Trespass Vineyard

Trespass Vineyard is an interesting name for a winery but this starts to make sense when one visits the actual vineyard location. It is a 5-acre vineyard accessed by driving through residential St. Helena streets. One enters the vineyard via a gravel road at the end of a residential street. Their closest winery neighbor is Spottswoode with nearby vineyards owned by Duckhorn and a neighborhood that several winemakers call home. Historically, this land was previously planted to a number of red varieties, harvested and co-fermented together. Don (Donny) and Dana Gallagher purchased the property in 1996; the name is a result of the land being empty at the time of their purchase and nearby neighbors would walk their dogs or “trespass” over the property. Don was born and raised in Napa Valley but did not have a background in either wine or viticulture prior to starting Trespass Vineyard.

The Trespass wine is made by noted winemaker Kirk Venge, conveniently at his own winery in Calistoga, Venge Vineyards. Kirk was born in Rutherford, Napa Valley and graduated from St. Helena High School. Like his father, winemaker Nils Venge, he also graduated from the University of California, Davis in 1998 with a degree in Viticulture and Enology. While at Davis he worked at Mumm Napa Valley in their formative years, assisting with their sparkling wine program. Like many winemakers, he has international experience; after graduating he worked at Rapaura Vintners for a harvest in 1999 in New Zealand. In addition to winemaking at Venge Vineyards, Kirk is also a highly sought after consulting winemaker working with several premium Napa Valley based producers.

The Venge’s roots in the wine industry date back to the 1950s when Kirk’s grandfather established Vencom Imports in Los Angeles, a wine and spirits importing company which specialized in Western European wines and spirits. Nils is also an accomplished winemaker; he is well known in the winemaking world for his numerous accolades including producing the first 100 point rated Cabernet Sauvignon awarded by wine writer Robert Parker for the 1985 Groth Vineyards Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Nils also owns and operates Saddleback Cellars in Oakville and is a partner in Envy Winery near Calistoga. The family-owned vineyards at Saddleback Cellars produce some of the grapes for Venge Vineyards’ own wines.

Trespass Vineyard is surrounded by other vineyards in all directions with the nearby forested Mayacamas mountains to the immediate west of the property. Despite being so close to residential St. Helena, this really feels like one is in the country and certainly far from the traffic that often bottlenecks coming into and out of St. Helena.

Production has remained small from their inaugural vintage in 2000 of only 400 cases split between a Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, although it has grown slightly and today is usually around 1,00 cases per year. The focus of their winemaking is on both small lot estate wines as well as wines from select vineyards elsewhere in Napa Valley. The estate is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Kirk really enjoys the Cabernet Franc that comes from this property, so additional Cabernet Franc vines were later planted.

The vineyard was managed by Donny early on; later he employed the services of Clark Vineyard Management overseen by owner, Joshua Clark. Today the vineyard is managed by Oscar Renteria of Renteria Vineyard Management. While not involved in the physical labor of managing the vineyard as he once was, Donny still remains actively involved in the overall direction of the vineyard management. And like with the vineyard, for the winemaking, Donny leaves the day-to-day details with Kirk and his winemaking team, but he and Dana are involved in important decisions such as blending and barrel selection.

The first vintage of Trespass dates from 2000; the first two wines included a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Cabernet Franc.

Select Wines
Sauvignon Blanc
The 2017 Trespass Sauvignon Blanc (100% varietal) is from the 129-acre Plumpjack owned Oso Vineyard, a spectacular piece of property in the hills of the Vaca mountain range on the backside of Howell Mountain overlooking Pope Valley (formerly owned by Michael Mondavi Family). This wine is medium yellow in color with a fusion of pretty aromatics including pineapple, lychee, citrus blossom, an orange zesty note and accompanying mineralities. The palate features a light slightly rounded textural feel, supported by a rich flavor profile. This wine is very balanced with flavors of nectarine, mandarin and lime. The finish is long. Very refreshing on a hot day. This wine was fermented in stainless steel tanks and then transferred to neutral French oak where it aged for 7 months. Only 125 cases were produced; this was the last of three vintages of Sauvignon Blanc produced by Trespass. Drinks very well by itself.

Cabernet Franc
The 2014 Trespass Cabernet Franc is deep ruby and nearly opaque with a light evolution of color due to its age; we tasted this wine 11 years post vintage. The bouquet is sweet and dark fruited with aromas of Satsuma plum, blackberry, boysenberry, Himalayan purple mulberry and black cherry. Some non-fruited tones also include leather, black olive, old cedar box, smoked cedar, sweet pipe tobacco, dark chocolate and sweet baking spices. No vegetal or greenness that this variety is known for, either on the bouquet or the palate. It still shows plenty of ripe fruit with matured and softened fruit flavors that somewhat mimic the bouquet including of dark raspberry, cherry, plum, blackberry and boysenberry. The well-tumbled tannins are sans of any edges; they linger for some time with a gravelly and lightly dusty grip fully coating the palate. The texture outpaces the fruit. This wine was aged for 22 months in 100% new French oak barrels; its listed ABV is 15.2% but one doesn’t feel any subsequent ‘heat’.

The 2005 Trespass Cabernet Franc; this is the variety Trespass is most known for. Not a leaner expression, rather this wine is full bodied with an intriguing nose offering aromas of assorted berries, black cherry and vanilla. It does not have the “vegetal” characteristics sometimes associated with a less-ripe style of Cabernet Franc. On the palate there are flavors of cherry, tobacco and dark chocolate. In addition, it is worth noting some background details about this wine. The orientation of their vineyard rows and trellising exposes some of the grapes to the morning sun while some of the grapes receive plenty of warm afternoon sunlight. As a result, parts of each row were fermented and aged separately until creating their final blend. This wine is 100% Cabernet Franc; a variety that has become more popular in Napa Valley over the past 10 years.

Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2013 Trespass Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (100% varietal) offers an elegant nose initially focusing on fruit aromas rather than barrel characteristics. Sweet black fruit, cassis, violets and notes of ripe plum. As the wine breathes secondary aromatics show including dessert spices and browned sugar. Its flavors include blackberry jam and dark plum. Young robust and grippy tannins hold the finish for some time. Needs some food with fat to help cut through the tannins. Perhaps a well-marbled Wagyu steak and a BBQ. This wine drinks well now but should also age for many years. It was aged for 22 months in French oak barrels of which 90% were new and 10% neutral. This vintage in particular from Napa Valley produced wines of great depth and layering and firmly gripping tannins, right out of the gate.

The 2012 Trespass Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is deep garnet and nearly opaque with a light brickish coloring based on its age; for reference we needled and nosed this bottling 13 years post vintage. On the bouquet, we like where this wine is at, still trying to hold on to its primary fruits but slowly transitioning to tertiary aromatics. Its scents include cherry pie, blackberry jam, cassis, dried berries, baked plums, sweet tobacco and old cedar box. Its aged flavors include dried cherries, blackberry jam, dark plum, dark raspberry, dark licorice and dark chocolate. Highly plush in terms of the tension between mature fruit, a soft but balanced acidity and texture, the fully ripe, resolved and rounded tannins linger with a velvet, supple and creamy mouth-feel. And a lingering note of dried tobacco leaf. At this age, this is not an overly complex or layered bottling, rather it is easy drinking and highly enjoyable by itself.

Zinfandel
Trespass also produces several non-estate wines including a rare old vine Zinfandel from 110+ year old vines from the historical Luvisi Vineyard growing just south of the town of Calistoga on Picket Road. Its location is a premium part of the valley – next door to the also historic Frediani Vineyard (both the Luvisi and Frediani families are related) and the vineyard is just down the road from the iconic Eisele Vineyard.

It is interesting to note that the vines in this section of Luvisi Vineyard are spaced 7 feet by 7 feet – a spacing wide enough to allow for horse drawn plows to move up and down the rows. This is considered ‘old school’ spacing; modern day narrow tractors allow vine spacing to be much closer. These vines are head-trained and dry farmed. The Luvisi Vineyard is currently owned by brothers Don and Clarence Luvisi whose family purchased the site in the late 1800s.

Zinfandel is a variety most associated with old vines; for reference, the two oldest commercially producing vineyards in Napa Valley include some Zinfandel. These are Crane Assembly in St. Helena and Canard in Calistoga, both with vines dating back to the early to mid 1880s. Most vines in Napa Valley are removed after 25 years for economic reasons; yields begin to drop and it makes more sense economically to pull out the vines and replant.

The 2016 Trespass Vineyards Zinfandel, Luvisi Vineyard Napa Valley is deep ruby in color with strapping aromatics that envelope the glass. These scents include a darker spicy character of cracked peppercorn and cedar influenced savory attributes. As the wine breathes, it reveals additional notes of mocha and espresso. And the fruit is heady and layered on the bouquet including of blackberry and plum. The palate sports flavors of ripe black cherry, and blackberry; these are rich flavors, accompanied by a lingering darker spice complemented by earthy granular tannins. This is a California style fruit forward Zinfandel but not overtly jammy, despite its nearly 16% alcohol. This wine was aged for 17 months in 50% new French oak barrels and was bottled unfiltered and un-fined.

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All of the Trespass wine labels feature an image of the property, and some have names such as Intriguem (a four-varietal red blend) and Mayhem. Mayhem incorporates two of Don’s favorite varieties, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. A bottle of Cheval Blanc first turned him on to this idea. And Rendezvous is a co-fermented Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon in oak barrel. As Don told us, these names all represent “what goes on in his vineyard at night”. The white labels indicate single varietal bottlings and the black labels designate wines that are blends.

The colorful image on the white label is the work of Sonoma County based, artist Clark Mitchell. Don and Dana were already familiar with his work having purchased some of his paintings years prior. Mitchell’s focus is on pastel and oil landscape art either on location or in his studio in Cotati and commonly paints in both ‘wine country’ and in Palm Springs. We first discovered his works in ‘another life’ when we ran an Internet Service Provider and hosted his website. We have also seen several pieces of his art years ago at what was Kelham Vineyards in Oakville, Napa Valley.

And the art on the black label is the work of artist northern California born artist, Kevin Courter. His painting titled, Moonlit Rendezvous is of Trespass Vineyard. His work focuses on California and Montana landscapes with an emphasis on natural back lighting; his art has been featured in numerous shows and publications and earned a number of awards at various exhibitions. And Don and Dana own the original paintings for both their wine labels.

For a few years, Donny was also a partner in Encroachment Wines with several friends; Kirk Venge was the winemaker. Rather than wines from Napa Valley, the focus of Encroachment was a single expression of Pinot Noir from the Dutton family owned Widdoes Vineyard Russian River Valley in neighboring Sonoma County. Vintages were produced from 2016 through 2019.

All visits are private, for serious wine enthusiasts and are always conducted with either Dana or Don; tastings are not conducted at their vineyard but rather at the winery where their wines are produced. Don will host wine dinners around parts of the country and or personally host special tastings at select wine shops where the Trespass wines are sold. He does a lot of traveling to promote the brand. Collectors take note; Don has a limited selection of library wines and larger format bottles. The wines are available sometimes through online retailers such as Napa based Benchmark Wine Group and Vivino.

To join the mailing list, to purchase wines online or for more information, visit: www.trespassvineyard.com