B. Wise estates- the crown jewel of Sonoma
It is the last day of July, and tomorrow the world is waiting for me. By the world, I mean the harvest, what some call the hundred days of hell. A three-month slog through endless tonnage of grapes arriving in trucks that crisscross North Bay in a continuous loop in the predawn hours. A hundred days of long hours, little sleep, and not a single day on the calendar goes according to plan. Orders get lost, trucks break down, power outages up and down hitting wineries as south as Carneros and as north as Mendocino. Harvest interns from Argentina, South Africa, Italy among a half dozen other countries make mistakes, some easily fixed, others costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and grind the iron heel of a winery’s productivity to a screeching halt. People get hurt. There’s not a winemaker I know without a scar, irregular blemish, or some type of metal in their bodies – a souvenir to the business we’ve chosen.
It’s not just chaos for the wineries, but for everyone else in the industry. Harvest, usually beginning in the early August days, peeking in October and slowing rescinding into the mid-layer of November, is the wine business’s bread and butter. This is peak season. This is the summers for Nantucket and The Hamptons, the winter months for Aspen and Vail, the line to cross the River Styx after a Harvard Law Graduation.
For me, it simply an understanding that I have to say goodbye. Goodbye to time off, goodbye cocktails with the boys, see you later sleepy weekend mornings, adios social life. It is nothing more than a perpetual repetitious grind when wine country looks its best.
With that in mind, I place a call to my friend Tyler, owner of Napa Native Tours. He also owns a private wine label.
“Let’s go do a tasting at B. Wise,” I tell him.
Pause.
“You feeling okay?”
“Yea, sure why?”
“You want to go to Sonoma on your day off? Your last day off for God knows how long?”
“Shut up. Pick you up in an hour.”
I wouldn’t call my feelings towards Sonoma disdainful but rather a superstitious anxiety. I have nothing against my neighbor to the west, but I am Napa man through and through. Still, Sonoma does make phenomenal wine and only a fool or temperance leaguer would say otherwise. And despite my resolve that Napa excels in views, customer service, quality of wine and practically anything else in comparison, Sonoma does have a few hidden gems that can easily rival the best of Napa.
B. Wise is one of them.
Growing up in the rural farmland of Washington, Brion Wise was no stranger to hard living and harder work. Receiving his degree in chemical engineering from Washington State University – Go Cougars – he began his trade in the oil business – traveled the world, started his own company, and got rich.
Never abandoning his love of the terroir and the relentless need of challenge, he set his sites on an undeveloped swath of land in the Moon Mountain District of eastern Sonoma in the early 1990s.
“The property had been a cattle ranch; it had no infrastructure,” Wise recalls. “There was a dirt road with no easements. I drilled a well and ran everything on generators. That’s the fun for me. It’s an engineering puzzle with a foundation in aesthetics.”
Rising 1600 feet above Highway 12 north of the city of Sonoma, Wise saw a potential of raising his own crops, growing his own vineyards, making premium wine, and living peacefully with his wife Ronda.
Nearly a decade later, in 2002, Wise began his inaugural vintage.
The sun is bright yet pleasant the last day of July as we drive up the winding road of London Way, named after the famed Bay Area native and arguably one of the most renowned writers of 20th Century America. Known the world over for his novels Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea Wolf – a personal favorite – Jack London spent the last ten years of his life across the small valley only a few short miles from B. Wise Estates. In a famous picture of London in his late thirties riding a horse, if you look for it closely, you can make out the edges of what is now Wise’s Moon Mountain property.
There are several experiences and location owned by Wise’s to choose from. He has an elegant tasting room on Highway 12 next to VJB Cellars. Amapola Creek Vineyards, a rustic yet charming red barn was established in 2013 right down the street from his home on London Way. Most recently, Wise purchased the Consentino Property in Yountville, directly across from famed Napa landmark restaurant, Mustard’s. In correlation with Mark Herold, the genius Spanish-raised winemaker behind the label of the same name along with dozens of consulting projects in both Napa and Sonoma, it is getting great feedback from locals and tourists alike in it’s early adolescence for its variety of Pinot Noirs and Cabernets.
But for me and all my Sommelier pretentiousness, I want the best, and the best is his estate at the end of the road on London Way.
Ty and I pass through a couple gates, take the hard right turn over a quaint stone bridge and pass a duck pond and meadow leading up to the estate beneath the shade of olive trees. Besides wine, Wise and his wife brine their own olive oil and cure their own prosciutto. This is a dinner party I’m waiting to get my invitation to.
A rambled dust colored Chevy Tahoe squats at the end of the driveway. I wouldn’t be surprised if this car has 200,000 miles on it and am astounded to later learn it is the daily driver of Wise. Shouldn’t he be driving a Ferrari or something? In the garage is a Comet convertible.
Down the stone steps, past a massive fig tree is one of the winery’s ambassadors to greet us. It is my old friend Magaret. She and I have known each other over the years where we both frog leaped from winery to winery before I founded Napa Designated. Seldom do ambassadors in the business stay with the same estate, and it’s a testament to the character and business savvy where they do stay for extended periods of time. No surprise that Wise has employees that have been with him since the beginning.
