History
Sir Peter Michael, an English engineer knighted in 1989, bought the property in 1982 and planted the first vines in 1983. The estate has expanded well beyond the original purchase since. Its mailing address reads Calistoga, which regularly leads people to file it in Napa; the land is in Sonoma County, in the Knights Valley AVA.
The Site
A large Knights Valley property on the volcanic rhyolite slopes below Mount St. Helena, of which only a fraction is planted. Published planted-acreage figures disagree, and the estate has grown over four decades, so any single number should be treated as a snapshot.
Vines and Blocks
The blocks carry the names the wines are sold under. Les Pavots is the Bordeaux planting that yields the flagship blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Belle Cote, Mon Plaisir and Ma Belle-Fille are Chardonnay blocks on the volcanic soils of the same estate, each bottled separately.
The Wines
Les Pavots is the estate's flagship. The named Chardonnays are made in a rich Burgundian idiom and are the reason the estate is often discussed alongside California's Chardonnay specialists. Wines made from vineyards outside Knights Valley, including Au Paradis in Oakville, carry their own appellations.