Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/718029
44 WINES&VINES September 2016 S ince moving to Napa County in the 1960s, the Titus family has watched the area change drastically while adapting its own wine business in response to those changes. The family has been growing grapes in Napa Valley since 1970, started making their own wine in 1990 and just last year finished building an estate winery north of St. Helena, Calif., in time for the 2015 harvest. When Lee and Ruth Titus brought their family to the area in the 1960s, the Napa Valley was undeveloped and the outside world had little interest in the small valley. Lee Titus was a ra- diologist who set up a practice in the nearby town of Sonoma, Calif. The couple loved wine and wanted a vineyard of their own. "At that time—and I remember because we got dragged around with our parents looking at properties—everything was for sale," recalled Phil Titus. "Basically there was so much to choose from at that time, and they just drove around Calistoga, St. Helena, Rutherford and looked at different pieces of property." The couple eventually settled on a 32-acre vineyard property and closed on it in 1969. Lee Titus later bought a 10-acre parcel that was home to a burned-down farmhouse and abandoned prune orchard on nearby Ehlers Lane in 1972, and in 1976 he bought about 18 acres of pasture land adjacent to the southern edge of the first property. Phil Titus and his brother Eric would eventually take over the family vineyard business and winery; they recently spoke with Wines & Vines about their new winery and the history of the family business. When Lee Titus bought the 32 acres of vineyards, some of them predated Prohibition and were planted to a hodge-podge of varieties. "It was a typical vineyard of the time," Eric Titus said. "It was largely Zinfandel that was probably the biggest single variety, but there was Carignan, there was Burger, Mon- deuse, a little Sémillon and there was even a block of Pinot Noir." The Titus brothers believe the property had been planted with vines as far back as the early 1900s, when it may have been owned by "the Frenchman," who sold it to the Nagel family that in turn sold it to the Miamis who sold it to the Titus family. Despite its heritage, the vineyard was in need of replanting. "The Burger (grapes) were the most disgusting sacks of water, and the Chasselas or the Palomino was just pulp: There was no juice," Phil Titus recalled. Fortuitously for the family, Lee Titus chose to plant Bordeaux varieties and Zinfandel, and he had picked up some tips from a few of his neighbors who were longtime growers. "Our dad was a pretty smart guy as a radiologist, but when it came to grape- growing he was kind of a neophyte, so he made friends with some of the locals here," Phil Titus said. "The name for rootstock Titus Vineyards Family-owned estate stays in step with development of Napa Valley By Andrew Adams TIM MALONEY/TECHNICAL IMAGERY STUDIOS TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT The new winery is located in Napa Valley, north of St. Helena on the Silverado Trail.