Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/144804
TECHNICAL REVIEW wi n ema k i n g Finding Space for Still Red Wines Schramsberg owners convert abandoned auto dealership into efficient red wine production facility By Paul Franson Highlights A staffer tops barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon at the Davies family's red wine production facility. M any of the wineries built today start with a clean slate, a talented architect and a pile of money. It may not be as glamorous, but finding a new use for a prosaic existing building can also result in a facility ideal for making fine wine. The Davies family did just that when they turned an abandoned car dealership in St. Helena, Calif., into a production facility for their red wines. They had previous experience with another fixer-upper, Jacob Schram's historic but dilapidated Schramsberg winery, which dated to 1862 and was located on Diamond Mountain near Calistoga in Napa Valley. An American legend When Jack and Jamie Davies bought the old Schram estate in 1965 and planted grapes for their proposed sparkling wine, they didn't know that the land was among America's top locations for grow62 W in e s & V i ne s AU G U ST 20 13 ing Cabernet Sauvignon. They wanted to make bubbly, so they planted the traditional Pinot Noir and Chardonnay cultivars used in Champagne. Even though the area might be considered too warm for those grapes, their Schramsberg bubbly set the standard for domestic sparkling wine, and the brand remains one of the highest rated producers in the United States. Such fortune resulted partly because they picked the grapes underripe for sparkling wine, and because the elevated site is cooler than other parts of northern Napa Valley. Over time, however, the family realized that the Schram estate was better suited for Bordeaux varieties, and that coastal parts of Sonoma and Marin counties, Anderson Valley in Mendocino County and the Carneros region were better places to grow grapes for sparkling wines. The Davies family started sourcing fruit from these cooler sites and now gets grapes from 120 plots as small as • he Davies family of Schramsberg T fame turned a deserted car dealership in Napa Valley into a red wine production facility. • he spacious, utilitarian winery takes T advantage of favorable zoning and wastewater options within the city limits of St. Helena, Calif. • abernet Sauvignon from the C Schramsberg property and Pinot Noir from elsewhere now have a separate production home. a half-acre. They started replanting the hillside Diamond Mountain property with Bordeaux varieties in 1994 and later launched the J. Davies red wine label. They now have 40 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 5 acres of other Bordeaux varieties: Malbec, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. In 1996, Jack and Jamie Davies' son Hugh, who is now CEO and president of Schramsberg, returned to the family winery after working at Möet & Chandon