Ellman Family Vineyards was founded by two brothers, Neil and Lance Ellman. Both were born in South Africa and moved with their family to the United States when they were very young (to the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area). Their grandfather Nathan Ellman started Softex in 1954, a pillow and bedding manufacturing business in South Africa (the family grew this to one of the largest mattress manufacturers in the country). When they moved to the United States, they brought the company with them.
Neil became interested in wine after fortuitously meeting Darryl Frank at college (the son of Napa’s Frank Family Winery founder, Rich Frank). They become good friends; at one point both Neil and Darryl lived in Los Angeles, and they would visit Napa Valley in the early 1990s as Frank Family was just getting started. In 2005 the Ellman Family sold their mattress business; after the sale, Neil approached Lance about starting a wine business and both agreed to work on this next project together.
Initially, they hired wine maker Kian Tavakoli (who they met at the former Crushpad) and through some of Crushpad’s vineyard connections they were able to start sourcing fruit from prominent Napa Valley vineyards including Stagecoach, Georges III and To Kalon. Their first vintage and wine made was in 2007 called Jemma, named after Neil’s wife (a wine they continue to produce today).
Looking to return to the bedding business, in 2010 they started a new brand, Sherwood Bedding which remarkably in a fairly short amount of time has grown to one of the largest private label mattress companies in the country with (as of our latest update to this review) six manufacturing locations including Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Arizona (as of 2020, a part of Tempur Sealy International). Before Tempur Sealy acquired the assets of Sherwood Bedding, this company had sold more than 4 million mattresses in the United States using numerous retail outlets across the country. Pretty impressive for a company that was only 10 years old at the time of the sale.
In 2013 Neil and Lance were introduced to Adriana Chinsky who a year prior had begun a boutique wine brokerage business based in Fort Lauderdale focused on premium smaller mostly Napa based producers (Adavino). Adriana had the resources (20+ years in the wine world), passion and energy to help grow their brand. She proposed they hold a special tasting in Fort Lauderdale focusing on the Ellman Family wines. This particular tasting was highly successful and ultimately the Ellman’s hired Adriana as their Director of Sales in 2015 and she was with the company until 2019.
Adriana was extremely instrumental in the more recent evolution of Ellman Family Vineyards and their growth. She moved to Napa Valley in May 2017 and despite never living here before one could easily make the mistake, she that has lived here all her life based on her intimate knowledge of the valley, the wineries, the vineyards and the vintners. While in Fort Lauderdale, she lived and breathed Napa Valley – often making business trips out to Napa.
When Neil and Lance decided to look for property (they were interested in an accessible piece of vineyard land on the valley floor) Adriana connected them a local realtor. They purchased 14 acres just off the Silverado Trail (slightly north of the city of Napa). More recently, they purchased another adjoining 4 acres of land. The property is now 20 acres and came with an old barn, a water tower dating from 1906 and vineyards. The site for the winery location was identified; before the winery was built, the Ellman’s oversaw the construction of a small but impressive looking home. The Napa County Planning Commission approved plans for a winery both in 2019 and again in 2023 with some additional modifications. Access to the winery will be off of lower Soda Canyon Road rather than from their existing driveway on the Silverado Trail. As of 2024 the winery is under construction.
NOTE: We will revisit and update our notes here once the new winery is completed.
Accomplished winemaker Andy Erickson was hired (noted for his work at Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle and Favia among other wineries) and his team to oversee their wine making and provide input in the vineyards (working with vineyard manager Mike Wolf). They have since grafted and planted several varieties and currently grow Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, a small amount of Petite Verdot and Sauvignon Blanc.
Since the acquisition of the property, their wine making philosophy (in part with Andy’s input) has been to move away from sourcing fruit and focus on creating estate wines. In this regard, they have stopped sourcing from a number of vineyards; 2015 was the first vintage from their property including a lot they entered into Premiere Napa Valley for the first time (trade auction and event held annually in Napa every February) and is always the reason we head back to Napa after our annual extended winter break in Thailand.
The vineyards are in a beautiful location – set against rolling hillsides to the east of the property and despite being so close to the highway, once one walks out among the vineyard the noise of traffic quickly disappears and you ‘lose’ yourself to the vines and the picturesque surroundings.
Select Wines
Whites
The 2023 Ellman Caryn Renae Sauvignon Blanc is a blend of both Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Musquée. This wine is medium straw in color; the bouquet is an elegant expression of this variety perfectly saddled between this varieties’ more herbal attributes generally from cooler sites and tropical expressions from riper versions of this variety. The bouquet offers scents of pineapple, white nectarines, pineapple guava and star jasmine. Brightly endowed, the palate offers flavors of mandarin orange, Golden delicious apple, white peaches, lychee, lime juice and grapefruit. Its texture is rounded and perfectly aligned with the vibrant acidity. Energetic, bright and refreshing this wine would pair well with a variety of bivalve dishes. Our choice would be steamed mussels with garlic and Thai holy basil. This wine was fermented in a combination of neutral and new French oak barrels and stainless steel barrels.
