Oakville AVA | Organic Overview

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Location

• Sources from its 20 acre vineyard on a hillside bench of mineral rich, volcanic soils in eastern side of Oakville; the elevation is 400- 450 feet above the valley floor

• The wines are made on site

• The winery does not host visitors (and does not have a permit to do so)

Best known for

• Iconic Oakville winery that has made highly rated Cabernet based wines since 1983; its 1992 vintage won it its first 100 point score

• Makes four, highly rated estate wines from certified vines ($115-$1,200, 94-97 points) including Cabernet Sauvignon and a Cabernet Sauvignon-Cabernet Franc blend

• Gustav Dalla Valle, a native of northern Italy and Japanese born Naoko Dalla Valle founded their winery in 1982 when Gustav decided to retire to Napa; their initial plan was to build a hotel on their hillside site, but discovered that was impractical so they started a winery

• Gustav was a renowned scuba diver in the Mediterranean and started a diving equipment company called Scubapro; the Phoenician amphora he discovered on a dive became the winery's logo 

• When the couple planted their vines they focused on just two varieties which they grafted onto the original Zinfandel vines: Cabernet Sauvignon and  Cabernet Franc; the latter was an unusual choice for Napa wineries then or now

• The winery's first 100 points score arrived in 1994, just before Gustav died in 1995

• In 1997, the winery discovered a fatal problem with the vine grafts, and had to replant all 20 acres of the estate

• Naoko continued to run the winery from 1995 on, and in 2021, hired their  

daughter, Maya Dalla Valle, who was born and raised on the estate, as the winemaker

• In order to train for the winemaking role, Maya earned a master's in viticulture and enology at Cornell University and attended Bordeaux Science Agro; along the way she also did internships at Ornellaia in Tuscany, Petrus in Pomerol in Bordeaux and Chateau Latour in the Medoc where she was introduced to biodynamics   

• The winery also integrates the work of Steve Matthiason as a vineyard consultant and winemaking consultants Andy Erickson from Napa and Michel Rolland from France

• Napa notable Joe Cafaro made Dalla Valle's first wine; subsequents winemakers include Heidi Barrett, Tony Soter and Mia Kline (Soter's former assistant) and Philippe Melka

ˆ In 2021, the winery announced a new Tuscan-Napa collaboration with Ornellaia utilizing the talents of Maya's mentor and friend Axel Heinz; the new jointly made Napa wine is named DVO

• Maya began converting the vineyard to biodynamic practices in 2019 with the help of renowned biodynamic vineyard consultant Jeff Dawson; he formerly started the biodynamic program at the prestigious Eisele Vineyard (which was acquired by Chateau Latour's owners LVMH)

• She also began using native yeast fermentations and would like to integrate chickens, sheep and llamas into the property to fertilize the vines

• In the cellar, the winery has recently begun using amphora, a fitting tribute to Gustav's memory

Organic vineyard case production

3,000 (out of 3,000)

Certified

Estate vineyards, organic, 2021, CCOF

The winery is not open to the public.

Dalla Valle 

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Location

• Sources its wines from its 48 acres of vines in Oakville (on the Napa Valley floor) and an additional 16 acres of vines on Mount Veeder in the Mayacamas Mountains (at 1,600 feet of elevation)

• The winery is located on the Oakville estate

• The tasting room is in a beautiful Howard Backen designed garden pavillon overlooking a picture perfect garden pond on the Oakville site

Best known for

Organic vineyard case production

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Certified

Vineyard, organic, 2021, CCOF

MacDonald Vineyards

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Oakville, CA 94562

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Website     |     Email    |     Instagram FB?

Location

• Sources its wine solely from itsxx acre, organic estate in Oakville (on the Silverado Trail) on the east side of Napa Valley

• The wines are made off site; they're for sale online to the mailing list (no tasting room)

Best known for

Organic vineyard case production

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Certified

Vineyard, organic, 2021, CCOF

experiences

Opus One
7780 Silverado Trail
Napa, CA 94558

telephone etc

Website etc