When Alejandro Bulgheroni set his sights on the Napa
Valley, he brought along his decades of experience as a businessman in
Argentina. But his passion for wine
began when walking on a rocky hillside on a ranch in Uruguay. He sensed a
magical quality about the site and wanted to give that land a more meaningful
purpose. Despite grapes having never
being planted in the region, he planted his first five vineyard blocks and
launched Bodega Garzón in Uruguay, his opening venture into the wine business.
A lifelong rancher, Alejandro quickly developed an interest in the profound
connection between wine and land. Ever since, he has been an innovator in the
wine industry on a global scale, creating and nurturing sustainable wine
projects in Uruguay, Argentina, Australia, Tuscany and Napa Valley. The
Alejandro Bulgheroni Estate sits just south of Meadowood and Bill Harlan's Napa
Valley Reserve in Saint Helena. In 1975, under the ownership of Jim & Nena
Talcott, the first grapes were planted, and a charming stone winery was built.
The property then served as the 'Founder's Room' for Bill Harlan's portfolio of
wines and where Harlan's Napa Valley Reserve wines were first produced. Today, after transforming the property
through winery renovations, vineyard replantings (spearheaded by Vineyard
Manager, Jim Barbour), and the addition of caves for barrel aging, Bulgheroni
has established this estate as one of the most prestigious in all of Napa
Valley. His dream team consists of Jim Barbour, Philippe Melka, Michel Rolland
and day-to-day Winemaker, Matt Sands.
Lithology is the name given to this bottling which
means "the study of terroir", and the 'Las Piedras' bottling is the second in a
sequential series of single vineyard bottlings from this label that we are so
proud to share with you! The name Las Piedras has become synonymous with the
highest quality of fruit. Today, it is farmed by the Beckstoffer Family and is
always one of the most highly sought-after sources of fruit for the most
esteemed winemakers in the Napa Valley. This kind of acclaim doesn't come
overnight, and in fact, the Las Piedras vineyard carries an incredible amount
of history that dates back to the mid 1800s! The history of grape growing in
the Napa Valley can be traced back to the Mexican land grants of the 1840s when
General Vallejo gave European settler, Edward Bale, a property in the small
town of St. Helena as a wedding gift. Edward and his bride promptly planted the
acreage to Mission grapes and watched them thrive. This was the very first
vineyard planted in what is now the St. Helena appellation. Considering the
great success of the Mission grapes, Edward decided to convert the vineyard to
wine grape varietals with the help of their neighbor Henry Pallet, one of
California's first great winemakers who had established one of the first
wineries in the Napa Valley in 1860. Fast forward to 1983, Beckstoffer
Vineyards purchased the property and planted it to two clones of Cabernet
Sauvignon. Impressed with the quality of the gravelly soil, the farm workers dubbed
the vineyard Las Piedras, which casually translates to 'little pebbles', and
like any great nickname, it stuck. Now with over 150 consecutive years of grape
farming, Las Piedras is a winemaker's mecca, producing fruit that is
concentrated, pristine, and incredibly expressive. This Lithology bottling is 100%
Cabernet Sauvignon coming from Las Piedras Vineyard Block E, was harvested on
October 5th and barrel aged for 21 months in 70% new French
oak. This is an elegant, mineral-laced
wine that offers robust richness and depth as well as outstanding length. The
palate opens with notes of red and black currants, dried flowers, crushed
rocks, and tobacco. Sumptuous and satisfying, this Cabernet has both a complexity
and richness that will impress today for those who can't wait to open the
bottle, as well as 20 years from now for those who can successfully hide it
from themselves for that long! Only
67 cases produced.
