Dominus Estate, is a
California wine
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when
Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted ''Vitis vinifera'' vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. I ...
estate producing
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
style blends, owned by
Christian Moueix
Christian Moueix (; born 1946) is a French winemaker and the president of the ''négociant'' house Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix in Libourne, overseeing production in several estates in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol including Château La Fleur ...
. The
winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...
is located in
Yountville within the
Napa Valley AVA.
History
George C. Yount
George Calvert Yount (May 4, 1794 – October 5, 1865), later known by his Spanish name Don Jorge Concepción Yount, was a Californian ranchero, fur trapper, and entrepreneur. Born in North Carolina, he later emigrated to Alta California, whe ...
, the founder of Yountville, planted in 1836 the first vines of the valley on the location of Napanook vineyard. In 1850 the property was bought by Charles Hopper, and owners since include Hugh La Rue, a pioneer in the use of
rootstock
A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to a ...
and John Daniel Jr., the owner of
Inglenook Winery who bought the estate in 1946.
Following Daniel's death in 1970, Napanook passed to his daughters Robin Lail and Marcia Smith who in 1982 began a partnership with Christian Moueix,
acting on a recommendation by
Robert Mondavi
Robert Gerald Mondavi (June 18, 1913 – May 16, 2008) was an American winemaker. His technical and marketing strategies brought worldwide recognition for the wines of the Napa Valley in California. From an early period, Mondavi promoted label ...
to establish production in Napa Valley.
Daniel Baron
Daniel Baron (born 1949) is an American winemaker. He is best known for his work with the Duncan family-owned Silver Oak Cellars and Twomey Cellars, and was Director of Winemaking for both. After his retirement in 2017, he launcheComplant Winew ...
became general manager of Dominus in the 1980s. Moueix, also in charge of production at Château Pétrus
Pétrus is a Bordeaux, France, wine estate located in the Pomerol appellation near its eastern border to Saint-Émilion. A small estate of just , it produces a red wine entirely from Merlot grapes (since the end of 2010), and produces no seco ...
and president of Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix
Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix, or JP Moueix, is a Bordeaux '' négociant'' house founded by Jean-Pierre Moueix in 1937, situated on the Quai du Priourat in Libourne, in the Bordeaux wine region of France. While dealing in wholesale distributi ...
, became the sole owner of Dominus Estate when Lail and Smith sold their shares in 1995.[ Napanook, the estate's ]second wine
Second wine or second label ( French: ''Second vin'') is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from '' cuvee'' not selected for use in the ''Grand vin'' or first label. In some cases a third wine or e ...
, was first released in 1996.
With the previous thirteen vintages crushed and aged at the nearby facility Rombauer Winery,[ a new winery was constructed by the Swiss architects Jaques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron in 1996, a $5 million, structure.][ The architects' first U.S. project, it was constructed from stone-filled ]gabions
A gabion (from Italian ''gabbione'' meaning "big cage"; from Italian ''gabbia'' and Latin ''cavea'' meaning "cage") is a cage, cylinder or box filled with rocks, concrete, or sometimes sand and soil for use in civil engineering, road building ...
to provide protection from scorching heat by day and the cold at night.[Matthews, Kevin, ''ArchitectureWeek'' (June 20, 2007)]
"Dominus in Depth"
/ref>
Production
From an estate of , the vineyard area extends in 14 blocks, with some presence of phylloxera
Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs ...
-resistant St. George rootstock from the Inglenook period, the grape varieties are 87% Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...
, 8% Petit Verdot
Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen it adds tannin, c ...
, and 5% Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being us ...
.[
The annual production is 7,500 to 12,000 cases which includes both Dominus and Napanook.]
References
External links
*
{{Coord, 38, 24, 18, N, 122, 22, 26, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title
Wineries in Napa Valley
Yountville, California