Lawer Estates

Lawer Estates is a small family run producer operated by Betsy and David Lawer (he died in 2021); they are Duke alumni, which is where they first met and both have strong ties to Alaska. The First National Bank of Anchorage was founded in 1922 in Anchorage; Betsy’s grandfather Warren N. Cuddy began purchasing stock in this bank in the 1930s and in 1941 purchased a controlling interest. Her father Dan Cuddy became president of the bank at age 30 and served in a leadership role for more than 60 years. He was a float plane pilot, certainly a useful skill when conducting banking business in Alaska’s vast landscape. In 1960 the bank opened Alaska’s first drive through banking service and in 2001 the bank’s name changed to First National Bank Alaska.

Today this bank continues to be family run; Betsy is the Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer and oversees 30+ banks within the state. In 2019 she was inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame. David was a lawyer, and also worked for First National Bank Alaska as their Senior Vice President and General Counsel; in 2020 he was honored with an Alaska Business Hall of Fame award.

Their first introduction to owning a ‘piece’ of Napa Valley was as investors in 1995 in Folie à Deux Winery (along with other investors). It was there they met winemaker, Scott Harvey who at the time was also associated with Folie à Deux Winery. Ultimately, they hired Scott to craft the first vintages of Lawer Estates.

Betsy owns two estate vineyard properties, one mere minutes from their tasting room, located in the hills above Calistoga not far from the intersection of Petrified Forest Road and Franz Valley School Road (5 acres of vines are planted here) and in neighboring Sonoma County further down Franz Valley School Road into Knights Valley where she owns over 100 acres of which about 15 are planted to vines (Betsy’s Vineyard).

First National Bank Alaska

Franz Valley School Road, Franz Valley Road and Franz Valley are named in honor of Captain Frederick Franz who settled in nearby Franz Valley, Sonoma County in 1857 with his wife Sarah. The deed to his property was dated January 31, 1857. He built a basic road into Knights Valley which was eventually known as the Captain’s Road and constructed a home. Their daughter Minnie was born in the home and lived here almost all of her life until passing in 1931. The home lasted until 1964 when it was completely burned in the Hanley Fire. Frederick and Sarah are buried in the St. Helena Cemetery.

Unfortunately, the fires in October 2017 chewed through their Knights Valley property burning several homes on site – but their vineyards acted as a fire break and there was minimal damage to the actual vines. Their Knights Valley property features a diversity of microclimates allowing them to grow both Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Viognier and Syrah. Grapes for their wines come from both of their estate vineyards however they also purchase some Cabernet Sauvignon from select sites in Oakville and Atlas Peak.

The first vintage of Lawer Estates was 2003.

Select Wines
Whites/Rosé
The 2023 Lawer Estates Rosé of Syrah, Knights Valley Sonoma County is medium salmon in color; the fruity and flirtatious bouquet smells energetic and fully alive. No shyness here. Its scents are of watermelon jolly rancher, ruby grapefruit, citrus blossom, quince, raspberry sorbet, a hint of mint and orange peel. This latter aromatic somehow reminded us of being on a plane and a passenger in a nearby seat begins peeling an orange or a tangerine and its aromas are immediatley noticed. Off dry, one quickly notes its perceptible sweetness, but this is countered by a bright acidic and mouth watering backbone. On the palate there are flavors of ripe strawberry, raspberry, cherry, and pomegranate. Lingers with a note of white pepper and a gentle and lightly drying tannic grip. This is your go to bottle for summer time gatherings around the pool where conversation flows easily and effortlessly. Or we wouldn’t mind a rooftop in Bangkok in the winter with this bottle and a plate of giant freshwater prawns and spicy nam prik sauce. This wine was aged for 8 months in 100% stainless steel tanks.

Someone at Lawer Estates likes their white wines slightly sweet, but with that said, each of the off-dry white bottlings we tried are tied together with a bright and linear note of acidity running the length of the palate. And one of the hallmarks of these wines are their generous aromatics.

One will be hard pressed to find as unique of a story relating to the name of a wine as their Cannon Block Chardonnay. Betsy and David’s daughter Sarah used to play with “potato cannons” in their vineyard – a potato slinger if you will. She and her friends used to shoot potatoes out in the vineyard and one day the family noticed potatoes growing among the vines. The name of this wine is in homage to this but also to one’s carefree days of youth.

The 2023 Lawer Estates Cannon Block Unoaked Chardonnay, Knights Valley Sonoma County is pale yellow in color; highly aromatic, sweet and fruity, in a blind tasting we probably would have guessed this to be Viognier from its aromatics alone. But as we have experienced time and time again, blind tastings are incredibly humbling. But even knowing its Chardonnay, we still strongly identify this wine as resembling Viognier. Its aromatic profile is an attractive union of both floral, stone fruits and tropical fruits. These scents include honeysuckle, pineapple, lychee, ripe peach, apricot, yellow nectarine, Champagne mango, ripe papaya, golden apples and pineapple guava. Generously flavored and fully ripe across the palate it offers notes of golden delicious apple, comise pear, white nectarine, white peach, pineapple guava, apricot and pineapple. The finish lingers with a light bitter note, similar to a citrus rind. This wine was aged for 10 months in 100% stainless steel vessels.

