 1960s. Kathryn remembers as a child seeing the first vineyards being planted near Trubody Lane on the other side of Highway 29 sometime in the 1960s. And it wasn’t Highway 29 back then, Solano Ave was the main north south thoroughfare prior to the construction of Highway 29. Darms Station used to be located at the intersection of Darms Lane and Solano Avenue, serving the railway. She remembers a cherry stand in the 1950s located at the intersection of Orchard Avenue and what is now Highway 29, a retail outlet to sell cherries from the surrounding orchards. And Rocknar Dairy was located to the east of Shifflett Ranch.
Select Wines
Sauvignon Blanc
The 2023 Shifflett Ranch & Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc is medium straw in color; the bouquet reveals aromas of pineapple, apricot, yellow nectarine, lychee, and papaya with plenty of floral overtones including honeysuckle, orange blossom and star jasmine. These scents are fully ripe, not herbal and never cross into the territory of being overripe. Minerally, the balanced palate reveals flavors of pomelo, passion fruit, kiwi, red apple, grapefruit, pepino melon, not fully ripe pineapple and lingers with a note of dill and tarragon. Its texture is lightly creamy and is off set nicely by the bright acidity. Lively and refreshing, the acidity is balanced but not bracing. Lingers tangy and mouthwatering. The grapes for this wine are from a hillside location behind the winery. Their instructions to their winemaker: produce a crisp, refreshing, and not overly ripe expression of the variety. Product delivered as instructed. And its oak profile is always complementary rather than dominating.
Proprietary Red
The 2019 Shifflett Ranch & Vineyard Shifflett Proprietary Red is a blend of 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Franc. This wine is not lacking in color – for that matter none of their red wines ever are, regardless of vintage. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; highly captivating these aromatics full envelope the glass and showcases dark fruits including blackberry, Santa Rosa plum, boysenberry, Pakistani mulberry. Additional layers including dark cocoa powder, dark chocolate, graham cracker and a minerally, dusty and chalky character. Dark and layered. A mouthful of ripe fruit with a soft textural expression, the palate offers flavors of dark chocolate, dark cocoa, blackberry, dark cherry at peak of ripeness, boysenberry and mulberry. Medium acidity. The tannins are as rounded as polished ball bearings; their texture is symmetrical and lingers seamlessly on the supple finish with a very light gravelly feel. Both texture and fruit persist in tandem with neither one giving way. 125 cases were produced.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2021 Shifflett Ranch & Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% varietal; this wine is deep ruby and opaque. Regardless of vintage, there is never a problem with color from the Shifflett Ranch in their red wines. A gorgeous bouquet, the first aromatic we noted was of dark cherry at the peak of ripeness, with plenty of other dark fruits including blackberry jam, cherry pie, boysenberry, dark plums and Pakistani black mulberry. Additional layers include cloves, dried sage, pepper and dark chocolate. Not shy, this wine delivers plenty of aromatic intensity including of both ripe fruit and darker spices. On the palate, the flavors mimic the bouquet to some extent with blackberry, boysenberry, dark cherry, Satsuma plum and Persian mulberry. Complex, layered, bright and loaded with flavor, this wine delivers ‘spades of satisfaction’. The finish is dark and savory with flavors of crushed black peppercorn, smoked sage, smoked cedar, a meaty character and tobacco. The tannins are firmly gripping with a grainy and gritty character, 4 years post vintage. Fruit and texture parallel each other for quite some time on the extended finish. If there ever was a quintessential Napa Valley BBQ Cabernet Sauvignon, this bottling is an ideal candidate. Highly age worthy.
The 2019 Shifflett Ranch & Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% varietal; this wine is deep ruby and opaque. The first aromatic we noted on the bouquet is of sweet tobacco spice, a ferrous / minerally character and plenty of fruit including blackberry, boysenberry, dark cherry and plum. Additional scents include blood orange, dark olive, old cedar box, dried sage and dark baking spices, I.E., nutmeg and clove. The palate is plush, delivering loads of flavor focusing on primarily darker fruits. Blackberry, boysenberry jam and dark cherry. While this wine is intensely flavored, the tannins are fairly approachable at this edge with some their youthful edges rounded by time in the bottle. We tasted this 6 years post vintage. The tannins showcase a moderate to firm grip, are with a grainy and gravelly texture, fully coating the palate. They outlast the fruit on the finish. From 2017 through this vintage, the grapes for their Cabernet Sauvignon were sourced primarily from the A4 block on the ranch using clones 7 and 337. Subsequent vintages started including grapes from some of their upper blocks. 150 cases were produced this year.
These wines in particular always do well with some oxygen as in letting them evolve in the glass over a period of time.
The family also produces their own limited production olive oil from trees planted on the property in 1902 by the Darms family. Additional trees were planted in the 1990s but don’t seem to produce as well as the old ones. These varieties include Mission and Frantoya.
Experience
Visits to the ranch are always hosted by family members and weather permitting include a walk into the vineyard. While the property is located only about 15 minutes north of the city of Napa, a visit here feels worlds away. One’s heartbeat drops a few octaves immediatley upon driving onto the ranch. The small winery on the lower part of their property is where the following wines are produced: Shifflett Ranch & Vineyard wines, Hunter Glenn and a tiny restaurant focused brand called KHK, named after Jim Keller, Bill Hall (Hall’s Chophouse) and chef Thomas Keller.
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The wines are primarily sold direct to consumer through their website or through visits to the winery. Their retail presence is very small; sometimes the wines are available locally at the Oakville Wine Merchant, French Laundry and Oxbow Wine Merchant inside Oxbow Public Market. For more information, to join the reserved allocation list or to schedule a tasting at the ranch, visit: www.shifflettranch.com
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