Appellations Cellar

Appellations Cellar was founded by Ivonne Zhu in 2016. She was born in Guangdong Province (formerly Canton) in China and immigrated to the U.S. in 2002 by herself. She remembers arriving into the U.S. with merely one backpack and one larger piece of luggage. She made this transcontinental move to study at the American University in Washington DC. She later moved to New York City where she founded a travel business and a nutrition club. She was a part time tour guide during college to help pay for her tuition. She moved from New York City to Santa Rosa, CA in 2012 to attend Empire Law School. Her entry into the wine business was ‘by mistake’ as she told us. Her friends would visit and she would invite them to dinner where they would all enjoy wines with their meals. Her friends quickly informed her they didn’t know that California wine was so good. Nurturing an interest in wine, but also a strong desire to learn, and with business skills from her previous endeavors, she pivoted from studying law and became a winemaker.

She started small, producing wine from both Napa Valley and Sonoma County by buying bulk wine and doing the blending herself prior to bottling. But now she works directly with growers for grapes who farm sustainably or organically. Her first order was for 1,000 cases and then grew into orders by the container. She decided upon the name, Appellation Cellars to reflect the fact she sources grapes from numerous appellations both within Napa Valley, Sonoma County and select other regions within Northern California.

From the beginning her wines were primarily sold in Asia including in South Korea and Singapore. Noticing that customs officials would often pull out sample bottles from containers during shipments, resulting in labels that were being scratched, she changed her label design slightly starting with the 2022 vintage to both accommodate this extra handling but to modernize it’s look and feel.

And one of her primary businesses is offering private labeling services. She has a temperature controlled warehouse and a team in China. They dispatch wines by the pallet to buyers as needed. Appellation Cellars is a member of AWIA – the American Wine Institute of America. This organization promotes wines from the U.S. to the Chinese market. And Appellation Cellars is also a member of the Wine Institute and participates in select USDA Foreign Agricultural Service missions including traveling overseas to promote and sell wine.

Ivonne was the first Chinese woman winemaker to showcase and taste her wines at Taste of Napa, hosted at the Meritage Resort. This tasting showcases a diversity of primarily Napa Valley producers under the auspices of Festival Napa Valley, a non profit organization bringing a diversity of arts including musical performances to venues throughout Napa Valley every July.

Ivonne has learned the wine business from the ground up, doing everything by hand, but relying on others as needed. She was not raised in a wine making family nor was gifted a vineyard. She moved to the U.S. with very little material possessions or savings and in a relatively short time since starting her brands, has created a highly successful and growing business built upon passion, obsession and a drive to succeed. Her ultimate goals are to own her own vineyard and her own winery, but she is waiting for the right timing.

Select Wines
Whites
The 2023 Appellations Cellar Chardonnay, CEO Collection is deep gold in color; the sweetly fruit-driven and playful bouquet is immediatley open-knitted with attractive aromas of nectarines, apricot, baked pineapple, yellow peaches, honeysuckle, vanilla, mango and pineapple guava. In a blind tasting of other Chardonnays from the same vintage, this would be a crowd favorite on aromatics alone. Minerally and rich, yet balanced, on the palate there are flavors of golden apples, comise pear, Crane melon (a Sonoma county treat only available in September and October), beeswax, white nectarine, apricot and mango. The texture sports a saline and briny character; there is some noticeable weight here with a fleshy, velvet and supple mouth feel. However, its weight is balanced nicely by a beaming and persistent rich acidity. We tried this wine a little over a year post vintage; it is among the earliest of the Napa Valley 2023 Chardonnay’s we have tried. This one is in a class by itself and well worth pursuing.

The 2020 Wild and Free Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley is made from grapes grown in Pope Valley. This wine is medium gold in color; the bouquet offers reveals aromas of orange marmalade, honeycomb, tropical guava when the skin has turned yellow, dried apricot, wet straw, lemon zest, pineapple and Golden delicious apple. There is a light herbal note at play here as well including of lemon verbena. It is honeyed across the palate; it reveals flavors of beeswax, Golden delicious apple, yellow nectarines, peaches, cantaloupe and light herbal notes, perhaps young kaffir lime leaf leaf, Vietnamese coriander (rau răm) and tarragon. We picked leaves from both lemon verbena and Vietnamese coriander plants in our garden to help us identify these particular aromas and flavors while we were nosing and tasting this wine. Still bright but showing some bottle age, four years post vintage at the time of our tasting. Perhaps pair with grilled salmon.

The 2023 Appellations Cellars Gewurztraminer California is pale straw in the glass; the bouquet is highly aromatic as this variety tends to be with honeyed and sweetly fruited scents accompanied by ripe stone fruits including apricot, peach and nectarine. And there are aromas of lychee, star jasmine, citrus blossom, pear and Golden delicious apple. There is nothing shy about these aromatics. And the palate is equally expressive with flavors of lychee, pineapple, ripe pear, passion fruit, pineapple guava, white nectarines and white peaches. The residual sugar is very noticeable but is complemented by both intensity of flavor and brightness of acidity. As a result, the palate is in no way linear. This is their best selling white wine. We can see why.

