The week Jaime Davies died another great Icon of the Napa Valley passed away, Sir Peter Newton.
I was up at this winery with the controller for Moet Hennessey this last Saturday, M-H now owns the winery. But... let me back up about forty to fifty years. Peter was originally from the white cliffs of Dover in Britain. He literally came from the house with blue shutters that has been painted and photoed in ads for the place.
Peter and his wife Sue Wah were the founders of Sterling Vineyard which popped up in the 1960's as the spot to stop on your way to Calistoga.
The wine was fantastic and they had this exciting tram ride. The story on the tram was the authorities were not going to give a permit for it but Peter's wife said they had them all over in China where she came from and so why not here? Well, I guess she embarrassed the planners for Napa County and they granted the permit. Hence, the famous tram was born!
Peter was not just all about a tram though, he was after world class wine and planted the first Merlot grapes in the Valley. The fame of the wine and the lure of the winery was such that Coca Cola bought it in 1974. This was one of the first corporate buy outs of a winery to that date and big news at the time! Coke's lawyers were careful to put a non competition clause into the buy out preventing Peter from going back into the wine business. To their dismay however they neglected to include Sue Wah his wife in this clause, so two years later or there about, Newton Vineyard was born.
Newton is out the end of Madrona Road, on the southwest side of Spring Mountain, a huge ranch of over 500 acres. Initially, its focus was Peter's passion, Merlot. Being old school and wanting to mirror the French he also made Claret, a blend of several Bordeaux blending grapes, meant to be drunk young without having to age like a Merlot or Cabernet. Chardonnay was also made, but not in the usual Valley style but Sur de Lys (I hope I am spelling that correctly) or on the yeast as it is translated. This gives the wine complexity and longevity. Malolatic fermentation and oak barrel aging are included, but the real distinction is the wine is left unfiltered! This makes for some cloudy and darker looking Chardonnay but it is also long lived and quite a complex wine. This wine is highly prized by the patrons of the vineyard and is quickly sold out upon release each year.
The Wine Maker recently decided to plant 5% Cabernet to the vineyard which will give them more estate fruit to choose for their Blend which they call Puzzle. This is never the same ,but a concoction arrived at by blending what is good each year , hence it is a Puzzle. The wine list would not be complete without a good Cabernet made is the old school style to lay down and age well, allowing it to develop as good Cab should!
I stated before these wines are unfiltered but to really appreciate the level and the dedication which is given to making these wines, one really must go the the winery and tour the facility. It really is incredible, a hidden treasure below ground as impressive below as it is visually above!
The first thing that is different or better is the various compartments which are all temperature controlled so that each fermentation can be handled alone. These caves and rooms within have evolved over time, as knowledge was gained and needs became apparent. There are the original caves, the compartmental caves, and then 75 feet below, the aging caves which are connected to the caves above by a vertical shaft and a spiral staircase. This shaft must have been very difficult to construct and dealing with the water at times, I am sure, has been challenging!
Peter's life was so remarkable he was Knighted "Sir Peter" by the Queen of England several years back.
His wife of many years has been a great ally on this journey and has been an active hand in all aspects of the vineyard. Sue Wah's Oriental heritage is mirrored every where in the winery. Sir Peter has passed on but Sue Wah lives on. Stay tuned for what she will do next. I am sure it will be another chapter in the history of the Napa Valley!
Tours are by appointment only.Call them and they will call you back within one day (707) 204-7423. Cathy or Debbie will call you back 11-2:30 are tour times. Click here for the web site: Newton The email is chuck@newtonvineyard.com
Be sure and look in winery_times 5 photo album for more pictures there were too many to just post here!
There is a winery north of Calistoga once known as one of the Big Three Jacob Wineries at the end of the nineteenth century. There was Jacob Beringer, Jacob Schram, and Jacob Grimm. Jacob Grimm and his brother had the Brothers Grimm Winery. This winery remained active 'til, in 1964, a big forest fire came through there and while burning all the way to Santa Rosa that year, completely destroyed the vineyard! All that remained was a small grove of redwoods that show the evidence of that fire to this day.
Twelve years passeed as several people tried to rebuild the vineyard that once was. Finally, Jerry Seps and his wife purchased the property. Jerry was a professor at Standford and longed to try his hand at wine making. Originally, he planted all Zinfandel and to this day the primary wines are Zinfandel.
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