Lail Vineyards

Lail Vineyards was founded by long time Napa Valley vintner Robin (Daniel) Lail and her family. Robin’s history in Napa Valley is significant and deeply rooted. Her great-grand uncle was Gustave Niebaum the founder of Napa’s iconic Inglenook Winery. Her father was John Daniel Jr. (died at age 63 in 1970) who inherited Inglenook winery from his father, also John, and was instrumental in helping elevate the reputation of Napa Valley by improving quality of wines. He ran Inglenook from 1936 until it was sold to United Vintners in 1964. Daniel was also a wine judge, chairman of the board of directors of the Bank America St. Helena branch, a member of numerous wine organizations and a private pilot, often landing at the airstrip on the Inglenook property.

Robin graduated from Stanford University in 1962 (like her father before her). Her family has deep connections to Stanford University; Robin’s great great grandfather Dr. John Norse founded the hospital that eventually became the Stanford School of Medicine.

Robin co-founded Dominus in 1982 with her sister Marky and famed winemaker Christian Moueix (General Manager of Château Pétrus in Pomerol) located on the historic Napanook Vineyard near Yountville, co-founded Merryvale Vineyards with Bill Harlan and was President of that winery for 12 years, was general manager at the prestigious Meadowood Resort, was Robert Mondavi’s personal assistant and in 1981 helped form the inaugural Napa Valley Wine Auction. This annual event has since transitioned into Premiere Napa Valley but it is still one of the country’s premiere wine auctions. More recently she serves as the U.S. Representative to the Porto Protocol. But beyond all of her wine related accomplishments, perhaps her most important contribution is her relentless support of the local community (even from a young age) and promotion of Napa Valley.

She married Jon Lail in 1966; Jon graduated from the University of Colorado and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University; he is a prominent architect in Napa Valley whose company is Lail Design Group. This firm has worked on numerous local wineries including Laird Family, Castello di Amorosa, CADE and Vineyard 29. Robin and Jon’s daughters, Erin and Shannon who have both built successful careers in other fields, are partners in Lail Vineyards.

In the early 1990s Robin began thinking of creating an outstanding wine to honor her ancestors’ history in the Napa Valley; the first vintage of Lail wines was in 1995.

Philippe Melka has been their winemaker since the beginning; in fact, Lail Vineyards was his first wine consulting job in Napa Valley. Robin first met Philippe at Dominus at the beginning of his career. Today Philippe is the winemaker for a number of small premium producers mostly based in Napa Valley. In the past he has been voted American Winemaker of the year by Robert Parker in Food & Wine Magazine. Philippe has a geology degree as well as a degree in enology and agronomy (he knows his Napa terroir very well) and especially enjoys working with Napa Valley’s hillside vineyards. For someone with such recognition, he is one of the most down to earth winemakers we have met.

It is always a fine line to craft wines with that special elegance and softness ready to be consumed now, while at the same time ensuring the wine has the acidity, fruit and structure to be aged. This is a line that Philippe walks well; the hallmark of Lail’s wines are clearly their elegance and balance upon release but also their stalworth characteristics for cellar aging.

Lail owns and uses grapes from two estate vineyards; the tiny 2.5-acre Totem Vineyard in Yountville was part of the original Inglenook vineyard estate. It is part of Napanook Vineyard despite its location on the other side of the highway from the main Napanook site. This vineyard is named after a totem pole that the founder of Inglenook Winery, Gustav Niebaum (Robin’s great-grand uncle) gave the de Young Museum in San Francisco (see below for description and photographs of this totem pole).

And Mole Hill vineyard is located high on the slopes of Howell Mountain at about 1600 feet. The name of this vineyard has interesting origins. When Napa pioneer Louis Martini first made red wine locally, John Daniels decided to make some home red wine and included an image of a mole on his label with a cute saying on the back “Mole Hill Red, A Wine You Will Gopher!” Today this small vineyard is planted entirely to Cabernet Sauvignon and is farmed organically. Nearby neighbors include Arkenstone Vineyards, Bravante Vineyards and 13th Vineyard at Cade.

According to Robin there are generally two things that define a winemaker who works for a small producer; they represent the terroir and site location as authoritatively as possible, and they also make a style of wine representing the owner’s taste. Lail’s palate favors a wine that is integrated and seamless in its presentation; these are wines that pair very well with a diversity of cuisine.

Many small area producers usually only craft one white wine: a Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. With that said, it is always refreshing to discover a winery that showcases the same variety but makes the wine in different styles. It is most interesting to taste and notice the differences when these two wines are placed side by side. Blueprint is their newest produced Sauvignon Blanc. It is named to honor Robin’s husband Jon and his architectural work. Incidentally it was Jon who brought Robin back into the wine business many years after Inglenook was sold.

Select Wines
Whites
The 2021 Lail Blueprint Sauvignon Blanc is light to medium straw color in the glass; the bouquet smells like fruits and flowers that we associate with spring and summer. It offers aromas of honeysuckle, apricots, yellow nectarines, baked pineapple, creme Brule, lemon custard, mango, vanilla and bruised apple. Aromatically generous. Minerally, refreshing and lively across the palate, it offers flavors of honey crisp apple, mandarin, Golden kiwi, passion fruit and lime. The balanced acidity is bright, but not bracing and that is an important distinction with this variety in particular. The finish is mouthwatering, lively and begs another sip. This wine is perfectly saddled between Napa Valley ripeness and New Zealand grassiness. Highly worth seeking out. Pair with shellfish – perhaps with seared scallops seasoned with a light dollop of olive oil, salt and freshly squeezed lemon.

