BURGESS – Napa Valley, CA

Description

The first time you see Sorenson vineyard, on Howell Mountain, you realize how amazing it is that it was originally planted in the 1870s.

When the Swiss-Italian immigrants first put vines in the earth there, they didn’t have the tools that modern vintners depend on. There were no giant backhoes to rip through the rocky soil, no gas-powered augers to dig post-holes in the unforgiving ground.

But any native of the Alps would have immediately recognized the potential of the site: a steep 27 degree slope with heavily compacted volcanic soils, dotted with rocks and boulders. At 800–1,000 feet of elevation, fog would consume the site in the fall, slowing ripening. Vines would struggle here, but as a result they’d produce small berries boasting intense concentration and incredible ageworthiness.

That’s what drew Tom Burgess to this site, roughly a century after the vineyard was established. By that time, it was already famous in Napa—formerly called Souverain, it was where Warren Winiarski of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and Mike Grgich of Chateau Montelena and Grgich Hills both earned their chops.

And over the next half-century, Burgess wines came to represent some of the finest ageworthy Cabs in California. Their house style is remarkably consistent—they’ve only employed three winemakers since 1972—and it showcases their prime mountainside terroir and often features extended elevage in barrel to tame those mountain wines.