We visited our newest grand-daughter, Ryleigh, home from the hospital/delivery, and took from our cellar this big bold ‘sipping’ wine to enjoy with artisan cheeses, for the occasion. Shown below, proud grand-mothers and the new grand-baby.
We took one of our Venge Vineyards wines, with their signature “V” branding, that we have fun with daughter-in-law Viviana, now able to drink again after her maternity abstention.
Venge Vineyards up in Calistoga, Napa Valley, is owned by Kirk Venge, son of legendary Nils Venge, whose family emigrated from Denmark four generations ago. Originally in wine and spirits importing, the family became winemakers in the 1960s, when Nils studied viticulture at the University of California at Davis. By the 1970s Nils was producing wine in the Oakville district of Napa Valley. He started Saddleback Cellars and became one of the valley’s leading winemakers.
We visited Nils at Saddleback and at other wineries, several times during the nineties. One of our more memorable days, featured in this blogpost, Visit to Venge Vineyards and Nils Venge, we toured Saddleback, then lunched together at Tre Vigne in St Helena, then we drove up to Calistoga to meet Kirk at the new Rossini Ranch location where they were digging wine caves.
The old Rossini Winery in Bell Canyon, had a historic stone building that dated back to 1891. The Venge’s purchased this property in the mid 1990s and completely restored this old ‘ghost’ winery which had sat vacant from prohibition until their purchase.
They produced their wines there until they sold the winery in 2008 to the Foley Wine Group, (although they kept the rights to the Venge brand and name). Nils sold that property to vintner William Foley and it is now home to Merus Vineyards.
After selling the Rossini property, Kirk acquired their Calistoga property including the Bone Ash Vineyards, as well as taking over the Venge Vineyards brand from Nils. They built a new winery that was completed two years later. In the fall of 2020, the winery survived a very close encounter with flames from the Glass Fire burning right onto the property and almost up to the winery itself.
Venge wines are popular and highly allocated, the most premium labels exclusively to their wine club, appropriately titled “In Venge Veritas” and now is called the Wine Guild; it is limited to 1,000 members and is at capacity, subject to a waiting list.
We hold numerous Venge labels spanning a dozen vintages, including a few dating back to the early days when Nil’s was still principle. We acquired a mixed case of several vintages, from 2013 through 2017, of this limited release label at auction.
This vineyard and Lot specific designated label is sourced from the notably Stagecoach Vineyard that sits high in the Vaca range on the east side of Nape Valley, high above Oakville and St Helena, about eight miles up Soda Canyon Road sitting about 1,800 feet above the valley floor. This was considered some of the last frontier of the Napa Valley – a wilder, more rugged country, fragrant with wild herbs and dotted with rare native plants.
The Stagecoach site rugged terrain first made history when gentleman bandit Charles Earl Bowles, known as Black Bart, robbed the daily stagecoach that travelled over the hill from St. Helena to Monticello. The hills were planted to vinis vinifera (wine grape vines) by early German settlers in the late 1800’s. They were abandoned during Prohibition and the remote ground lay fallow until 1995 when Dr. Jan Krupp purchased the 1,100+ acres that stretches from the southern edge of Pritchard Hill overlooking Oakville to the westernmost regions of the Atlas Peak Appellation.
Today, nearly 600 acres of the vast site are planted to various varieties, most notably stagecoach is Cabernet-focused however Syrah is planted in the highest elevations. Venge has a long-term contract on the I-4 Block, that sits on the highest peak of the vineyard, adjacent Pritchard Hill. It is considered one of the most ideal areas for growing mountain Syrah.
The property was acquired in 2016 by the E. & J. Gallo Winery. Today the 600+ acres of Stagecoach vineyard planted to vines, is the largest contiguous vineyard in the Napa Valley. The 1,300+ acres of rocky, volcanic terroir extends from the south-eastern of Pritchard Hill area overlooking Oakville and Yountville to the westernmost regions of the Atlas Peak appellation.
Over 80 Wineries source grapes from Stagecoach Vineyard, with over 30 wineries featuring the Stagecoach name on their labels, and over 25 produce vineyard designated labels specifying the Stagecoach Vineyard.
Venge Napa Valley, Atlas Peak, Stagecoach Vineyard “Block I-4” Syrah 2015
We hold a half dozen vintages of the Venge Single Vineyard designated labels. This particular vintage is from the year that the new parents, Alec and Vivianna first met.