The 2008 Lail Vineyards Blueprint Sauvignon Blanc is made in a Sancerre style. As a result, this wine was aged in stainless steel and is a focused representation of the inherent varietal characteristics. Pale straw color in the glass, this is a lively, clean and crisp wine. It offers pleasing aromatic characteristics including white florals and notes of green apple and lime, both of which are also mirrored on the palate. This wine showcases bright acidity with accompanying notes of mineralities. Richly flavored fruit lingers deliciously on the smooth and extended finish.

In contrast is the Georgia Sauvignon Blanc made in a Graves style. This is named after the first member of the Lail family 6th generation, Robin’s oldest granddaughter Georgia. The aging on this wine is completely different than the Blue Print Sauvignon Blanc. Here the wine is aged in all new French oak and stirred on the lees for 18-20 months. The difference is pronounced in aromas, mouth feel and structure.

The 2023 Lail Sauvignon Blanc Georgia is medium straw in color; this wine was thieved straight from the barrel about 8 months post vintage. The aromatics take some time to fully express themselves but as they evolve, they offer scents of red apple, pineapple guava and freshly cut grass – which reminded us of the aromas of our Midwest trip last week, where it seemed like most people were on their tractor mowers. Harmonious is a good descriptor to already describe its cadence; brightly lit, the palate sports flavors of lime, grapefruit, honeydew melon, green apple and not fully ripe kiwi and pear. The finish features a balanced, bright and bouncy acidity. And it invites another sip and the company of shellfish – perhaps freshly shucked raw oysters.

The 2007 Lail Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Georgia is noticeably darker than the Blueprint. The bouquet is highly aromatic with notes of lemon and honeydew melon. The palate is creamy but not overly so. At the time of our tasting, this wine had not yet been released yet and was still showing some notes of oak. As the wine integrates in the bottle this will dissipate as everything comes into balance. And this is a wine that has some nice structure; you can cellar it for a few years…or not.

Reds
The J. Daniel cuvee is Lail’s flagship wine; in order to understand the significance of this wine, one has to understand the legacy of who it is named after. It is a tribute to Robin’s father John Daniels. Not only was he at the helm of the famed Inglenook Winery but he was a founding member of the Napa Valley Vintners association, 3x Chairman of the Wine Institute and is one of the core group of vintners to really promote and “put” Napa Valley on the wine map. Not many vintners land their photo on the cover of a major wine publication such as the Wine Spectator, 30 years after they have died. John Daniels certainly is one of the pioneers to have left his mark on this great wine region.

The 2005 Lail J Daniel Cuvee is a Bordeaux styled blend; this wine is a dark inky wine with a bouquet that initially sports a dusty component but as it opens, it reveals rich dark fruit aromas. The entry is immediately soft; the layered palate offers a variety of darker fruit flavors including blackberry, blueberry, and black licorice. A long finish awaits showcasing tannins that are well structured and balanced.

Robin noted that it is easy to become inspired about their new vintages; each year they strive to learn how to better take care of the land and their vineyards and produce wines which continue to excite their customers.
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Four diamonds are located on the foil on top of their wine bottles. This pays tribute to the Inglenook brand as well as to the four members of the Lail family currently involved in Lail Vineyards.

And we always learn something after meeting with anyone in the Napa Valley – often it’s just gossip, but from the older vintners we always take away something of more value. From Robin, it is her overall wisdom based on her family’s heritage and formidable contributions to the valley. And also from her, even something as basic as tasting red wines before white wines which nearly all the wineries in the valley order their tastings in the opposite direction. The thinking being that white wines are higher acid and clean and refresh the palate after the heavier reds. Makes sense, especially in Napa Valley’s contemporary wine scene.

The Totem Pole, De Young Museum, San Francisco
This impressive carving by a Tsimshian artist, dates from the late 1800s and is from western coastal Canada. Most likely this carving was made to be sold rather then used by the native peoples. This totem pole was donated in 1900 by Gustave Niebaum through the Alaska Commercial Company. It is currently located in the de Young Museum (originally opened in 1895) in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park (about a 90-to-2-hour drive from Napa Valley, depending on traffic) – next to one of the walls in gallery number 4 in the Native Artists of Western North America exhibition. From the main entrance to the museum, this gallery is all the way to the left once inside the building.

Long on display before the current de Young Museum opened in 2005, this piece was originally mounted above a doorway in the North American Indian Hall of the original Memorial Museum building. The pole depicts a bald eagle, a grizzly bear holding an upside-down human, a whale and a fish.

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In 2024 Lail Vineyards was certified Napa Green Daniel and simultaneously announced that their wines will be bottled using lighter glass, will not be using foil and the corks will be shorter.

Visitors to Napa Valley can most easily taste Lail’s wines at the posh RH Wine Vault tasting room located in Yountville. This is one of the nicer collectives in the valley and features wines from a limited number of premium producers. Lail Vineyards was a founding vintner partner in this tasting space (previously known as Ma(i)sonry – it is a “living gallery” that features rotating works of art and furnishings in an elegant setting.

Select wines are distributed nationally including through K&L Wine Merchants and Total Wine & More. Sometimes current releases are available locally at ACME, a premium wine shop in the town of St. Helena, at Honor Market (formerly Kelly’s Filling Station) in Yountville and at the Oakville Grocery. For more information, to purchase wine or to join their mailing list, visit: www.lailvineyards.com