Introduction

John moved up to Atlas Peak in 2000, first vintage there was 2006, his son Alex has been involved (making the wines?) since 2011. 3.500cs total. 12 acres @ the winery, plus Judge Vineyard. Judge is located in Coombsville and near Arcadia Vineyard that Warren Winarski owns and that John still gets fruit from. Sounds like Warren gave him some fruit from this site in 2020, when his other sites (maybe not Judge?) were affected by the fire.

Judge Vineyard was planted by John in 1975 and sold the fruit to Newton for a time, and along with some Hudson fruit, they became Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay. His Newton Chard was the first two year aged and unfiltered Chard. 2,000-3,000cs at the outset.

In his early career, John worked @ Stony Hill, 2 vintages @ Christian Bros (w/Brother Tim) and sites Warren Winarski as his first mentor. He worked 1976 Harvest @ Stags Leap Wine Cellars.

John was @ Newton until 1996. Started there in 1983 @ 32 years old. Then onto Arietta w/ Fritz Hatton (who still owns it, and Andy Erickson is now winemaker). John sold back his share of Arietta to Fritz.

Kongsgaard Napa Chard is 1.600cs to 2.200cs depending. No 2020 wines due to the Aug 2020 fire. The Napa Chard is 2 years in barrel before bottling and John notes that 6-10yr from vintage is the sweet spot for enjoying the wines. It started as Hudson/Hyde/Kongsgaard, 1/3 each and 500cs in first vintage of 1996.

John notes how premox in Burgundy changed all of their technique, as they tried to avoid it. Battonage and long aging have now gone by the wayside. And this ‘between the wars’ technique is what John brought stateside and continues to use for his Chards.

Lee Hudson continues to be the biggest source of fruit for John.

Judge Vineyard is just into Coombsville on the hill that separates Napa City and Coombsville. @ 300ft elevation. Planted in 1975 and it’s ‘where he grew up.’ <1/ton acre, an austere, volcanic site.

First vintage of Judge was 2001. He got 6 tons from its 6 acres. In short years it’s topped with Hudson fruit.

300cs each year of Judge/Syrah/Cab, 2 barrels of Albariño plus a little SB and Syrah Rose. The Syrah Rose comes from a 2.2 acres block @ Hudson gives them 275cs Syrah and then the rose too.

‘Undersell the market, so that the wines only find themselves in the finest spots.’

Flight 1 (4 notes)

Closing

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