ALTHOUGH IT’S LOCATED ON THE RUGGED SLOPES of Mount George east of Napa, Palmaz Vineyards is just a short drive from downtown. Before Prohibition, the site was home to the Cedar Knoll Vineyard and Winery started by Napa Valley pioneer Henry Hagen in 1881. During Prohibition, the winery was abandoned until Julio Palmaz and his wife, Amalia, purchased the property in the late 1990s.
PALMAZ VINEYARDS has made quite a statement in a relatively stoic industry. Gentry takes a look inside Napa’s Mt. George.
ANY SURVEY OF THE WORLD of Riesling (including the recent one by yours truly) would logically focus on Germany and Alsace, with a nod to upstart regions such as Washington State, New York’s Finger Lakes and Australia’s Eden Valley. California would rarely be on the radar screen, due to a warmer climate and widespread consumer apathy. And the Napa Valley? As they say in Brooklyn, forget about it.
Against this backdrop, the Louise Riesling from Palmaz Vineyards is a delightful surprise. Prior to Prohibition, the property was known as Cedar Knoll; it was purchased in the late 1990s by Julio Palmaz, a physician who invented the Palmaz Coronary Stent (possibly one of the few things better for the heart than wine). The winery focuses on producing Cabernet Sauvignon from estate vineyards. Their 2012 Cabernet ($125, reviewed here) is sumptuous and structured, a seamless match with steak, lamb, stews and game dishes.
OK I HAVE TO CONFESS I was a little nervous when my sister mentioned that a car manufacturer wanted to film us in a promo piece for a new car. Automobiles and alcohol should not be a perfect pairing, but she is the creative and I am the technical so I rolled with it…
As with most winemakers, Tina Mitchell’s interest in wine developed early, while she was attending the University of California, Davis, as a premed student. During her third year, a friend from her hometown of Ukiah, California, opened a winery, which introduced Tina to wine. After taking a class in enology and viticulture and working a harvest in Paso Robles at Estrella River Winery, Tina knew she had found her new career path.
After marrying in 1981, Tina moved to Napa, where she worked a harvest at Rutherford Hill Winery. After harvest, she finished her last quarter at U.C. Davis and earned her degree. She then worked at Louis Martini and Niebaum Coppola, where she was able to make wine alongside celebrated winemaker André Tchelistcheff. “I feel I was very fortunate to work so closely with such a legend,” she says. “André taught me the importance of being a hands-on winemaker.”
WINEMAKING HAS A REPUTATION as a sleepy, traditional, and almost boring industry – but in recent years, high-tech has hit the wine world, and hit it hard.
Want to know whether your grapes are thriving? Check out Halter Ranch, where networked vineyard sensors have helped it to reduce water usage by more than half while informing vineyard managers when it’s time to harvest. Chateau Lynch-Bages, one of the most noteworthy wineries in Bordeaux, is testing a technology to continuously monitor the conditions of wine aging inside its barrels. And vineyards of late are covered in flying drones, with California regulars like Hahn and Kunde deploying the autonomous aerial eyes to determine the right time to harvest.
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TO THE NAKED EYE, this 1,877-foot mountain along Napa Valley’s eastern edge seems like any other. But deep in the belly of Mt. George, there’s a five-level, high-tech winery, with a sophisticated computer system and display that rivals NASA’s Mission Control Center.
FOR ALMOST NINE DECADES, the Henry Hagen House in Napa, Calif., lay in a state of neglect. Nestled at the foot of Mt. George, the old Victorian manor sat abandoned, presiding over an equally forsaken estate where the old Cedar Knoll Vineyard once operated. Turn-of-the-century farming equipment rusted away, lifeless in the middle of a field of vines. A time capsule of the Great American West, the estate’s future seemed bleak–until the Palmaz family discovered and unearthed its beauty.
SHIVANI VORA, a travel and lifestyle writer who is a regular contributor to the New York Times, included Palmaz Vineyards and winery’s tour and tasting in her most recent biweekly column, “Today’s Travel Hotel and Tour News.” Vora has also written for publications including the Wall Street Journal, National Geographic Traveler, T Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler and Departures.
Despite its proximity to Silicon Valley, Napa Valley wineries are shockingly lacking in tech development. Not so for this one.
