Varietal(s): Grignolino
Vineyard Management: Certified organic transitioning to Biodynamic
Winemaking: Conventional
Vegan: information not available
Typicity: Atypical as Heitz is the only winery in the United States to bottle grignolino as a single varietal. This was the last vintage made, with the sale of the vineyard to the Lawrence family in 2018, the grapes are now bottled for a secondary label. This bottle bearing a Heitz label has now become quite rarified indeed.
Bio: Heitz Cellars, has enjoyed over sixty years being a benchmark of single vineyard Napa Cabernet that to this day fetch a pretty penny. With the sale of the estate in 2018 to billionaire Gaylon Lawrence Jr., he gave carte-blanche to Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy Jr.. As the first Black CEO of a Napa wine group, Lawrence Wine Estates, he is in a unique position to appoint a younger, more diverse group of professionals at the seven properties he now manages.
The silver-lining to losing the grignolino to a another label under the umbrella, is that we have gained a true talent in Carlton McCoy and I look forward to what his leadership holds for not only Napa but how his determination to break up the insular 'in groups' of wine could change accessibility on a larger scale.
