Aerika Estate: The Prologue
BY ANTONIO GALLONI |
Over the years, I have been fortunate to see many projects get off the ground in Napa Valley. These include VHR Vine Hill Ranch, The Vineyardist, Gandona, Dakota Shy, Cathiad, Brand, Kinsman-Eades, Accendo, Pym-Rae, Haynes, MacDonald, Sinegal, Ulysses, Seven Apart, Beta/Jasud, Bella Oaks, Ink Grade, DiCostanzo, Promontory, Alejandro Bulgheroni and Fe, among others that I have tasted from or close to their inception. Founded by Rob Black and Julia van der Vink, Aerika Estate is one of the most exciting and promising new ventures I have seen in Napa Valley in some time.
I first met Rob Black atop a catwalk at Screaming Eagle as I was working my way through tanks of Merlot that were finishing fermenting. It was 2014 or 2015. The winery was full of energy and the heady perfume of harvest. Black was the Assistant Winemaker and made sure I did not do anything stupid at the end of a long day of tastings, like dropping my phone into a tank. I ran into Black and van der Vink about a year and a half ago at their home in Coombsville as I was finishing my map of the appellation, and word was starting to get out about their new project on Mount Veeder. It was the very, very early days of Aerika. Contracts had not even been signed. I was intrigued. Mount Veeder is an appellation I have long been attracted to.
Rob Black and Julia van der Vink at their Aerika Estate, high atop Mount Veeder.
“Have you been to Aerika Estate yet?” noted geologist David Howell prodded me recently when I spoke about our vineyard maps in his class at Stanford. “You really have to go,” he told me. I assured him it was in the works.
Rob Black was born in New Zealand but has spent more than half his life abroad. His first harvest was in Oregon. Stints in Spain, Canada and Australia followed, and before he ended up at Domaine Comte Senard in Aloxe-Corton, where he spent a decade. Black met winemaker Nick Gislason at Screaming Eagle during a swing through Napa Valley. The pair later spent time in New Zealand. A bond was forged. “Rob and I instantly hit it off,” Gislason told me recently. “Frankly, he was overqualified for an assistant winemaker position at Screaming Eagle, but we had such a meeting of the minds and thought it would be great to do something for a year or two. Instead, we ended up working together for eight years.”
