are located high on Atlas Peak in a location that while is only about 15 minutes driving from the valley floor feels rather remote. Their 4.5 acres of vineyard grow on rocky rolling hillsides, planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and just a small block of Petite Verdot. These grape vines have excellent views – on a clear day you can look east across the coast range and see up to 50 miles in the distance.
Most vineyards in this appellation are high by Napa standards (over 1500 feet) and Bialla’s is at about 1700 feet. The growing climate here is characterized by decent temperature fluctuations between night and day – especially in the summer. The growing season is also rather long with lots of sun as the vineyards are typically above the fog line.
Bialla’s first vintage dates from 2003 and until 2009 they focused on a single estate wine – a Cabernet Sauvignon. Starting in 2009 a proprietary limited release wine will be available along with their flagship Cabernet Sauvignon. The production of their main wine is typically under 500 cases while their proprietary wine is even less – around 50 cases.
As with other parts of Atlas Peak the vines struggle here but produce concentrated fruit. The soils are composed of Tufa, a compressed volcanic ash – with a very thin top soil layer. Craig MacLean has been their winemaker since day one. Bialla truly hand crafts their wine from every stage of the winemaking process. An example of this which is extremely labor intensive is rather than using a typical crusher/destemmer machine, all grapes are *hand removed* from each and every cluster! Then rather then crushing the berries by machine they ferment some berries whole and some are crushed – but by hand.
Vito has designed some of the winemaking equipment including their hand de-stemming table – as well as an ingenious wire mesh tool which can be lowered and raised as needed into the fermenting juice so that the “cap” of seeds and skins can actually be submerged at various levels as needed. This is an ingenious yet simple system for helping to gain desired characteristics from the “cap” – during fermentation, the cap always forms on the surface and never remains submerged.
We sampled a 2009 from barrel. While as expected showing a bit more oak than their final wine – this vintage was really already quite well balanced. The bouquet was more subtle than their bottled prior vintage with lots of dark fruit and some nice earthy components on the palate.
The 2008 vintage is primarily Cabernet Sauvignon blended with some Merlot. The bouquet is elegant with floral notes, red licorice and even a bit of sage which is faint and not noticeable initially until the wine has a chance to breath in the glass. If a bouquet has balance, this wine certainly is a good candidate. The entry on the palate is soft, supple and rounded with both rich red and dark fruit. As the wine continues to “open” earthy and dusty characteristics come forward but the core of the palate is unquestionably about the fruit. The finish smooth and velvety and hints of vanilla and fruit linger for some time.
There is a story behind every component of Vito & Linda’s passion for their small vineyard. Take their label for example. Its pretty to look at – an old stone building perched on the edge of a hillside, almost medieval looking in its appearance. Vito & Linda actually live in this house which serves as the image for their wine labels. It is thought to be the oldest house in Tiburon (Marin County) and historically was often referred to as “the castle”. Rather than vineyards, the views here are 180 degrees of the great San Francisco Bay.
Bialla has participated in a number of charity events including a bike race that took place on Atlas Peak and ended at their winery – to raise money for Clinic Ole. They’ve also donated some wine to auctions which raise money for various charities.
Tastings are for serious wine enthusiasts and are held in their small cave in a candle lit alcove. The wine is primarily sold directly through their website and select fine restaurants. You can find the wine in the city of Napa at the Bounty Hunter wine shop and the wine is available on select Celebrity Cruises. For more information and to join their mailing list visit: www.biallavineyards.com
NOTE: This review has been archived.
REASON: The winery was sold to a group from China and has stopped commercial production
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