FiftyRow Vineyards was founded by Paul (who we originally met with) and Marion Johnson and winemaker Gary Galleron in 2002. Both Paul and Marion grew up around wine, Marion was born and raised in the Rheingau part of Germany; Paul spent some twenty years living and working in parts of Europe including Sweden and Spain. Wine was often a part of family meals.
While in college, unlike many of his friends who drank beer, Paul became interested in wine. His friends would often kid him about his interest in wines – later in life he would joke that he would be the one making wine before age 50. That became a reality when in 2003, Paul at the age 44 became a winemaker for the first time in his life. The first commercial vintage of FiftyRow was from 2003.
Paul began collecting wines; while living in San Diego in the late 1990s he would often frequent a wine shop in the north county, called Wine Street located in Carlsbad. One day while stopping in the store he casually said, ‘see you next week’ and the reply was something like ‘no you will not, we are closing permanently’. Paul went home, thought about the void this would leave for the community and his own interest in buying wines locally – so the next day he visited a nearby bank and paid off the store’s debt and became the new owner. He changed the inventory, opened up the shop for special tastings including winemaker events and it was during his ownership that he met Napa winemaker Gary Galleron. Paul sold the shop in 2001; today it is still in business, known as La Costa Wine Company.
Paul visited Napa Valley a number of times and became friends with Gary. When Paul decided to create a wine brand, he contacted Gary who was instrumental in crafting the early vintages of Fifty Row. Initially Paul told Gary, “Do not only make my wine, but teach me how to make the wine.” Over the years Gary has become less involved in the winemaking and today Paul oversees the winemaking for both FiftyRow and Smokescreen, his larger production wines primarily sold via restaurants.
Smokescreen wines are crafted with both quality and reasonable price points in mind – which in the world of wine doesn’t always complement each other. Initially Paul sourced the grapes for this label from Napa Valley but over the years in order to continue to craft these reasonably priced wines, with the exception of his Cabernet Sauvignon, he now sources fruit from outside of Napa Valley. And he admits, this was a good decision, as he is making better wines these days with the wider variety of vineyard sources.
La Costa Wine Shop, Carlsbad
The impetus for Smokescreen wines was because of the recession of 2008. While making sales trips, he was often told “we can’t sell anything for more than $30.” Paul began thinking of wines he would introduce to the market at this price point – so he called Gary and tapped into his Napa Valley network of vineyard sources including finding a premium Chardonnay winery who because of the economic downturn had not bottled all of their wines. They sold Paul some of their Chardonnay.
Needing a label design and not yet deciding upon a name – he approached Marion. She soon created a very simple and contemporary easy to read label, merely listing the name of the brand and the variety as their front label.
These wines are built with restraint but always showcase plenty of verve and vivaciousness from their acidity. They are food friendly based on the fact they are always balanced right out of the gate. Their characteristics both on the bouquet and the palate focus on the more subtle nuances of the variety. These are always fresh and elegant expressions. And it should be mentioned that Johnson is one of the more under rated winemakers in Napa Valley.
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Over the years, Paul has worked with several fine and very historic Napa Valley vineyards including Morisoli and Lewelling in Rutherford and in St. Helena. Today he sources Cabernet Sauvignon from a Galleron family-owned vineyard on Galleron Lane in Rutherford. Gary’s Aunt Alice lives on the property and this wine is named in her honor. As of the latest update to this review, Alice is still living and more than 100 years of age.
The 2021 FiftyRow Charbono, Wheelhouse Vineyard Suisun Valley (not far from the Napa County line) is medium purple in color; the bouquet initially offers attractive, elegant and floral notes including violets and lilacs accompanied by raspberry, strawberry, red plum, red currant, red licorice, sage and a hint of mocha as the wine opens. We often use the word balance to describe the cadence of a wine on the palate but rarely to describe the bouquet. However, this is the perfect adjective to describe these aromatics. The palate features an edgy acidity with a mouth watering freshness. The higher toned fruit flavors include cherry, currant, plum and cranberry. Bright and lively, the juicy and tart finish lingers with highly polished tannins with a slight dusty character. This wine was aged entirely in French oak barrels of which 30% were new and 70% neutral. This wine would pair nicely with the ‘brunch burger’ and its fried egg and bacon from Winston’s Cafe in downtown Napa. This wine clocks in at a refreshing 12.9% alcohol.
The FiftyRow Sonoma Valley (Mallard Vineyard) EnVie Cabernet Sauvignon (100% varietal) is a non vintage bottling and is cleverly named. For a similar play on words relating to several meanings, reference ENVY Winery in Calistoga. We tasted this wine in mid 2024. This wine is deep ruby in color; the bouquet is clearly focused on the fruit with aromas of blackberry jam, cooked cranberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries and rhubarb accompanied by nutmeg, clove, cinnamon stick and tobacco spice. Absolutely beautiful. Bright, energetic and youthful the palate delivers flavors of red cherry, raspberry, currant, cherry and red plum. The juicy and lively finish lingers with polished, supple and seamlessly integrated tannins. This wine was aged in French oak barrels of which 30% were new and 70% neutral.
The 2020 FiftyRow Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford Alice Block Napa Valley is deep ruby in color. The bouquet is a pleasing union of red fruits, dried herbs and darker spices. These include, dried tobacco leaf, bay leaf, dust, sage, red currant and plum. As the wine evolves in the glass, both fruit and baking spices become a bit more prominent with scents of cinnamon and nutmeg and Biscoff cookies. This wine is balanced wonderfully with red fruited flavors of raspberry, strawberry, cherry and plum. Finishes smoothly with polished and tannins that feel very comfortable, 4 years post vintage at the time of our tasting. This wine in particular, is crafted in a lighter style as compared to other FiftyRow vintages of this Cabernet Sauvignon; part of that is related to an earlier harvest than normal. This wine was aged for 20 months in 100% French oak barrels of which 60% were new.
