Crocker & Starr Cabernet Sauvignon Stone Place: 1999 – 2015
BY STEPHEN TANZER |
Crocker & Starr’s Cabernet Sauvignon Stone Place has flown under the radar of enophiles who gravitate to more flamboyant cult wines, but in my recent vertical tasting demonstrated remarkably consistent quality and old-vines concentration.
Crocker & Starr was established in 1997 when San Francisco venture capitalist and long-time wine lover Charlie Crocker joined forces with winemaker Pam Starr, previously at Spottswoode, to make estate wines from Crocker’s valley-floor vineyard on the south side of St. Helena. The vineyard they work together dates back to 1870, when Dowdell & Sons Winery was established. The winery closed 50 years later, during Prohibition, but continued to sell its grapes – as well as other fruits grown on the property – until Crocker purchased the property in 1971, including the original stone winery, renaming it Crocker Estate.
Old soldiers in Crocker & Starr's Stone Place vineyard
The Early Years
Crocker planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in the late ‘70s, on 5C rootstock rather than the phylloxera-vulnerable AXR or St. George, and using the See clone, which yields medium-sized berries with a characteristic black cherry flavor and strong tannin structure. He subsequently snapped up adjacent vineyards as they came on the market. Crocker then connected with Starr by happenstance in 1997. This is how she recalls their first meeting:
“I followed a soils map across town to Charlie’s vineyard and spoke to the vineyard foreman there about the property. A couple weeks later Charlie contacted me to ask if I was interested in purchasing grapes. I said no, but that it was my understanding that he was looking to start a winery. He said no, but please come and visit with him at his office in San Francisco. When I convey this story I always like to joke that I put my best jeans on and went to the 25th floor of 1 Post Street. After stepping off the elevator on the 25th floor, I assumed our meeting would be about three seconds. Three hours later, Charlie and I shook hands and Crocker & Starr Winery was born!”
After creating an LLC, they harvested their first grapes together in 1997 and in short order introduced a Cabernet Franc (one of the handful of first Cab Franc varietal bottlings in California) as well as their Stone Place Bordeaux-style blend, named after the “ghost winery” on the property; they followed up with a Sauvignon Blanc bottling beginning in vintage 2001.
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Crocker & Starr’s Stone Place Cabernet Sauvignon has flown under the radar of enophiles who gravitate to more flamboyant cult wines, but in my recent vertical tasting demonstrated remarkably consistent quality and old-vines concentration.
