Ancien Wines

Ancien Wines is a boutique producer (under or around 5,000 cases a year) previously based at the historic Haynes Vineyard in Coombsville, east of the city of Napa. They have been producing high quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay since their first vintage in 1992. Their inaugural vintage was merely a 100+ case production of a Pinot Noir from four rows in Carneros.

They currently produce a wide variety of Pinot Noirs; several are sourced from the cooler growing regions in the southern part of Napa Valley, the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County, several from Sonoma County and one from Oregon, perhaps a nod to Ancien wine maker Ken Bernard’s Oregon heritage. He was born in the Willamette Valley and has a degree in Chemistry from Oregon State University. All of the Ancien vineyard sources are premium cooler weather locations for Pinot Noir.

Ken also divides his time consulting for local wineries as well as in Chile which explains why their harvest interns tend to be Chilean or from Argentina. We know several Napa winemakers who work two harvests per year, one in the northern hemisphere and one in the south. Including Ken and his wife Teresa, only several employees work here full time.

The name Ancien means “Ancient One” and is a tribute to those in the Mediterranean who thousands of years ago started making wine – as well as an homage to the earth and it’s always changing seasons.

NOTE: In 2019, the Haynes Vineyard sold to Memphis based Gaylon Lawrence Jr., a principal investor in one of the country’s largest agricultural businesses, The Lawrence Group (based in Arkansas). As a result, Ancien Wines no longer makes their wines here, from here or hosts visitors on site. The last Ancien Pinot Noir from Hayne’s Vineyard was in 2019. Hayne’s Vineyard under the Lawrence ownership produced their first wines from this vineyard in 2020 and is now the exclusive producer of wines from this property. See our notes on Haynes Wines for more details.

Both Ken and Teresa have significant of experience with Burgundian varieties including Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; they both used to work at Domain Chandon; Ken in a fun position as an experimental winemaker and Teresa as a Lab Director.

In what is one of Napa Valley’s most unique wine making stories, in 1999 Ken arranged to bring back grapes from Morey-St-Denis, in Burgundy, France to Napa Valley. He picked the Pinot Noir grapes super early in the morning, kept them very cold and trucked them down to Lyon in a refrigerated cargo container and put them on a plane back to California. He had to be granted an agricultural one-time exemption to do this – a process that took almost 4 months to secure all the necessary paperwork and permits. All the wine making for these grapes was then done in Napa. Production was only 45 case; Ken only made this wine one time. Cleverly he called it Par Avion. This is certainly, a prized collector’s item if you can ever find one of these coveted bottles.

While each of their individual wines are bottled with a unique label, one knows immediately when seeing an Ancien label. Updated labels were introduced in 2013. Ken was introduced to artist Jim Hubert’s work while viewing an art show at the now permanently closed Alexis Baking Company (ABC) in the city of Napa. Jim died in 2015 but his paintings live on, vivid and colorful expressions used on the labels for all of the Ancien wines. And in our humble opinion, these are among some of the most attractive wine labels in Napa Valley.

Each of their wines are made in small lots with some only available to wine club members. Some of their wines have been served at the White House and have been on the wine list at the French Laundry in Yountville.

These are not California-styled Pinot Noirs which often showcase a texture which has been displaced by ripeness resulting in soft and gentle tannins. They are focused, texturally driven wines which display the inherent bright characteristics of the variety. Sometimes we wonder if Ken’s winemaking style would be more at home in Burgundy.

Select Wines
Chardonnay
The 2019 Ancien Carneros Chardonnay Wente Clone selection is from grapes growing at the Toyon Ranch on the Napa side of Carneros. These Wente clones are supposedly originally from the Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne Vineyard in Burgundy. The grapes were pressed whole cluster and fermented using both indigenous and commercial yeast strains in French oak barrels from four different coopers. 33% of the barrels were new. The lots were aged sur lie with weekly battonage stirring through spring. This wine is medium gold in color; from the first whiff one can tell this is not going to be an oaky and buttery companion. The bouquet offers aromas of melon including honeydew, honeysuckle, jasmine, citrus blossom, crème Brule, caramel and apricot. Clean, crisp, and minerally across the palate, it sports flavors of citrus including mandarin orange, some light herbal notes, yellow peach, pineapple and mango. The lightly rounded and creamy texture is balanced nicely by the brightness and lively character of the acidity, especially noticeably on the energetic finish. We hope that we would have an easy time picking this out of riper California Chardonnay bottlings in a blind tasting. This wine is showing nicely 4 years post-vintage and has years of life ahead of it.

The 2015 Ancien Coombsville Musque Chardonnay was sourced from only two rows in the Haynes Vineyard; the production of this wine was only 52 cases. These two rows were planted based on very specific criteria – taking cuttings from the original old vine Chardonnay with selections based on the vines that showed the most “musque” qualities in the fruit (often very floral aromatics). Pretty aromatics are immediately noticed including white pineapple, banana and hints of honey. This highly aromatic Chardonnay evolves dramatically as it continues to breath. Shows notes of citrus blossom and a minerality nuance. It offers plenty of depth along with a rich mouth feel which is somewhat creamy and rounded on the palate. Intensely flavored (including stone fruit) – it lingers for some time both with fruit and desert spices.

