1981 to present
Our Journey
My husband Steve and I started visiting wineries in the Napa Valley in 1981. Back then, when you visited a winery, there was a good chance that you would be greeted by the winemaker or vineyard owner in the “tasting room.” The tasting room was usually just big enough to handle a few people at a time, often standing at a small, cramped bar. We loved those adventures. You were close to the people who knew their wine and were enthusiastic about sharing it with you. We still have some of the wine glasses given away as mementos of those visits. Napa Valley was just coming into its own.
For years, we were weekend visitors, falling in love with the land, the people, and the wine. As our interest in wine grew, we took trips abroad to major wine regions where you are still greeted by the winery owner. We walked vineyards, tasted wines, and ate local food. We enjoyed the company of people whose lives are intrinsically tied to their land and town or village, and whose wines are an expression of place, people, and culture—shared with family and friends alongside daily meals.
I wanted those experiences to be my life, not just in brief episodes, but always. And now, it is. We live on a vineyard in a canyon outside Calistoga, surrounded by vines, wildlife, and rugged terrain. I have come to love it beyond belief. It is intense in many ways. Will it rain this year? Maybe too much, maybe not enough. Will there be a freeze at exactly the wrong time? Thankfully, we haven’t experienced that…yet. Will there be a heat spike just before harvest? Ditto. Will turkeys decide that our fruit tastes delicious just before harvest? Will a hungry bear sneak into the vineyard? Experienced that too. I know there will be more to come, but I wouldn’t give it up for the world.
Living among vines means that I live viticulture. I’ve watched the seasons come and go and the vines change with them. I’ve learned what it means to farm grapes for amazing winemakers, who have generously shared their knowledge with me. I’ve joined early morning harvests, plucked MOG—material other than grapes—from bins, made breakfast for the crew, followed our grapes to the wineries, and watched as they were crushed, fermented, and made into wine.
I have had exceptional tutors. People who believe in the power of place—that you learn about a vineyard by carefully observing the vines, spending early mornings or late afternoons walking the rows, sensing the weather, gauging the response of the vines to changing conditions.
Lacking a formal education in viticulture, I’ve had to learn the science myself. I spend my evenings poring over books, articles and websites–about agriculture, wine, and the wine business. I’ve attended classes at both UC Davis and Santa Rosa Junior College. I’ve joined professional organizations, attended seminars, met and worked with extraordinary wine professionals, and shared information with my colleagues in the vitwomen’s listserv, a network with well over 150 women in the wine and viticulture professions. With an active research scientist, Jennifer Rohrs, on our team as our consulting viticulturist, I now get informed by cutting edge research in grapevine physiology. All this keeps me very busy—and makes me happy.
Several years into our new life, the inevitable happened—Steve and I decided that we would make our own batch of Cabernet Sauvignon from a block or two of newly planted vines. With a small amount of fruit too young to sell, what else could we do?
Through that experience, we learned about the highs and lows of winemaking. I can’t tell you how many times, certain that something went wrong, I wanted to let the wine flow out of the barrel and into the creek. But with the encouragement of experienced winemaker friends, I held back and gave the wine time. A red wine can take years to develop. Its ups and downs are amazing. But what fun it is now to drink! Like the old winemakers we met in Europe, we love our own “local” wine and enjoy sharing it with friends at meals. We didn’t make much, but enough to convince us that winemaking would be our next adventure. We didn’t know exactly when that would happen, just that it would.
When we moved to our vineyard, we forged a friendship with Graeme MacDonald. Graeme shares our love of Napa Valley history and farming traditions. We bonded over our interest in preserving old vines. His experience farming his family’s historic To-Kalon vineyard proved invaluable in helping us understand how to farm our own head-trained and dry-farmed vines. As our friendship with Graeme evolved, our discussions turned from farming to winemaking. Again, our interests aligned—creating wines that express the characteristics of special places with minimal intervention. When we were ready to launch our new wine brand from our estate grapes, we asked Graeme to make our wine.
So now, here we are—proprietors of Palisades Canyon. It is our turn to share the generosity and knowledge so many have shared with us. And time to share our wines.