Abiouness Wines. Originally from Virginia, founder and namesake Nicole Abiouness’s first introduction to wine was while studying at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She completed a course in wine, recalling its heavy focus on tannins and acidity. Then she took an internship in London at a sole proprietor run catering company and taught wine classes for the owner on the side.
After returning to Virginia she decided she wanted to further her education in food and wine. She began researching wineries, restaurants and culinary schools. A distributor, Jacob Kantor, of Broudy-Kantor encouraged her to visit Napa Valley; through his contacts, he made reservations at a number of wineries for her. Chef Marcel Desaulniers, a 1965 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America encouraged her to visit the newly opened culinary program at Greystone in St. Helena. She took his advice seriously, drove across country in 1995 from Virginia and rented a house with other culinary students. She was part of the Culinary Institute’s first graduating class that same year.
And while studying at the Culinary Institute she also took wine classes; only three classes were offered at the time including one taught by winemaker Heidi Barret. Through these classes she would visit local wineries and vineyards. One of her trips was to Swanson Vineyards where she met one of their winemakers at the time, Marco Capelli. He encouraged her to assist him in the cellar. This was her first winemaking job in Napa Valley. At the time Swanson was also producing Napa Valley wines bottled under the Australian owned Voss brand. Through this connection she met the winemaker at Yalumba who was visiting Napa Valley from Barossa Valley. Once harvest was completed at Swanson, he invited her to Australia to work in the cellar at Yalumba.
Following her stint in Australia she furthered her winemaking experience by working at wineries in several wine regions in France including Sauternes (Chateau La Tour Blanche) and Burgundy. Moving back to Napa Valley after her time in Burgundy at Domaine Comte Armand, she spent one harvest at Chappellet and then was hired by winemaker John Kongsgaard at Luna Vineyards in 1999. She was soon promoted to cellar master; and it was at Luna where the roots of Abiouness began.
In 1999 after receiving Sangiovese grapes from the Juliana Vineyard in Pope Valley, Kongsgaard suggested she make two barrels of wine from these grapes on her own. So she did and bottled the first Abiouness wine, 50 cases of Sangiovese. Sangiovese and Pinot Noir have become the staple wines of Abiouness each year. Her first Pinot Noir was sourced from Stanly Ranch in Carneros in 2000. She became the first vintner to vineyard designate a bottling of Pinot Noir from Stanly Ranch. And she has worked with this historic vineyard site ever since.
Running a new small brand for a few years is not easy; running a small brand for several decades is noteworthy in Napa Valley’s ever changing landscape. Never owning her own winery, she has produced the Abiouness wines in numerous spaces over the years including in a few wineries which were damaged or destroyed during the Tubbs and Glass fires.
Select Wines
Abiouness produces wines with character but also finesse. Her winemaking philosophy is, simply stated, start with great grapes. As Burgundian vintner Henri Jayer once stated, “In order to make great wine, one has to learn to be lazy.” She doesn’t overly manipulate in the cellar; her winemaking practices are minimal, sorting by hand, limited the use of pumping, rather doing hand punch-downs, fermenting using indigenous yeast and not fining or filtering until bottling.
Whites
We rarely come across Picpoul (also known as Folle Blanche) in Napa Valley. The only commercial planting we know of is in Rutherford (made by Chris Hall of Hunt & Harvest) along with a few vines in an experimental vineyard on Etude’s property in Carneros. And Jarvis Estate may have a few plantings in their own experimental vineyard. This variety is one of the three primary white varieties used in making Cognac in France, the other two being Ugni Blanc and Colombard.
The 2023 Abiouness Picpoul Lip Zinger (Lodi, Yolo County) is medium golden in color; its aromatics feature citrus blossom, honeysuckle, star jasmine and honey crisp apple. Smells bright and smells like spring florals. Its texture is creamy, rounded and supple. Fleshy. This is a balanced bottling. Offers flavors of green apple, pear, grapefruit, pomelo, light pineapple and lime. Fermented 100% in stainless steel vessels. Bright finish. It is a comfortable drinking white. No malolactic fermentation. It was aged in neutral oak barrels and stainless steel vessels before bottling. These grapes were harvested in September; they were the last grapes harvested by Abiouness this vintage. And this was the first time Nicole made wine from this variety. However, she has enjoyed drinking French Picpoul for many years. Her friend Maria who owns the brand, Tipsy Rose and Newport Wine Cellars in Newport, Rhode Island first connected Nicole with this vineyard and variety. Maria’s partner Steven Anderson, an architect in Manhattan, designed the cute and catchy label.
The 2023 Abiouness Grenache Blanc Alexander Valley is medium gold; the bouquet offers aromas of sweetly fruited stone fruits including white peach and white nectarine and a floral component of star jasmine and citrus blossom. This wine showcases beautiful, lively and layered aromatics. There is a perceived sweetness of fruit on the palate including pineapple, apricot, pear and mandarin orange. However, this wine is bone dry. The finish is bright and lingers with a zesty union of both fruit and acidity. This wine was fermented entirely in neutral oak barrels; it started going through early malolactic fermentation before it was stopped. This is a versatile food wine, which made us think of pairing it with several seafood dishes including Pla kapond neung manao (Thai steamed fish) with lime sauce. This was the first year that Nicole produced wine from this variety; Maria of Tipsy Rose also suggested this vineyard and variety to Nicole.