The 2014 Ancien Old Block Chardonnay is sourced from the old Chardonnay vines from the Haynes Vineyard. This is truly a rare wine based on the age of these vines. It was whole cluster fermented, spent 17 months in barrel with 1/2 new French oak and 1/2 used and sat on the lees (sparingly stirred) until right before bottling. Shows bright aromatics with notes of tangerine, citrus blossom and honeysuckle on the bouquet. A perceptible sweetness of fruit is immediately noticed on the palate along with a richness of flavor. Creamy and rounded on the palate, the wine shows flavors of peach, apricot, hints of lemon and apple. This is an intense, balanced and beautiful bottling.

Pinot Noir
The 2021 Ancien Russian River Pinot Noir – Jouissance is produced from Pommard and Dijon 667 clones of this variety. This wine is medium ruby in color; bright, lively, and energetic red-fruited aromas include an immediate note of cranberry, currant and pomegranate along with red cherry, and some floral notes showing rose petal, violets and lavender. Also dried herbs. The bouquet smells fresh and inviting. There is no Pinot Noir earthiness or spice here as the nose is all about the fruit. The palate is brightly lit with flavors of red plum, sour cherry, currant, and cranberry echoed somewhat from the bouquet but with an additional spice component (white pepper). The tannins are lightly grainy, long-lasting and broadly coat the palate with a persistent drying character. This wine lingers savory with lightly astringent tannins on the finish. A food wine. We immediately thought of pairing this with freshly caught Alaska Halibut. Shoutout to the time we spent catching loads of salmon and several halibut at the Waterfall Fishing Resort in southeast Alaska.

The 2014 Ancien Russian River Jouissance Pinot Noir was fermented about 1/4 whole cluster. The wine shows delicate aromas and delicate flavors. Shows aromas of red cherry, strawberry and as the wine breathes, a touch of mocha. Superbly balanced on the palate (with good acidity) it shows flavors of red cherry and blue berry complemented by a desert spice nuance – similar to cinnamon (perhaps from the partial whole cluster/stems during the fermentation). Drinks very well young. Finishes with slightly dusty, drying tannins. The fruit from this wine was sourced from a 2-acre “backyard vineyard” that hasn’t been named so they created the name Jouissance, which in French means “giving of pleasure” – referring to the wine, not perhaps anything else you might be thinking of when hearing this phrase.

The 2021 Ancien Carmel Valley Pinot Noir – River Ranch was produced from vines dating to 1982. This wine was aged for 11 months in barrel with one racking prior to bottling. It is medium ruby in color; the bouquet reveals both fruit and spices including white pepper, dark raspberry, and Santa Rosa plum skin like aromatic along with some herbal notes including sage and tea. This wine is superbly balanced in its youth with flavors of red cherry, plum, currant, and red licorice. The tannins are soft, and rounded; their gravelly/dusty texture is broadly distributed across the palate. This wine lingers with a light chalky character and a darker tobacco and pepper spice on the finish. It finishes bright with a balanced acidity. Pair with an oily fish like salmon for best results. Fresh, lively, savory, and built to age.

The 2021 Ancien Oregon Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard is medium ruby in color; the bouquet smells elegant with a focus on the purity of fruit including aromas of red cherry, cranberry, currant, raspberry hard candy and dried rose petals. Fresh, lively, and energetic this wine is wound tightly by both its bright and mouth-watering acidity and textural profile. Currant, cranberry, sour cherry, and red plum dominate the flavor profile with a note of cardamom spice. The youthful tannins are grainy and outpace the fruit on the finish. A light tartness persists. Pair with lamb chops. The vines producing the grapes for this wine were planted by Dick Shea in the late 1980s. Starting with the 2022 vintage of this wine, the source will be from much younger vines from the Shea Vineyard.

The 2020 Ancien Carneros Pinot Noir, Toyan Farm is medium ruby in color; the bouquet is primarily focused on red berry fruits with accompanying lighter layers of dried herbs and a note of cardamom. The palate offers flavors of blueberry, raspberry, red cherry, currant and dried herbs. Gravelly, earthy tannins persist. Savory. This bottling reveals darker spices on the finish including notes of pepper. We noted the textural feel of the densely packed tannins. This wine shows quite youthful three years post vintage at the time of our tasting. Bright, fresh and focused with a tartness and mouth-watering acidity on the finish. Very age worthy; we would love to see this wine in 10-15 years. 5% of the grapes were fermented whole cluster with about 50% of the wine aged in new French oak barrels.