Reds
The 2019 Appellations Cellar Precedent Napa Valley Premium Red Wine is a blend of 95% Syrah and 5% Petite Sirah. This wine is deep ruby in color; the palate offers a playful union of both primary fruit aromatics and secondary scents. These include dark plum, blackberry, boysenberry preserves, dark raspberry, cherry and dark Pakistani mulberries along with black licorice. These notes are complemented nicely by aromas of lavender, sage, pink peppercorn and opens to additional layers of mocha and cocoa powder as the wine evolves in the glass. The bouquet is fully ripe. The palate offers both red and dark fruits including cherry, blackberry, boysenberry and Santa Rosa plum. Despite the 15% listed alcohol this wine does not show as ‘hot’ with its bright acidity lending a noticeable presence. The tannins are dusty and broadly coat the palate with a grainy, dusty and persistent textural grip. Lingers with flavors of both dried herbs and dark crushed dried pepper. Pair with a spicy dry rub flank steak straight from the BBQ.

The grapes for the Precedent bottling are sourced from Lovall (pronounced love-all) Valley, a secret slice of land within Napa Valley. Often shrouded in fog, its micro-climate is among the coolest parts of Napa Valley. Due to its geographic location with only one in and out access road, this valley identifies more with Sonoma County than Napa Valley despite being almost an equidistance between the city of Napa and the town of Sonoma. Lovall Valley is located only within about a 10-minute drive to the plaza in the town of Sonoma. It is a mix of residences located on large lots interspersed with small family-owned vineyards. There are no physical wineries here.

The 2018 Wild and Free Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon with the balance being Merlot and Cabernet Franc. This wine is deep ruby in color; the bouquet offers aromas of sweet tobacco spice, mocha, espresso, chocolate, old cedar box, dark plum, dark raspberry and blackberry. For reference we tasted this wine 6 years post vintage. The tannins have either softened or were already approachable on release, as at this stage, they are extremely well integrated into the finish. Their texture is supple, soft and seamless On the palate there are flavors of blackberry, dark plum, ripe black cherry and boysenberry. This is an easy drinking, approachable and highly enjoyable Cabernet Sauvignon. The first vintage of this wine produced was in 2015. This wine won a gold medal in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

Samsung imported this wine to South Korea. And she has also sold it in Singapore. 2018 was the first vintage that was exported and for the Asian market, this wine was the first she added the additional varieties, primarily Merlot to help soften its texture.

The CEO Collection wines are only made from Napa Valley grown grapes.

The 2015 CEO Collection is 95% Cabernet Sauvignon with the balance being Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. This wine is deep ruby in color; the bouquet sports scents of cocoa powder, chocolate, and mocha accompanied by ripe dark fruits which push the boundary on over ripeness but don’t quite cross that line including of blackberry jam, cherry pie, cherry liqueur, boysenberry and cassis. Equally ripe on the palate, this wine offers flavors of blackberry, corral cherries at the peak of their ripeness, boysenberry and dark plum. And a note of dark chocolate lingers on the fruit filled finish. The tannins are present, and are expressed with a lightly grainy character. This is clearly a crowd favorite for those who favor fruit forward and opulent wines. The alcohol is a listed 16% but we didn’t necessarily notice much heat in the back of the throat as one would expect for such a high octane bottling. The first vintage of this wine was in 2014.

The 2019 Edelweiss Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% varietal; this wine is deep ruby and opaque in color. The attractive bouquet sports sweetly fruited and ripe scents of plum, cherry, blackberry and boysenberry but there are also several layers of spices at play here including cassis, lightly toasted cedar, mocha, soy sauce, dark chocolate and dried herbs. Mouth filling in terms of ripe fruit, this wine offers flavors of blackberry, boysenberry, dark plum, dark cherry and chocolate with a finish dripping in terms of hedonism. The tannins are grainy and pace the fruit on the flavor filled finish. Their character is felt more on the front of the palate than the back. Drinks well by itself and doesn’t necessarily need the company of food. The alcohol is listed as 16%.

The 2021 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon (private label) is 100% varietal; this wine is both fresh and fruity on the bouquet with aromas of cherry, raspberry, Santa Rosa plum, with a more subtle baking spice hints deeper in the aromatics including of cardamom, vanilla and nutmeg accompanied by a light note of pepper. Another crowd pleaser from Ivonne, the palate reveals flavors of cherry cola, raspberry, plum and cherry. This wine drinks very well by itself. The tannins sports a light dusty character which ultimately outpaces the fruit on the extended finish. Their texture is lightly grainy and gravelly. The finish is juicy and brightly lit. This wine is already well-balanced only 3 years post vintage. This bottling in particular takes some time in the glass to fully open. Regardless, we love grapes from Rutherford.

