Impensata (pronounced em-pen-sah-tuh). Mike Laipple is the Managing Director of Impensata and Louis Ciminelli (pronounced as simonelli) owns the Cimenelli Vineyard on Howell Mountain. The innaugural vintage of Impensata was produced in 2017. Honoring Louis’s Italian heritage, he choose the name Impensata which in Italian means something not yet thought of or an unexpected surprise. Ciminelli operated LPCiminelli Construction, which at one point was the largest general contractor in western New York. He has long been interested in Italian wines, inspired in particular by premium wines from southern Tuscany including Sassicaia, Masseto, Redigaffi and Messorio. His early introduction to Napa Valley was in 1988 when he took a class at Stanford University and met a winemaker who was working at Far Niente at the time. This winemaker introduced him to a number of wineries in Napa Valley.
He was especially impressed with the wines from Dunn Vineyards and made a mental note that if he ever acquired property in Napa Valley he would purchase a site on Howell Mountain. He did so in 2014, a forty acre property at approximately 2,000 feet, bordering several other wine producers including Robert Foley and Angwin Estate.
The property was not yet growing vines at the time; he hired David Abreu to develop and plant the property. This was a six year process including securing all the necessary permits. The first rootstock was planted in 2020 with the first vines grafted in 2021 for what is now a total of 16 separate blocks. During one of our visits to a neighboring property, we recall seeing this vineyard in its early development. Today the property is planted to 15 acres of vines including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. In addition, small blocks are planted to Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Musqué and Sémillon. The remainder of the property is forested.
In 2015 Ciminelli purchased a 16-acre property on Franz Valley School Road from the previous owners, Dick and Edie Engelhard. The initial introduction between Ciminelli and the Engelhard’s was made by one of Napa Valley’s most well-connected individuals, Julie Elkeshen who now works for Impensata. The owner prior to the Engelhard’s had already planted a small vineyard and were selling the grapes to a neighbor who was making home wine. The Engelhard’s also produced home wine from the property. According to a Napa Valley Register article dating from February 12, 2004, home wine was bottled as Dos Amigos Cellars and was a partnership between the Engelhard’s and Frank Leake. Their 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon earned a gold medal at both the Napa County Fair and at the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles.
The Engelhard’s purchased the property with the intent to retire; but the allure of the Napa wine industry took root in their lives. They oversaw the replanting of the vineyard in 2006 with the rootstock grafted over the next year. Dick took both viticulture and oenology classes at Napa Valley College and Edie served as secretary-treasurer of the Napa Valley Home Winemakers Association for several years.
Today, Engelhard Vineyard is also managed by David Abreu and is planted to four acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot organized into 10 distinctive vineyard blocks. The Engelhard’s sold the grapes to winemakers Bob Levy and Thomas Rivers Brown. The Napa Valley brand, Hobel used to produce a vineyard designated bottling from this site.
From 2019 through the 2023 vintage, Impensata produced a wine from Abreu’s Las Posadas Vineyard on Howell Mountain. This exceptional vineyard produces exceptional wines, but even more importantly it was an opportunity to work with Howell Mountain grapes prior to the Ciminelli Vineyard coming into production. It was Abreu’s suggestion they produce grapes from his vineyard, a site less than 10 minutes driving from the Ciminelli Vineyard with similar soils, elevation and climate. Impensata continues to produce Merlot from the Ecotone Vineyard with its 22-acres of vines (formerly Thorevilos Vineyard) located just below the official starting elevation of the Howell Mountain sub appellation.
And rounding out the all star team of accomplished industry veterans is winemaker Nigel Kinsman (Accendo Cellars, Bella Oaks, Kinsman Eades) who has crafted each of the Impensata wines along with master blender, Michele Rolland.
While this is a new producer to the scene of premium Napa Valley hillside wines, the brand is built for the long term. In fact, Ciminelli embraces the Italian philosophy, Festina Lente, which translates to, “make haste slowly”. And in the wine business, that is an important ethos to recognize from even before day one. Nothing moves fast in this business, but it requires significant efforts and time spent, primarily behind the scenes, to propel progress.
Select Wines
The 2022 Impensata Ciminelli Vineyard Howell Mountain Sauvignon Blanc is 75% Sauvignon Blanc of which 10% is Sauvignon Musqué and 25% Sémillon. This was the inaugural vintage from the Ciminelli Vineyard. The wine was aged in 30% new French oak and the remainder in stainless steel vessels. This wine is medium gold in the color; the bouquet is immediately elegant offering floral aromas of star jasmine, orange blossom, honeysuckle along with white peaches, nectarines, pineapple and guava. As the wine evolves it opens to a note of vanilla. This is the definition of a balanced Sauvignon Blanc; the palate is minerally with flavors of mandarin orange, white peach, pineapple guava, and pineapple. It features a lightly fleshy texture with a rounded character. Finishes bright. In an appellation known for producing exceptional red wines, this is a relatively rare white wine. if this wine is any indication, this site is going to be producing age worthy white wines for years to come.
