Hidden treasures are a delight to nd, and during a recent trip to California Wine Country, we did just that. In Napa off Soda Canyon Road and above Silverado Trail, on top of the mountainous terrain, there exists an extraordinary and unique development that will soon be a must to experience while visiting Napa Valley.
The founder of “The Caves at Soda Canyon,” Ryan Waugh, had a dream of purchasing land and turning it into a place of enjoyment for visitors as well as a place where wines could be produced from harvest to bottling and storage in conjunction with a tasting facility. The project has come to fruition and is now close to the nal stages. Waugh’s collaboration with other vintners is the development of a unique, state-of-the-art, 20,000-squarefoot facility of caves that have been excavated into the side of a mountaintop 900 feet above the valley oor. It will include an underground tasting room, large event space and landscaped areas where one can enjoy the breathtaking vistas alongside a glass of wine produced at the Caves of Soda Canyon. Waugh has added two other winemaker families in this quest: The Buoncristiani Brothers and the Patland Family.
Three families together, whose goals are to produce small productions of quality wine – in addition to creating a facility so uniquely different, will surely turn heads in the Valley. It’s been said there are two ingredients in the making of wine – grapes and the winemaker. While Waugh Cellars surely has the rst, the wine would be nothing without the second. Waugh is one of the youngest winemakers in Napa and Sonoma, and in 2001, he founded Waugh Cellars, which now produces 3,000 cases of their main award-winning wines annually: a Russian River chardonnay, a Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon and a zinfandel from the Dry Creek region of Sonoma.
Established in 1999, Buoncristiani Wines is a collaboration of four young brothers, Matt, Jay, Aaron and Nate Buoncristiani, who were born into a wineloving Italian family in Napa Valley. All have honed skills in some of Napa’s top wineries and sourced only the best fruit from Napa Valley’s nest vineyard blocks including Stagecoach and Hyde Vineyards.
The brothers take pride in performing all aspects of enology, viticulture, wine product and art design in order to share their true passion of winemaking. Their wine portfolio consists of a proprietary red blend of cabernet sauvignon married with syrah and further blended with Napa malbec and merlot for their Buoncristiani O.P.C. (Ol Pa’s Cuvee), receiving 91 points from Robert Parker Jr.’s Wine Adovcate. At the heart of the Buoncritstiani portfolio is another outstanding cabernet, receiving 94 points from Robert Parker representing choice barrels folded together slowly over the course of two years – simply divine. In addition, their syrah and malbec are a must; their dolce di nonno, a rare, dry Italian varietal; their rosato, a fun rosé; the Triad Blanc, a blend of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and viognier; and, rounding out the portfolio, a chardonnay and a sauvignon blanc are all limited and stellar.
Patland Estate Vineyards is the third family involved with the Caves at Soda Canyon Road. While raising their sons, Patland and his wife Olga had a dream of owning a winery. In 2007, their dream became a reality with the purchase of Terra Del Cuore, and they established Patland Estate Vineyards. In 2010, the rst PEV wines were released. Today, it is a family operation, which includes their two sons and the added talents of winemaker Jay Buoncristiani. The future looks bright.
Cheers!
Roxanne Bosserman has called Shreveport home since 1977 when she began a career with IBM. Although not a Louisiana native, her love for food, friends and wine has made the Bayou State her “perfect home.” Carol Gekakis is a Shreveport native and lives — for the most part — in Perdido Key, Fla. Both women have served as president of the Southern Trace Wine Club.