Reds
The 2022 Abiouness Rosé of Pinot Noir is light to medium copper; the minerally bouquet offers delicate aromas of raspberry, wild strawberries and lychee. Its texture is rounded and creamy but also complemented with a brightness and a lively character from the acidity. Flavors include strawberry, pomelo, lime, passion fruit and strawberry guava. The brightly lit finish shows a surprising persistence and length. We like that in our rosé wines. All previous rosé bottlings except for one year were produced by saignee (Nicole favors the body and weight of a saigne rosé) and then bled into neutral barrels for fermentation. Winemaker Ashley Hepworth suggested she produce this wine at least partially as a direct to press. This thoughtfully made rosé was a blend of both saignee and direct to press. This wine was naturally fermented and went through no malolactic fermentation.
The 2022 Abiouness Ten Rows Pinot Carneros, Napa Valley; this wine is pale ruby in color. The bouquet offers more fruit characteristics than spicy notes that this variety sometimes expresses. It offers scents of dried rose petals, raspberries, red cherries and currant. Bright and elegant, it reveals flavors of raspberry, blueberry, cherry, currant and cranberry. This is not a spicy palate, rather like the bouquet, its focus is on the fruit. We immediately noted its balanced profile with a freshness and lingering brightness. The finish persists with a light presence of tannins and a hint of dried sage. This is an easy and comfortable drinking Pinot Noir. Crack open a bottle of this after work, any day of the week. The bamboo drawing as the label is changed every year. The name Ten Rows, is in homage to the first grapes she sourced for Pinot Noir from Stanly Ranch. And this has been in by the glass programs in numerous Napa Valley restaurants.
The 2022 Abiouness Pommard Clone Pinot Noir, Carneros Napa Valley is pale ruby; its aromas include red cherries, red plums, and currants. There is a brightness both on the bouquet and palate; this wine ups the level in fruit intensity from the Ten Rows bottling. The palate is red fruited including of cherry, plums and cranberry. The finish offers some notes of white pepper and sage. Bright but not bracing acidity. The palate flirts with a light tart character on the finish but doesn’t fully cross into that territory. The lightly gravelly textured tannins are felt more on the front of the palate than the back. This wine was poured by glass at Gary Danko Restaurant in San Francisco for several years.
The 2022 Abiouness Sangiovese California was sourced in Hollister for this vintage only; this wine is medium ruby in color. It is fruity but not an opulent or spicy Sangiovese. Offers aromas of bramble, raspberry and a light herbal note including of dried herbs. This is a “wake up Sangiovese” meaning its bright, fresh and vivid across the palate and lingers with a mouth watering sensation. Flavors are of higher toned red fruits including currant, cranberry and plums. The finish is bright and also red-fruited. The tannins are gravelly and parallel the fruit in tandem on the finish. All natural acidity. We would love to pair this with ravioli we used to help make years ago at our grandparents house in San Jose. This wine was aged in 50% new French oak. The vineyard source reverts back to Mendocino County in 2023. Nicole’s first introduction to Sangiovese was at Swanson Vineyards and then she later produced it at Luna Vineyards, a winery known for their Italian varieties.
The 2022 Abiouness Grenache Bennett Valley (Sonoma County) is medium ruby; the bouquet sports aromas of currant, red cherry and cranberry. The palate is chewy and crunchy with flavors of red cherry, currant and cranberry. Fresh and lively. It features a mouth watering and energetic finish. The acidity is vivacious and complements gravelly tannins which ultimately outpace the fruit on the finish. Balanced. It lingers with a light dusty/drying character including dried herbs and dried sage. It is energetic, like a youthful teenager who is still growing into his or her body. Pair with cheese and charcuterie or a lightly marbled steak. The label on this bottle is modeled after a metal sculpture Nicole owns.
In regards to Grenache, Nicole prefers a wine that is a balance of light and bright but also contains some “umph” (her words). Depending on the vintage, she will sometimes blend in a small amount of Syrah. The 2022 bottling is 100% varietal. Winemaker Jacob Coursen (Jacob Franklin Wines) connected her with this site in Bennett Valley.
Due to smoke from the regional fires including the Glass Fire in Napa Valley, no red were produced in 2020.
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The labels differ depending on the bottling; the primary label is an image of a lotus flower. This flower ties in well with the natural cycle of grapes throughout the year. We see it all across Southeast Asia, a part of the world where we continue to spend significant time in. The lotus opens in the morning from its floating pad on the top of water revealing a variety of colors on the pink and purple spectrum. Its flower closes every evening.
Sometimes older wines will go into club shipments. Abiouness produces 375ml bottlings and or magnums of the Sangiovese and the Stanly Ranch Pinot Noir during certain years. The largest vintage produced was in 2008; today production hovers around 800 cases annually. The wines are available in select restaurant and wine shops in Napa Valley and are also distributed in Virginia and Rhode Island. For more information or to purchase wine visit: www.abiounesswines.com
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