History
John Newmeyer started the vineyard at the end of the 1970s, putting in twenty-four acres. David Mahaffey became his partner in 1980 and has farmed it since, working the site down to what suited it and budding vines over to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. It has stayed a small grower's property supplying producers who want genuinely cold-climate fruit from Napa County. Mahaffey's own label from the site is Olivia Brion.
The Site
A rugged volcanic ridge in the southern Vaca range a few miles east of downtown Napa, at 1,200 to 1,400 feet. The Wild Horse Valley AVA straddles the Napa and Solano county line; Heron Lake sits on the Napa side. The vineyard looks straight down at San Pablo Bay with nothing between, which makes it a catcher's mitt for cold coastal wind and low fog and keeps daytime peaks from ever spiking. Harvest runs exceptionally late into October at low potential alcohols. Topsoil is shallow and lean: weathered volcanic tuff, basalt debris and seams of fractured quartz.
Vines and Blocks
Of the original twenty-four acres, roughly fourteen are under vine after the unsuitable ground was pulled. Chardonnay sits on the thinnest, most exposed outcrops, planted to heritage Old Wente selections. Pinot Noir occupies the protected folds of the plateau, in Pommard and Dijon selections including 115, grafted mostly to 101-14 to suppress vigour.
The Wines
The Pinot Noir is the site's calling card: rose petal, orange zest, dried moss and black tea over sharp acidity, light in weight and finishing on a crystalline, flinty note that bears no resemblance to the valley floor. The Chardonnay carries the same racy acidity with denser phenolics from the old Wente wood.