Margaret, or Maggie as I call her, welcomes us with open arms and chilled glasses of Extra Brut Champagne Ronda, a rare Blanc de Blancs made in the finest sparkling wine region in the world and sold here on the property. As the vanilla and brioche flavors coat my mouth and the millions of tiny bubbles work their magic across my senses, the palms trees sway in the wind and the vineyards sweep down the rocky soil to the breath of Sonoma and beyond to the inky waters of San Francisco Bay.
Christ, does it get any better?
She takes Tyler and I on a small tour of the vineyards where Wise grows famed varietals the likes of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Franc, Petite Sirah and Tannat, a lesser-known grape from the south of France which produces broad-shouldered versions of rosé.
The view is gorgeous, but that’s not why we’re here. To the untrained eye, it is two bros taking in a wine tasting before the perilous vacuum of The Harvest consumes all our free time. In reality, this is research and development where through many rounds of vino, we determine if this place is suited for future potential guests of each of our respected touring companies. I am by no means saying it’s not a ridiculously awesome perk of the job.
Maggie takes us through two large oak doors, the entrance of Wise’s vast cave structure. For the next two hours we dine on homemade prosciutto and a variety of cheeses made throughout Sonoma. We sip on several Pinot Noirs from Willamette Valley, Oregon and I make a note to check out what other Pinots their winemaker, Drew Voit, is making these days. Next come the heavy hitters, Estate grown Syrah followed by Petite Sirah followed by Zinfandel so lush, dark and velvety I look around the room for the bleak chance there’s brisket being slow cooked.
No such luck.
The cave at B. Wise is not exactly what one would expect when visiting a winery. Sure, there are rows of aisles that cross each other into the Earth stacked to the curved ceiling with countless barrels filled to the brim of expecting vintages, but there’s also an apartment and art gallery. Yea, you read that right. To the end of the cave, Maggie opens a set of doors to a massive room with dozens of paintings, sculptures, antique furniture and not one, but two bedrooms complete with all the amenities of home.
Caves of B. Wise Estates
“Not a bad place to wait out the apocalypse,” Tyler says as he slides over to a western themed cowboy bar and eyes the thousands of bottles behind an iron cage. This is where Mr. Wise keeps some of his personal stock.
“Don’t even think about it,” Maggie says sternly and I can’t help but laugh.
Besides the wine, the art, the layout of the property, I’m trying to find fault, but I just can’t do it. Thirteen years I’ve called Napa my home. The number of wineries I have visited in that time both as a tour director and a personal enthusiast stretches into the hundreds. But this place really does top the list.
Maggie has a surprise for us, and at this point Tyler and I are ready to bend the knee in submission and yearn for enslavement if it means we won’t ever have to leave this room.
Of all the varietals and labels under the Wise umbrella, the crème de la crème is being poured in front of us.
BRION.
This is it. The shop stopper. The end all, be all flight of Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons. Individually selected from the exceptional renowned vineyards Sleeping Lady, Oakville Ranch, Caldwell along with a particular exquisite patch from his estate in Moon Mountain, this is the type of wine reminding us why we got into this game in the first place. Perfected by winemakers Mark Herold, Julian Fayard and Wise’s own California collaborator, Massimo Monticelli, this is Cab at its finest. Maggie informs us that Wise had recently purchased property in Pritchard Hill and intends to add it to the Brion lineup in the coming years. Pritchard Hill is what I believe to be one of the best places in the world to grow Cabernet Sauvignon. Take a read of my first article on David Arthur Vineyards and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
2022 Brion Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
Of course, Tyler and I overstay our welcome and it’s only after the realization and the paradox that two touring directors did not hire a driver, that we grumpily consent to finish our tastings and stick with water until we make it home.
We make our purchases and I’m all over the board. I feel like Rodney Dangerfield in Caddy Shack.
“Gimme three of those, six of those, a box of those. Oh, that looks good I’ll take some of that. Gimme that too. You sell this Olive Oil Mags? Really? Great, add that to the list.”
“You’re gonna go broke,” Tyler says but I’m not listening nor am I caring. Life is too short to drink bad wine.
We make our way out of the cave into the blinding sun and penguin walk with our orders back to my car. I give Maggie a big hug and thank her for the experience.
In my profession, you categorize the quality of a winery by three things – wine, atmosphere and service.
I’m not going to go into all the reasons why I love this place so much. I’ll just say this, if you come to Sonoma, and you don’t go here, you’re doing it wrong.
Today was a good day, and yes, the world is waiting for me. And yes, the next three months will be hard, and at times very aggravating and yes, I will lose my temper and I will question why in the hell did I start my own touring company. But then I’ll spy a little bottle of B. Wise Syrah in my wine rack, and it’ll be just the thing to take the edge off.
Just the thing to get me to tomorrow.
Many thanks Maggie for a wonderful experience!