Trefethen: Profile and wine ratings

Californian wine expert Elin McCoy charts the ascension of Napa's Trefethen Family Vineyards and shares her tasting notes from their wine collection, including Library Selection Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignons from 1979-2015...

In 2014, when a major earthquake shook the Napa Valley, the Trefethen Family Vineyards’ pumpkin coloured 19^th century wooden winery almost collapsed.

Leaning precariously, the massive building looked like a lost cause, but the Trefethens hired a crew to ratchet it upright and spent 33 months restoring it.

That kind of determination is one reason the family’s wine estate in Napa’s Oak Knoll District has prospered since its founding 50 years ago.

Only 25 wineries existed in Napa when Eugene Trefethen and his wife bought a dilapidated 440-acre ghost winery in 1968 and began planting vines on the gravelly soils of their main ranch. Their son John and his wife Janet released the first commercial wine, a Chardonnay, in 1973.

‘We used Bourbon barrels because we’d read that we should age chardonnay in oak,’ said Janet, as we sampled several older vintages of their famous white.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa’s prime grape, has always been part of the Trefethen vineyard varietal mix, which now includes Malbec, Pinot Noir, and Riesling.Their first Cabernet Sauvignon vintage was 1974, but it was their Chardonnay that first gained a reputation.

At Gault-Millau’s 1979 World Wine Olympics in Paris, the 1976 was proclaimed the ‘best Chardonnay in the world.’

I first tasted it at a California barrel tasting held at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York, where we applauded its streamlined elegance. Key to the Trefethens’ philosophy from the beginning has been their commitment to using only grapes from their own vineyards.

Lying toward the southern end of the Napa Valley, the Oak Knoll District is one of Napa’s coolest AVAs. Wind and morning fog blowing up from San Pablo Bay help create the longest growing season in the valley.

Since 2004, viticulturist Jon Ruel, now CEO, has overseen a push to ‘green’ initiatives like solar power and biodiesel tractors, more precision farming and very limited irrigation.

As Cabernet Sauvignons in Napa verged toward increasingly powerful styles, Trefethen’s Cabernets consistently remained balanced, even as they evolved from a Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blend aged in American oak to cuvées with Malbec and Petit Verdot, sometimes Cabernet Franc, aged in oak from France and Hungary.

‘The Oak Knoll climate keeps us from making over ripe wines,’ said Ruel. Early vintages could be quite herbaceous, but for the past 30-odd years the wines have combined brightness, minty aromas, rich, intense fruit and firm structure.

Recently they’ve shown more weight and density. They’re satisfying rather than stunning, often underestimated when young, and they age surprisingly well.

The revamped barn now holds ageing barrels and a public tasting space, but Janet Trefethen and her daughter Hailey walked me to the restored tile-roofed craftsman-style villa on the property where we sampled seven of the winery’s Cabernets from 1979 to 2015 in an antique-panelled room.

The standouts? 1986, 1999 Library selection, 2011, and 2015.

A selection of Elin’s top wines from this tasting

The vintages below are listed in the following order:

Cabernet Sauvignons – 2015, 2011, 2008, 2006, 1999, 1986, 1979

Chardonnays – 2011, 1991, 1985