This single vineyard, select block designated label is 100% Syrah from the iconic vineyard high up in the Vaca range near Atlas Peak.
Winemakers notes for this label - “Goodness, this is pure, volcanic mountain Syrah at its finest! This wine possesses a bold, deep, dark color that opens the door to an array of black fruit aromatics. Cassis, blackberry, warm toasted bread and French Oak vanillin all fill the glass with purpose. While still young and in development, the palate shows superior promise with minerals, tongue swirling acidity, cherry and black plum. The tannins are firm and support the back palate for several moments beyond the initial taste. If cellared correctly, this wine will continue to improve for over a decade. Limited production runs make this single-vineyard Syrah all the more precious”.
This was produced according to the “Method, Pellenc Destemmed Via Gravity to Open Top Fermenters, 5-Day Whole Berry Cold Soak, Slow Cellar Temp Fermentation Over 19 Days On Skins, 100% Carbonic Native Primary and Secondary Fermentation, Free Run and Press Fractions Combined to Build Structure and Durability”.
This was aged in 100% French Oak, 60% New Francois Frères, then bottled Unfiltered
Typical annual production for this label is about 400 Cases
This was produced according to the “Method, Pellenc Destemmed Via Gravity to Open Top Fermenters, 5-Day Whole Berry Cold Soak, Slow Cellar Temp Fermentation Over 19 Days On Skins, 100% Carbonic Native Primary and Secondary Fermentation, Free Run and Press Fractions Combined to Build Structure and Durability”.
This was aged in 100% French Oak, 60% New Francois Frères, then bottled Unfiltered
Typical annual production for this label is about 400 Cases
Various releases of this label were rated 95 points by The Wine Independent and 94 points by Jeb Dunnuck, 93 from The Wine Enthusiast and 92 from Wine Spectator. Wine Advocate gave the 2011 release 96 points, while the 2010 got 94 points from The Wine Enthusiast.
This was dark inky purple colored, full bodied, rich, dense concentrated, super sweet ripe black berry and plum and blue fruits, with notes of cassis, bacon fat, clove spice, cigar box and tobacco leaf on the full round tannin lingering finish.
RM 92 points.
View Regional Map of Stagecoach VIneyard site, from the vineyard owner.
| 327 | ||
| Cabernet Franc | 332 | |
| Cabernet Franc | 628 | |
| Cabernet Franc | Sanders | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 2 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 4 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 7 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 8 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 15 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 169 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 191 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 337 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 341 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 412 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 685 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 5197 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 29 (Niebaum-Coppola) | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 30 (See) + rootstock | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 31 (Mondavi – To Kalon) + root stocks | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 685/31 | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | See | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | Weimer | |
| Chardonnay | 15 | |
| Chardonnay | 17 | |
| Chardonnay | Wente | |
| Grenache | Alban | |
| Malbec | 8 | |
| Malbec | 9 | |
| Malbec | 19 | |
| Malbec | 595 | |
| Malbec | 596 | |
| Malbec | 598 | |
| Marsanne | 575 | |
| Marsanne | Tablas Creek | |
| Merlot | 3 | |
| Merlot | 6 | |
| Merlot | 181 | |
| Merlot | 314 | |
| Merlot | 343 | |
| Merlot | 347 | |
| Petite Sirah | 4 | |
| Petit Verdot | 2 | |
| Petit Verdot | 400 | |
| Petit Verdot | 1058 | |
| Roussanne | 468 | |
| Sangiovese | PEPI | |
| Sauvignon Blanc | 1 | |
| Sauvignon Blanc | 6 | |
| Sauvignon Blanc | 18 | |
| Sauvignon Blanc | 28 | |
| Sauvignon Blanc | 30 | |
| Syrah | 7 | |
| Syrah | 174 | |
| Syrah | 383 | |
| Syrah | 470 | |
| Syrah | 525 | |
| Syrah | 877 | |
| Syrah | Alban | |
| Syrah | TC-A (99) | |
| Tempranillo | Pasquera | |
| Tempranillo | RD | |
| Viognier | 1 | |
| Viognier | 642 | |
| Viognier Pride Zinfandel Aldo/Crane It is here that our founders excavated over a billion pounds of basalt, andesite, and tufa boulders to create a remarkable property – Stagecoach Vineyard. Over the past two decades, over 600 acres of vines have been planted in 204 unique blocks. We divide Stagecoach into four sections because of their distinct terroir: Pritchard Hill, Heart of the Vineyard, Bordeaux Region, and Atlas Peak Region. |
