The wine business attracts big personalities, including winemakers who become celebrities and put the stamp of their stardom in every bottle. Pursuing the product of a “rock star” winemaker is fun, but it can be a little disillusioning when you finally score a bottle and it doesn’t measure up to the reputation of the superhuman who made it. That’s why it was so refreshing to find wines I loved crafted by someone who is charming, humble and approachable. It’s even more amazing when that winemaker leads one of the oldest and most lauded wine estates in northern California.
Allow me to introduce you to Christophe Paubert, winemaker and general manager at Stags’ Leap Winery. We met when I visited Stags’ Leap as part of a recent wine bloggers’ conference in California’s Napa and Sonoma valleys.
An old world approach to winemaking
Christophe, who grew up just outside of Sauternes in the Bordeaux region of France, started in the wine industry when he was just 17. “I didn’t even like wine then,” he told me. With age, evidently, came appreciation. He attended the Institut d’ oenologie in Bordeaux and since then has worked in almost all aspects of the wine business in France, Chile, Spain, Washington State and now Napa Valley.
What is so refreshing about Christophe is his unobtrusive, old world approach to winemaking. Above all, he appreciates terroir—the wine’s expression of the natural environment in which it’s produced. I’m also a big fan of his desire to create wines that are best when they accompany food. It’s a different approach from making wines that showcase an individual’s personality. Take a look at a few of Christophe’s thoughts from our conversation and see if you don’t agree with me.
Showcase the wine, not the winemaker
On his philosophy of winemaking: “I prefer to showcase the fruit, not the winemaker . . . If you find the right fruit, then you need minimal winemaking.”
On grapes that get a bad rap in popular culture: “I am from Bordeaux and I love Merlot. It is a majestic, beautiful grape. It can be finnicky, but it produces a feminine wine with no overpowering tannins.”
On the tendency of “big” wines to have big alcohol content: “I call alcohol levels in our wine ‘collateral damage.’ The levels are simply a function of when we pick the grapes.”
On how long to age wine: “Buy a case, open a bottle every two years, and when you like it, drink all of the remaining bottles except one. That one save for 10 years so you can make sure you were right.”
Right grapes + right winemaker = terrific wine
I was delighted by Christophe, but just as compelling is the colorful history of the Stags’ Leap winery. It survived prohibition by opening an on-site post office—a trap door led underneath to a speakeasy. Years later, the winery found itself embroiled in a 13-year legal battle over its name. The battle resulted in a somewhat controversial decision to call the business Stags’ Leap Winery, versus its neighbor, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Yep, two different wineries, both located in the Stag’s Leap District of Napa Valley. Confusing, yes?
What’s not confusing is the quality of Stags’ Leap Winery’s juice. Christophe’s old world approach combined with new world fruit yields some terrific wines. My favorites? The 2016 Napa Valley Viognier and the 2014 Ne Cede Malis Estate Petite Syrah. If you are in the Developed or Complex Tribes I bet you’ll like these too.
Enjoy!
