Mayacamas

The restoration of Mayacamas is quite possibly the most ambitious project undertaken in Napa Valley in the last several decades. There is nothing fancy at Mayacamas. No swimming pool, no fancy restaurants nearby and no glamor of any kind, three of the many things that often attract money in Napa Valley. New owner Charles Banks had looked at Mayacamas many times over the years, often with some of the biggest names in the valley as potential partners, but the work that had to be done and the money needed to do it were too daunting for most. Banks has the advantage of having the most important resource of all: time. And that is why he is the perfect person to oversee the significant amount of work that it is going to take to bring Mayacamas back to the peak it reached under the stewardship of the Travers family.

Roughly one third of the estate's vineyards are being re planted. Banks has enlisted a superstar team consisting of Winemaker Andy Erickson and his wife, Viticulturist Annie Favia. The latest addition is Vineyard Manager Phil Coturri, who probably knows more about rugged hillside farming than anyone in Napa Valley. So far, the changes have been minimal. A sorting table was brought in for the 2013 harvest and beginning with the 2010 the wines are no longer being bottled cask by cask, but rather from tank after being blended. I tasted a number of dry 2013s from tank and they were all incredibly beautiful and expressive. It is going to be fascinating to see how things develop here over the coming years and decades.

During my visit I also tasted a number of older wines back to 1967. I will publish those reviews along with a handful or two of notes on past vintages in an upcoming article.