The first Ellman Family Vineyards wine released that was made entirely by Andy was the 2016 Caryn Renae Sauvignon Blanc sourced from a vineyard in the Vaca mountains on the eastern side of Napa Valley (more to the south). This wine shows an extremely inviting bouquet; it is pretty, showing floral notes including honeysuckle, white pineapple and perhaps a hint of vanilla spice. Interestingly, the bouquet does not reveal similar characteristics on the palate. Rather the flavors are more citrus driven including notes of lime, lemongrass and hints of vanilla. This bottling features great acidity complemented by some textural weight. It was aged sur-lie for 6 months in barrel. This is a very balanced wine that drinks well young.
Reds
The 2020 Ellman Brothers Brothers Blend, Napa Valley Proprietary Red Blend is 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. This wine is deep ruby and opaque in color. Dark fruited with bramble, dark plum, blackberry, boysenberry, Persian mulberry, pipe tobacco and old cedar wood. On the palate there are flavors of blackberry, dark cherry, boysenberry and dark chocolate. The tannins are soft and supple and finely grained, perhaps representative of this particular vintage. The finish is brightly lit. This is an easy drinking red but with enough character and complexity to keep it entirely interesting. The finish lingers with a savory attribute, paralleled by a dusty character and dried tobacco leaf. For reference, we tried this bottling four years post vintage. This wine is a listed 14.8% alcohol; one can feel the warmth of a gentle kiss deep on the palate from the alcohol. It was aged for 22 months in 52% new French oak barrels.
The 2014 Ellman Family Brothers Blend is 73% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot; this wine offers a diversity of aromas on the bouquet, including blackberry, black olive, and hints of smoke and sage. It is somewhat savory in its aromatic presentation. The palate reveals flavors of blueberry and blackberry with hints of cedar box and mocha towards the finish. Young somewhat tight tannins are felt, which linger for some time – along with very bright acidity. Seems like this will be a wine worthy of aging for some time.
The 2014 Ellman Family Jemma is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon (75% sourced from Stagecoach Vineyard on Atlas Peak and 25% from the Andy Beckstoffer owned Georges III in Rutherford). Reveals bright ripe fruit including sweet notes of dark cherries and berries and a hint of vanilla. A touch of dessert spice shows as the wine opens. Offers a smooth entry with flavors of blackberry, red cherry and red currant. Features broad-shouldered long-lasting tannins. Nice acidity.
Tasting Salon, Napa
Wanting to connect more closely with their customers they decided after a number of requests for tastings to open a tasting room/studio in downtown Napa, they did so in mid 2017. Despite being in the heart of downtown, it is quietly tucked away in the back of a tiny courtyard near Oenotri Restaurant and across from the Andaz Hotel. Visitors with prior appointments ring a doorbell before entering the tasting room. This space was previously used as a premium home furnishings store and was vacant for several years after the Napa earthquake in 2014.
After a complete interior decoration, the space is now an ideal place to host intimate private tastings. Guests are never combined with other groups and tastings are always private for your own party. And in an interesting tasting room twist, a big screen television is setup to provide multiple live feeds from their vineyard and property off of their Silverado Trail property.
And their tasting room is within a close walk of numerous other tastings rooms in downtown and across the street from the Archer Hotel and a couple of blocks away from the Andaz Hotel (both great choices of places to stay when visiting downtown Napa).
Tastings, Vintner’s Collective
Ellman is a part of a coveted collection of vintners represented at Vintner’s Collective, the city of Napa’s oldest collective tasting room. Vintner’s Collective showcases wines from a select group of mostly Napa Valley based producers most of which do not have their own tasting rooms. And it’s not easy to have one’s wines represented here. Vintner’s Collective has an in-depth vetting process to make sure the wines match what their customers are interested in, including varieties, price points and wine styles.
The tasting flights differ everyday which is certainly part of the appeal for visitors. Unless you are acutely tuned into the world of boutique Napa Valley producers, you probably will never have heard of any of the labels that are being poured, and that is not a bad thing. The wines represented are typically from producers who have a maximum annual production of 1,000 cases. A number of tasting flights are offered – geared towards all levels of wine interest and prior knowledge.
Walk-in customers are generally welcome if space allows but appointments can also be requested including for more private tastings hosted upstairs.
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Currently around 1,000 cases are produced with the intent to perhaps grow to around 2,500 cases. In a nod to their family heritage, notice the ‘stitching’ that shows on the foil of the bottle. They sell mostly direct but have some distribution in Florida, North Carolina and southern California.
For more information, to schedule a tasting and to join one of three allocation list offerings, creatively called, Ellevate Your Cellar, visit: www.ellmanfamilyvineyards.com
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