The 2016 FiftyRow Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon, Alice Block Napa Valley was aged for two years in 60% French oak barrels. Crimson dark in the glass it offers a pretty bouquet with opulent fruit including spicy plum and ripe blackberry complemented by aromas of tobacco, darker spices (cloves), dry cedar, mocha and chocolate undertones. But given time to open, this bouquet is mostly about the aromatic layers of fruit. Shows all the hallmarks of being an age worthy wine with plenty of fruit, acidity and well textured tannins with a firm grip, lingering with both oak and fruit tannins.
Smokescreen
The 2022 Smokescreen Sauvignon Blanc, Suisun Valley Lambert Vineyard is from a small vineyard in Solano County close to the Napa County border. This wine is medium yellow in color; the bouquet offers an initial hit of green apple, grapefruit and lime zest, but as the wine evolves and warms in the glass it reveals additional scents of honeycomb, Golden delicious apple, pineapple, passion fruit and white peaches. Fresh yet fruity and playful, on the palate there are flavors of honeydew melon, passion fruit, pineapple, mandarin orange, a flinty minerality, mint and a light but lingering dill character. Its fleshy and creamy texture is complemented perfectly by the energetic but not bracing acidity. This wine over delivers for the price point and is a pleasing balance between California sunshine and the inherent herbal characteristics of this variety. The finish is richly flavored. It was aged in 100% neutral French oak barrels. This bottling made us want the culinary company of a juicy fillet of cod.
The 2019 Smokescreen Paso Robles, The Chemist Red Wine is medium to deep ruby in color; an expression of fruit, the bouquet offers scents of dark plum, boysenberry jam, and blackberry accompanied by light and complementary notes of toasted oak, old cedar box, crushed pink peppercorn and dark chocolate. The palate mirrors the bouquet with flavors of blackberry, boysenberry, dark plum and black cherry. It is also spice filled including of dark pepper, smoked sage and other assorted dried herbs. We strongly suspect there is a generous helping of Syrah among the blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, Petite Sirah & Teroldego. Each variety is fermented and aged separately from one another before being blended prior to bottling. Juicy, savory, gamey and mouth watering. The tannins sport a well-integrated, light gravelly texture and dusty character which parallels the fruit on the fruit-filled finish. This wine was aged in French oak barrels, 20% which were new. If its legal to bring and open bottles in the downtown Paso Robles square (and its probably not), we would take this bottle and pair it with a hot tri-tip sandwich from Jeffry’s Wine Country BBQ.
And a quick mention regarding Teroldego. We have never seen this grape grown in Napa Valley, but in Paso Robles and other parts of California’s central coast, there are a few small plantings. It is originally from the northeastern region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. And there are some vineyards also planted in parts of Australia including McLaren Vale and Margaret River.
The 2016 Smokescreen Chardonnay is a blend of grapes from Monterey, Napa and Sonoma counties. Paul always serves this wine at room temperature; he can remember taking a tour with Dennis Zablosky, Frank Family’s legendary former tasting room manager. Dennis said something like, “we serve our Chardonnay at room temperature – because we can” referring to the quality of their wine standing on its own and not being an inferior Chardonnay in which any faults would be hidden by a cooler temperature.
The 2016 Smokescreen Chardonnay was fermented entirely in barrel and aged sur lie. Golden in the glass one can immediately tell from the aromas that this wine has some complexity with bright and intense aromatics including citrus blossom, melon, and apricot. The texture is quickly noticeable, creamy and oily but without the heavy-handed influence of oak and or popcorn buttery flavors that are representative of certain styles of this variety. There are flavors of Golden delicious apple, vanilla and a hint of desert spice on the finish. This wine is a pleasure to drink by itself.
The 2016 Smokescreen Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from a variety of vineyards in Napa Valley including in Rutherford and a number of what Paul calls, “backyard vineyards” – tiny vineyards Paul and Gary located through personal relationships. It is extremely difficult to find a Napa Valley produced Cabernet Sauvignon at this price point. Offers aromas of red cherry, pomegranate and a hint of chocolate and cedar box on the bouquet. Also, a bit floral. Shows more red fruit then dark fruit on the palate – with a tartness and slightly tight tannins on the finish. Needs some time to open in its youth.
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NOTE: We keep the following notes below for historical reference as Silenus dissolved themselves of all their custom crush clients in mid 2024 and the Fifty Row wines are no longer available here.
In 2018 Fifty Row Wines became one of the vintners represented at Silenus Winery located just south of Yountville. Silenus was a “collection of artisan winemakers” – this was a custom crush facility for small wineries; the number of brands represented here varied depending on the year. What separates Silenus from other area collectives is not only do these wineries taste their wine here, but they also make it on site as well. The brands represented do not own physical wineries.
Silenus had a coveted permit to allow guests to bring food on site and picnic, provided you tasted either before or after your lunch. Guests who picnic but do not do a tasting must order at least a bottle of wine. The lower grounds are quiet and were a very relaxing space to enjoy part of your day (weather permitting). Several picnic tables were located in this shady grotto next to a bocce ball court. And well behaved dogs were welcomed here.
Total production of both Smokescreen and Fifty Row is around 8,000 cases per year with much of it distributed to select restaurants across more than 20 states. For more information and or to join the mailing list, visit: www.fiftyrow.com
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