The 2016 Appellations Cellars Centenarians Reserve Single Vineyard Carignane. This wine is deep ruby in color; the bouquet is ripe and sweetly fruited with aromas of cherry liqueur, Santa Rosa plum, raspberry and cherries at the peak of their ripeness. The fruit is clearly the star of the show in terms of its aromatic profile. The palate is also a mouthful of ripeness including of cherries, raspberries, blackberry preserves, boysenberry jam and baked plum with some supporting baking spices including cardamom and nutmeg. The broadly felt and grainy tannins continue to linger on the flavor filled and bright finish. This wine is highly worth seeking out both for its character, but also its historical pedigree. Every bottle is numbered. The grapes for this wine were planted in 1900; the vineyard is dry farmed, with the vines growing in sandy soils with the roots extending up to 25 feet deep. The vineyard is 7.4 acres.

Ivonne has earned a strong following in particular for her Zinfandel. The 2017 Appellations Cellars Ancestors Reserve Zinfandel is from a vineyard in Lodi planted in 1889. Yes, you read that year correctly. Sweetly fruited, ripe and opulent the bouquet offers aromas of cherry liqueur, cassis, ripe plum, blackberry preserves, boysenberry jam, chocolate brownie, cinnamon stick and Graham cracker. We would not argue with you if you describes these aromatics as opulent and hedonistic, fully expressing what this variety can do in terms being exposed to plenty of California sunshine. The palate is equally as ripe as the bouquet and simply stated, is delicious. This is a crowd pleaser Zinfandel. It features abundant dark fruited flavors including blackberry, boysenberry jam and dark cherry. The palate offers a perceived sweetness of ripe fruit; the tannins are present, showcasing a grainy textural feel. With this wine in particular, allow it to open; Ivonne recommends letting this wine breath for 60-90 minutes to fully express itself. And like the Carignane, every bottle is numbered.

The 2018 Appellations Cellar California Collection Petite Sirah California is dark, deep ruby and opaque in the glass; dark fruited, the bouquet reveals aromas of plum, blackberry and boysenberry. The focus here is clearly on the fruit rather than barrel influences. The depth and darkness of fruit on the palate mirrors the bouquet, with flavors of plum, blackberry and a note of dark licorice. This wine offers depth both in terms of flavor and structure. The granulated tannins linger on a bright and fruit filled savory finish. The wine lingers with notes of dried herbs, pepper, and other assorted darker spices. This wine is showing in a sweet spot 6 years post vintage at the time of our tasting, and clearly has lots of life ahead of it with the proper aging. Ivonne is now sourcing this variety from Napa Valley. She appreciates how this wine shows ‘waves’ in terms of how it continues to evolve regarding its aromas, texture and flavor – and the interplay of all these attributes given air and time in the glass. This wine earned a gold from the San Francisco Chronicle competition.

The 2017 Appellations Cellars Survivor Old Vine Zinfandel was produced from grapes from the Westwind Vineyard in Lodi, planted in 1946. This wine is medium ruby in color; the bouquet sports aromas of sweet cherry, cherry cola, raspberry, vanilla, cocoa powder, mocha and red licorice. Saddled between uber California ripeness and the rarer more restrained style of this variety grown in California, the palate offers flavors of raspberry, red cherry, dried cranberries, pomegranate and red plum. Comfortable in terms of texture, the tannins are gravelly and lightly grainy. Both their resulting texture and flavor continue to persist on the long finish. This wine was aged for 12 months prior to bottling. We would like to pair this with a Napa summer evening and a tri-tip on the BBQ. 16.1% alcohol.

And while all these wines show well by themselves, some are crafted to be enjoyed with food including dim sum.

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Tastings are by appointment at Whisky Creek Winery in Pope Valley where the Appellation Cellars wines are produced. Tastings are hosted by Ivonne next to a small portal within the wine cave. This winery was originally founded by Norm Alumbaugh (died in 2014) and was called Eagle & Rose Winery. It was sold to the current ownership (Canadian, Vancouver) in 2014. Its 6,000 square foot cave was tunneled in 1984, among the first of the ‘modern day’ winery caves in Napa Valley.

Whisky Creek Winery offers a diversity of winemaking services for custom crush clients.

The property also houses a 3,700 foot long air strip and a hangar; the site was previously used as a parachute training facility during World War II. The old buildings that used to house a lodge and restaurant are still standing next to the air strip. In the late 1960s it was called the Usibelli Lodge with a restaurant known for its home-made ravioli. We’ve seen later references in old newspapers referring to the lodge as the Pope Valley Lodge, Nebiolini’s Pope Valley Lodge and eventually the Eagle & Rose Hotel & Restaurant (under Alumbaugh’s ownership).

Total production across the several brands is approximately 100,000 cases a year. Some of the wines are sold direct in the U.S with shipping available to 40 states. Distribution is in Florida and Texas. Locally, the wines are available in several restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, to schedule a tasting, or to purchase wine visit: www.appellationscellar.com