The 2019 Impensata Engelhard Vineyard Proprietary Red Wine is 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc, 12% Petit Verdot and 8% Malbec. All the varieties were co-fermented; this wine was aged for 22 months in 78% new French oak including Taransaud, Sylvain, Orion and Darnajou. It is deep ruby and opaque in color; the bouquet firmly stays on the side of being ripe but never crosses into the over ripe territory. Features a freshness of fruit as if they were just harvested; this includes cherry, raspberry and plum accompanied by a note of red licorice, old leather, cedar box, sweet pipe tobacco, mocha and espresso. There is also a floral layer at play here including of violets. Lovely. Both red and darker fruited on the palate, it sports flavors of blackberry, bramble, dark raspberry, plum and a note of red licorice. The integrated and gravelly textured tannins accompany darker spices including tobacco, smoked cedar, dried sage and a light dusty character. Its texture is felt more on the front of the palate than the rear. The finish is energetic and expressive. This beauty has loads of life ahead of it still with the proper cellaring.
The 2019 Impensata, Ecotone Vineyard Merlot Napa Valley is 91% Merlot, 7.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 0.5% Cabernet Franc, 0.5% Petit Verdot and 0.5% Malbec. This wine spent 17 months in 78% new French oak including Taransaud, Sylvain, Orion and Darnajou. The bouquet is focused on its fruit rather than its barrel influences. It offers aromas of spiced plum, dark raspberry, boysenberry and blackberry preserve with notes of dried tobacco, smoked sage, espresso and cedar box. The palate mirrors the bouquet to some extent with flavors of blackberry, dark cherry and plum with accompanying nuances of blood orange, dark chocolate, Graham cracker and dried sage; this wine is balanced and drinking beautifully at this age. Lingers with a textural plushness which fully envelops the palate, a note of dried herbs including bay leaf and a subtle drying character. Like the other Impensata 2019 bottlings, we initially tasted this wine without knowing which bottle it was from. We wrote Merlot primarily based on both its aromatics and its textural softness. This is the inaugural vintage of this particular wine.
The 2017 Impensata, Ecotone Vineyard Merlot Napa Valley 76% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; the bouquet offers dark fruited aromas of blackberry preserve, boysenberry jam, cherry, ripe Pakistani mulberry, with dessert influenced layers of mocha, vanilla, cocoa powder and dark chocolate. The palate somewhat mirrors the bouquet with ripe boysenberry, blackberry and dark plum. This wine delivers densely packed, grainy and gravelly tannins which ultimately far outpaces the fruit on the finish. Compared to the 2019 vintage, texturally this wine seems more youthful, perhaps a factor of the much higher percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. Lingers with notes of dried tobacco leaf. This is a Merlot for Cabernet Sauvignon enthusiasts; for reference, we tasted this wine 7 years post vintage (incidentally the same year it was released).
The 2019 Impensata, Proprietary Red, (Las Posadas Vineyard) Howell Mountain is 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot and 1% Malbec. This wine was aged for 22 months in 78% new French oak including Taransaud, Sylvain, Orion and Darnajou. This wine is deep ruby and opaque with an amaranthine rim; darkly fruited on the bouquet, it offers scents of black plum, raspberry jam, blackberry and boysenberry, black licorice, menthol and old cedar box. As it continues to breath it reveals scents of mocha and espresso. The palate features both a richness of flavor and a textural density. Its flavors include dark plum, blackberry, boysenberry and dark chocolate. We tasted this wine blind and noted its complexity and texture immediately, having felt it was mountain raised. Bingo. The finish lingers with chewy and chalky tannins, a note of dried tobacco leaf and dried herbs. This is a memorable wine in terms of depth, intensity and character but most importantly, the emotion it elicits. Even better on day two.
Due to the resulting smoke from the Glass Fire, no Impensata wines were produced in 2020.
Hospitality
Impensata tastes their wines at Wheeler Farms by appointment, located on Zinfandel Lane just south of St. Helena. Visits to Wheeler Farms are for serious wine enthusiasts and collectors. With a number of premium brands using this winery for both production and hospitality purposes, they offer a Portfolio Tasting featuring some of the wines from those producing on site. With a diversity of both producers and types of wines available, these tastings can be customized based on preference. Tastings often provide access to personalized visits with the winemakers or the owners behind the brands.
The wines are sold direct to consumer via an allocation list in three-pack shipments. Total production will grow as the Ciminelli Vineyard matures, but to date has been around 1,000 cases per year. Impensata pours their wines at select charity events including Inspire Napa Valley, an annual fundraiser for Alzheimer’s research. For more information and to join their mailing list, visit: www.impensata.com
Vineyards
Ciminelli
Ecotone
Engelhard
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