The 2021 Ancien Sonoma Mountain, Red Dog Vineyard Pinot Noir is located on the western side of Sonoma Mountain; this wine is medium to dark ruby in the glass. The bouquet shows both red and darker fruits including plum, cherry, pink peppercorn, and dried herbs. This wine smells darker and more savory than some of the other Ancien bottlings from this same vintage. It is also a more robust bottling in terms of both flavor and texture. And like the bouquet, this may be the most dark-fruited of the bottlings we tried, however we are starting to lose focus as we are being distracted by members of the Mount Veeder Appellation walking by for their meeting at the Vinoce Tasting room where we are trying this bottling – and we know them all. The palate offers flavors of dark plum, cherry, dried herbs, crushed dark peppercorn, and a finishing earthy character. This wine delivers an extremely long finish in which the tannins parallel the fruit. Firmly structured the tannins are gravelly, grainy, and persist with a drying character.

Visits/Tastings:
Since the sale of the Haynes Vineyard Ancien moved their tasting experiences, by appointment to the Vinoce tasting room while they produce their wines at a well-established winery on the Napa side of the Carneros District. Tastings are often hosted by someone from Ancien including Ken or Teresa but can be hosted by one of the Vinoce staff since select bottlings are kept on site. A tasting typically includes 5 current release wines.

This tasting room is in the old Sawyer-Tannery Building in Napa’s Tannery Bend District, a very historic part of the city of Napa along the Napa River. The Sawyer Tannery building dates from the 1880s; this was once the largest tannery west of the Mississippi and where Nappa Leather originated from. Napa’s leather industry began along this part of the Napa River in 1869 and is in a part of town named after both a bend in the Napa River and the old leather tannery.

The space is located directly across from the Napa River, with the Vine Trail (bike and pedestrian pathway) paralleling the river and located just below their parking lot. One could bike or walk here from just south of downtown Napa. While there is no dock on the river directly in front of the tasting room, the Napa Valley Yacht Club maintains a dock within a short walk of the tasting room and allows guests boats to make a docking request and pay ahead of time via their website. One could visit the tasting room coming from boat on the Napa River.

And during good weather, outdoor seating is also available overlooking the Napa River.

Former Home We keep these notes and photos for historical reference.
While there are older vineyards in Coombsville still commercially producing, the Haynes Vineyard (not to be confused with the also historic Hayne Vineyard in St. Helena) is probably the most well-known vineyard in the appellation. The property was under the same family ownership from 1885 until 2019 (the Haynes). The family purchased the property from Nathan Coombs in 1885 for $3,135 in gold coins (a copy of the original deed of sale is at the winery).

The Haynes Vineyard was originally planted in 1966; well-known winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff (of Beaulieu Vineyard fame) walked the property and provided vineyard consultation as did Louis M. Martini. Andre also helped design the winery on the property. Some of the existing Chardonnay vines date back to 1966 making these some of the oldest vines of this variety in the entire state of California. We know of no other vines of this variety older in Napa Valley. The Pinot Noir was sourced from cuttings from the Three Palms Vineyard (in Calistoga) – this famous vineyard actually grew Pinot Noir in its early days but now is known for its exceptional Merlot. We have heard that the old Pinot Noir vines have since been pulled out after the ownership change and replanted to more Pinot Noir (same clone as the previous vines).

The vineyard is in a cooler part of Coombsville; Duncan and Pat Haynes tried to grow Cabernet Sauvignon here but ultimately found it was too cold for this variety. What is interesting to note is that some of their nearby neighbors successfully grow Cabernet Sauvignon – despite the close proximity, those properties are significantly warmer than the Haynes Vineyard. Grapes continued to be sold from this vineyard to several clients through the 2022 vintage. Starting in 2023, grapes from the Haynes Vineyard are no longer sold to other produces and are exclusively used for the Haynes wines.

Vineyard manager, Fernando Delgado lived on site and farmed this property from 1970 for more than four decades; after retiring he moved back to Mexico. Ken was originally hired by the Haynes to make their wine in 1997, but as it turns out, he found the ideal home for the Ancien Wines for some 20+ years before the sale of the property.

One of Napa’s smallest fully functioning winery caves is tunneled a short way into a hill directly behind the winery building.

A visit to what was called Whitford Cellars (where Ancien produced their wine for some 20 years) was like going back to “old Napa” and certainly felt very off the beaten path, but in reality, was only about 10 minutes from downtown Napa. Visits were peaceful with no ‘Napa flash’ and were always an opportunity to learn about the property’s diverse and rich vineyard history.

Tastings were highly personable, relaxing and never rushed. Weather permitting, an outside tasting was conducted next to the winery or under the oak trees overlooking the vineyard.

During tastings guests were shown soil samples from the various vineyards they source from, including white volcanic ash from the property surrounding the winery. It is interesting to note that the rock, color and composition of each of these soils differs dramatically between each vineyard. And these soils certainly play an important role in the character of their wines.

The founders of Whitford Cellars, Duncan (deceased) and Pat Haynes are no longer making their own wines; until they sold this property to Gaylon Lawrence their efforts were focused on farming and selling grapes to premium producers. As a side note of local interest; Duncan’s mother Irene was the author and photographer of Ghost Wineries of Napa Valley.

—

For more information or to join one of their wine clubs, visit: www.ancienwines.com

Ken comes on at 15:07 and departs at 29:45