The Napa Winemakers Doubling Down on a Struggling Wine Industry

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It often seems that only bad news is coming out of the wine industry, even in California, where headlines scream about wineries unable to sell their grapes, several notable Chapter 11 filings in recent weeks, and farmers switching over to crops such as olives, pistachios, and even agave. Meanwhile, in the past few months, a few extremely high-profile transactions tell a different story, one that involves individuals and families betting big on Napa Valley. Late September’s sale of Artesa, in Carneros, to Jean-Charles Boisset has the valley talking, but other more low-key deals have taken place in recent months, showing that some are doubling down on Napa rather than pulling back.

“The August article in The New York Times about growers burning their vines because sales are so low coincided with us pulling out vines at part of our Vineyard 29 acquisition to prepare the land now for replanting in the spring,” says Arborum co-owner Caren Orum. “I joked about putting a billboard at our Highway 29 entrance that says, ‘Hey New York Times, We’re Replanting!’” Having purchased what is now Arborum in 2013, she and her husband Nick began looking for additional vineyards last year, and they feel lucky to have found one right next door. The Orum’s acquisition of a 24-acre portion of the neighboring plot in St. Helena increased their estate to a total of 44 contiguous acres. “Arborum shares a fence line with the property, and we saw it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand our home estate and also have control of our fruit,” Orum explains. “This will allow all of our wine to be estate-grown, CCOF-certified organic, and regeneratively farmed.” Those are qualities that she believes will be non-negotiable for younger wine drinkers.

Boisset also has younger wine drinkers in mind with his plans for Artesa, which began life in 1992 as sparkling-wine house Codorniu Napa, a New World extension of the Raventós Codorníu family of Cava fame. “Nobody should need a vocabulary of wine to feel that they belong in Napa Valley,” Boisset says. “Our role is to invite curiosity, share what we know generously and make discovery a pleasure.” Planning to continue Artesa’s heritage as a producer of cool-climate Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and native Spanish varieties Albariño and Tempranillo, Boisset also intends to use the Artesa vineyards for new JCB sparkling wines and to utilize the 350-acre hilltop estate and dramatic pyramid-shaped winery as an arts center.

Having thought about acquiring Artesa for more than a decade, Boisset calls the purchase “a long-awaited opportunity to carry forward a vision we deeply admire.” Despite the prevailing headwinds facing the wine industry, he points out his “belief in wine and in Napa Valley extends far beyond the current cycle. The industry faces real challenges, and we take them seriously.” A native of Burgundy, Boisset exhibits the Old World demeanor of one who measures time in generations, not fiscal quarters. “My interest is in the enduring value of this place and what we can build here together,” he says.

While he only discovered Edge Hill a year before making it his own, it seems Hayes Drumwright was as enchanted with the historic property as Boisset was with Artesa. “The entrance alone feels like a portal that transports you back in time to 1867, when the site was established,” he says. The 209th licensed distillery in the U.S. and one of the country’s oldest three-story gravity feed wineries, Edge Hill was purchased from vintner Joel Gott, who had bought it from the Rudd family. Having closed on the estate in March, Drumwright and winemaker Sam Kaplan—who also crafts Drumwright’s current brands, Memento Mori and Vida Valiente—are planning a 2027 replanting of Rudd’s field blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Rhône varieties with Cabernet Sauvignon which at the earliest will be ready to harvest in 2032.

The future home of a brand to be called Ultra Mortem, Latin for “beyond death,” Edge Hill’s imposing stone building will serve as the tasting room for Vida Valiente until that brand’s winery is completed. Having beat cancer three times, Drumwright is exceptionally optimistic about the future of Napa Valley thanks to the new generation of wealth and potential wine collectors created by technology companies whose products and services were unimaginable even a decade ago. “The world is going to be very different than anything we have seen in history,” he says. “Experiences intertwined with great products and brands driving authentic connections will have the best chance of surviving what is rapidly approaching.”

“I feel that we are seeing a big shift in the valley due to the change of generations running the valley and the change in consumer,” says Carlton McCoy, CEO of Lawrence Wine Estates, which owns Heitz Cellar, Trailside Vineyard, Ink Grade, and Haynes Vineyard, among others. While not a new acquisition, Lawrence recently launched Home Ranch, a private hospitality destination at Heitz Cellar that offers tastings from across the portfolio. The realization that guests in Napa Valley often have more on their agenda than they can comfortably fit into a visit was the impetus behind this new setting. “Guests are booking less appointments per day than they used to,” McCoy say, “So the Home Ranch allows the guests to experience multiple estates wines in one experience.”

A millennial among Gen X founders, McCoy thinks that he and his cohort can build upon work done by their predecessors without having to convince anyone that Napa Valley can make great wines. “We don’t have as much to prove, but we need to do it our way,” he says. “Perhaps less stuffy, less flash. More focus on connection and genuine love for this place and the work we get to do,” With attitudes like these, the news of the wine industry’s death may have been greatly exaggerated.

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