Outpost: Finding a Napa pied-à-terre

Christian Seely was viewing another vineyard for sale in Napa in 2018 when he got the call about Outpost, based on the higher slopes of Howell Mountain.

AXA Millésimes had decided to add a Napa estate to its winery portfolio in 2016 and managing director Seely had been searching for the right property over the following years.

Scroll down for tasting notes of Outpost’s wines below

The hunt for a Cabernet terroir

‘We spent two years visiting Napa. We weren’t in any hurry,’ he recalled on a visit to London to introduce the wines to the UK press, along with Frank Dotzler (pictured below), the previous owner, who has stayed on to manage the estate.

‘We wanted a great but different expression of Cabernet, and Napa seemed the logical choice,’ continued Seely, who oversees all the wine estates in the company’s portfolio, including Château Pichon Baron and Château Pibran, both in the Bordeaux appellation of Pauillac.

[The other AXA Millésimes estates are Château Suduiraut in Sauternes; Domaine l’Arlot in Nuits-St-Georges; Quinta do Noval in the Douro Valley; Disznókö in Tokaj; and the latest acquisition, Platts Vineyard in Sonoma, bought by AXA in 2022.]

‘We were open-minded about location and size. The only imperative was that the vineyard had great terroir, producing Cabernet Sauvignon with a real sense of place.

‘Wherever we are, it’s part of our DNA to make wines with a strong character imposed by the terroir and the potential to be among the greatest in their category.’

Sense of place

A tasting of recent and back releases showed that box ticked. Planted at 700m, well above the fog line, the vines are planted on iron-laden clay and volcanic soils, and the microclimate is very different to that on the valley floor – typically 5-6˚C cooler during the day and warmer by the same at night.

The standout was the True Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, aged 19 months in 90% new French oak, which displayed in the 2021 vintage florality, juicy black and blue fruit, structure, cool minerality and persistence.

‘By the time we visited Outpost, we had seen a significant number of vineyards,’ said Seely, ‘and this was the first one that ticked all the boxes.

‘I liked the fact it was a mountain vineyard. And there was a eureka moment when I tasted the wines with Frank.’

Seely adds: ‘There is a strong individuality from one parcel to the next, and marked vintage variation – this is a place where nature gives you something different every year.

‘Of course, the wines are richer and riper in style than our Bordeaux wines. But within the context of California, the Outpost wines have a fine and pure quality, and a remarkable freshness. They’re powerful, for sure, but also delicate.’

Flagship vineyard

Dotzler, who bought Outpost in 2003, sold the estate reluctantly, due to personal circumstances.

He knows the land intimately and explains that it’s a very interesting spot geologically.

‘You won’t get the same complexity and minerality from a wine made from fruit grown next to a river on the valley floor,’ he says. ‘It’s incredibly rocky up here, especially the True vineyard, which required dynamiting before we could plant there.’

Planted in 1992, the True vineyard is 3.5 hectares, given over mainly to Cabernet Sauvignon, with some Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

Three blocks of heritage clones are planted there: one is budwood from Screaming Eagle, referred to as ‘P’, because when they gave Dotzler the vine material, the owners of that estate asked him not to call it the Screaming Eagle clone.

The other two clones are Paradigm (from Oakville) and Gemstone (from Yountville).

The other original parcel is the Outpost vineyard, an 8ha site planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, with some Zinfandel and a little Grenache.

These were joined in spring 2021 by another site situated between the two original parcels, and possessing characteristics of both.

Referred to informally by the new owners and staff as the Henry vineyard, it has no official name yet.

Like the True vineyard, it is planted predominantly with Cabernet Sauvignon, alongside some Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The vineyards are farmed organically, though are not organically certified.

Building a profile

The wine range comprises a Grenache, a Zinfandel, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and two wines from the True Vineyard, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and Immigrant, a Bordeaux blend.

Winemaking is made to a philosophy of minimal intervention, with no fining or filtration, or unnecessary manipulation.

The winemaker is Tommy Ufland, with Thomas Rivers Brown consulting.

‘We haven’t changed the winemaking,’ says Seely. ‘If we felt something wasn’t firing on all cylinders, we would make changes (like we did at Noval, for instance). But there was a superb team in place, making brilliant wines.’

So why are the wines not better known? ‘Historically the wines were sold DTC [direct to consumer],’ explained Seely.

‘It’s a profitable way of selling, but the drawback is that there is very low awareness beyond your customer base – around 20,000 on the mailing list, based mainly in the US.’

The aim is to build strategic global distribution for the production, which is around 3,500 cases in a good year – and thus to build a higher profile among the fine wine community.

Outpost is currently seeking a UK distributor.

Outpost wines

Wines tasted by Decanter’s Napa correspondent, Jonathan Cristaldi

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