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Storybook Mountain Vineyards Chris Deegan • Aug 4, 2009 • Post A Comment

I love the northern end of the Napa Valley. I imagine it is more what the entire valley was like 20 years ago. It feels homegrown. Perhaps it is the geography – the way the valley narrows as the mountains close in on both sides, creating a more intimate feeling than the vast, flat fields of grapes farther south. Whatever the reason, I am happy to be heading up there with a van full of Nopa and Nopalito staff members to visit one of my favorite Zinfandel producers, Dr. Jerry Seps at Storybook Mountain Vineyards.

My last visit was nearly 6 years ago. At the time I was a server at Rose Pistola. The then wine director, James Atwood, was at the helm, maneuvering us through the mountains and up to the gate of the winery. I have been back through this part of the valley a number of times since then, but I am still surprised at how twisted and narrow highway 128 becomes north of Calistoga. In my memory, Storybook is on a small, winding, mountain road, not a state highway. They are one and the same here. The other thing that strikes me is the CCOF certification hanging on the gate. I did not realize they had become certified. I know they have been pesticide and herbicide free since inception, but the plaque is news to me. (It became official last year.)

We gather at the winery and are soon met by Rick Williams and Dr. Seps. Rick is in charge of sales and marketing and is a gentle man who makes us feel welcome and right on time despite our tardiness. Dr. Jerry Seps is just who you want the man making your wine to be. He wears shears in a leather holster on his belt, a cowboy hat and work clothes. He joins us straight from the vineyard. He is a retired European History Professor whose love for wine goes back to his college days when he was a sommelier at a restaurant near Yosemite National Park.

The first thing we do is walk up the hill a little ways and look at the vineyards. Flat land at Storybook is in short supply. Everything is hillside. We can see Dr. Seps’ house on top of the hill, above the vineyard to our left. The vineyard to our right drops away and the mountains walling in the other side of the valley, including Mt. St. Helena, are the backdrop. It is a beautiful sight. He tells us about the history of the estate. Two brothers by the name of Grimm, fresh from Germany, originally planted it in the late 1800’s. Dr. Seps and his wife bought the property in 1976. (The fairytale beauty of the property coupled with the name Grimm inspired the name.) The red clay soils prompted them to plant to red varietals, specifically zinfandel.   Because they had to replant the entire property, they were able to be very specific about how, where and what to plant. As they have come to know the property more intimately, by working and living with the vines, and learn more about viticulture, they have continued to hone their decisions. This means new root stock in some places, different clones in others, Cabernet instead of Zinfandel in some areas and even some Viognier to play with, Cote Rotie style. The drive to make the best wine possible keeps them evolving. This is exciting to me.

Next we walk back down to the winery and enter the caves. On the way we talk about winemaking. Dr. Seps ferments everything (except the straight Viognier and the Zin Gris) in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. He notes that even the bottoms of the tanks are jacketed. Controlling the temperature of fermentation is another tool to retain the freshness his mountain fruit is famous for. He does not use commercial yeast for any of the zinfandels, only the native yeast on the property. (Another reason not to use chemicals.) The caves were dug in the late 1800’s. The crumbling remnant of the outer wall of the original winery is still visible near the opening of the caves.   There is a new, reinforced concrete wall just inside the remains of the old one. This backstop was built in 1982 after the old wall gave way to the waterlogged mountainside.

Inside it is immediately dark and cool. Rows of barrels from various coopers are stacked two high along either wall. The ceiling is low and arched and the effect is that of pulling you deeper into the cave.   At the end of the first tunnel is a large oval barrel with a   pictograph of the history of the winery carved on the front. It shows the crest of the town in Germany where the original brothers were from with the year the winery was founded, 1887, the family crest of Dr. Seps and that of his wife’s with the year they bought the property, 1976, the fox reaching for the grapes that you see on the label, the three openings for the three caves on the property and a rose climbing up the left side. It is somewhat shrine like, sitting under low light at the end of the long rows of stacked barriques. I like it. Looking up at the ceiling above the oval one can see the pick marks from when the cave was originally dug by hand.

We talk about use of wood for the wines. The zinfandels see about 20 percent new oak and the rest used. It is a mix of French, American and Hungarian. He uses a number of coopers and tries to bring in a new one each year to continually search for better options. One of them has even designed a special barrel using two types of wood to try and meet the flavor specificity that Dr. Seps is looking for. The Cabernet Sauvignon sees 100% new French oak. They make a reserve Zinfandel and an Eastern Exposure Zinfandel as well as the Mayacamas bottling. Both of the former are made from barrels selected for superiority each year. To select these barrels he and his wife and daughter go through and taste each one and grade it. (“Once a professor, always a professor,” he says.) During the barrel selection process, they keep notes on nearly everything. The more they know about which barrels make the cut, the more likely they can reproduce that superior juice the next year. The only way a barrel makes it past the selection process is if they all agree on it’s superiority. As you can imagine, the production is small for both of these bottlings! The Eastern Exposure has a small amount of viognier blended into it to soften the tannins and lift the aromatics. It works on both accounts.

As we taste the wines in the cave, our conversation meanders. We talk about his life on the property, about his past life as a professor, about how he came to be where he is now, about the profile and style of his wine, about decisions he has made and those he will have to make again next year. It is an easygoing conversation that makes me feel good about drinking and buying his wine. It is clear to me that he is a man trying to master his craft. He is transparent about having to sell wine to make a living, but also strict about which rules cannot be broken. He is not dogmatic in his speech, but one can see he is regimented and disciplined in his work. As we leave he wanders back into the vineyard and turns his attention to the vines. I am grateful he takes the time for a group of city folk such as us, and I get the impression that talking to a group about a subject he is well versed in is second nature to an old history professor. But as he disappears into the vines, I feel he is walking back into his element, back among the true objects of his affection. And for this I am grateful as well.

Chris Deegan is Wine Director at nopa
Posted August 4, 2009 • Filed under Wine • Share: del.icio.us / StumbleUpon / Digg