The 2023 Lawer Estate Cannon Block Chardonnay, Knights Valley Sonoma County is medium straw in color; the fruity and open-knitted aromatics feature aromas of golden apples, honey crisp apples, pineapple, pineapple guava, white nectarine, white peach, yellow peaches in light syrup, a note of melting butter, star jasmine, ripe papaya and hints of caramel and vanilla. Highly exuberant, its aromatics deliver plenty of pleasure. The rich and generous palate offers loads of stone and tropical fruits including apricot, peach, nectarine, papaya and pineapple accompanied by ginger, citrus marmalade and honeycomb. Finishes with a dryness, a note of white pepper and a perceptible but light sweetness. Almost appears to be off dry, but this perception might be due to the ripeness of fruit. The bright and tangy acidity keeps this wine fresh and helps balance out its sweet character. This wine was aged for 8 Months in 80% stainless steel and 20% in used French oak barrels.

The 2023 Lawer Estates Viognier, Knights Valley Sonoma County is medium to deep straw in color; the initial words we jotted down to describe this bouquet were pear, apple and white florals. The sweetly fruited scents are brightly lit, highly expressive and include pineapple, golden delicious apple, honeycomb, comise pear, citrus blossom, tangerine, star jasmine, honeysuckle, white nectarine, pineapple guava and some secondary scents of vanilla, butterscotch and creme Brule. The palate appears to be off-dry; it is loaded with layers of fully ripe stone fruits including nectarine, peach and apricot, accompanied by lychee, banana and a lasting note of ginger. The finish is richly flavored and extends itself, fully. We wouldn’t mind pairing this with a summer salad topped with fresh Dungeness crab and perhaps a few tiny shrimps – drizzled in a Meyer lemon aioli sauce.

The 2014 Lawer Estates Viognier. We tasted this 5+ years after vintage date; this wine still shows a freshness and liveliness that perhaps one would associate with a younger wine. Straw yellow in color; the bouquet offers bright fruit aromatics including citrus blossom, lime, honeysuckle and ripe pear. Easy drinking and very balanced across the palate. The palate is built on the back of citrus including and orange peel zest with an acid-driven brightness lingering on the finish. Its vibrancy has carried this wine for nicely for 5 years and will continue to do so for several more years.

The 2014 Lawer Knights Valley Late Harvest Chardonnay is 75% Chardonnay and 25% Viognier. Offers sweet aromatics of ripe apricot, honeycomb, marmalade and other stone fruits including nectarine and peach. Creamy and rounded with a slight oily texture, this wine’s residual sugar is tempered nicely with its bright acidity. Still to a non-dessert wine drinker not used to wines of this style, it will taste very sweet. It features a noticeable weight mid palate. Finishes with flavors of orange, mandarin and an orange peel zest.

While there are four Napa Valley based wineries that focus on sparkling wines (Domaine Carneros, Domaine Chandon, Mumm Napa Valley and Schramsberg), in the last few years, we have noticed more Napa Valley producers offering sparkling wines in their portfolio. Lawer also offers several California appellations sparkling wines.

Reds
The 2021 Lawer Estates Petite Sirah, Betsy’s Vineyard Knights Valley, Sonoma County is deep ruby and purple and completely opaque; just looking at its color makes us think of the ‘teeth staining’ character of this variety. Its aromas are dark and fruity showing Santa Rosa plum, dark cherry, blackberry, boysenberry and Persian mulberry. Additional scents include dark chocolate, mocha, cocoa powder, old cedar box, pipe tobacco, dried sage and crushed black peppercorn. This is a fully ripe expression of the variety, with flavors of blackberry jam, boysenberry spread, tart plums, dark cherry and mulberry. While the palate has some ripe jam like characteristics, its not jammy – and we can thank the lively acidity for this balance. The well-tumbled and ripe tannins sport a rounded and supple texture with a light to moderate grip. Such is the vitality of the finish, that both fruit and texture linger in tandem for quite some time, with neither outpacing the other. In a lineup of other Napa Valley Petit Sirahs, this wine would be a crowd favorite.

The 2014 Lawer Knights Valley, Betsy’s Vineyard Syrah is noticeable dark red in the glass; its nose is meaty with additional aromas of blackberry, black currant, spiced plum and dark chocolate. Also, dessert spices. Noticeable is this wine’s pleasing texture, certainly helped by a few years of age. Concentrated but remarkably well balanced everything is harmoniously integrated including fruit, acidity and structure. Features a suppleness from start to finish with finer grained tannins, darker fruit and some darker spices showing on the finish. This is a pleasure to drink.

The 2016 Lawer Vineyard Select Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby; the bouquet clearly offers some character, attributes that are not associated with being over ripe. These scents include cigar smoke, tobacco leaf and hints of crushed black pepper. On the palate there is a note of jalapeno, albeit subtle, it is complemented nicely by mouthwatering and juicy red fruit tones. Flavors of red cherry and raspberry linger on the finish. Nicely integrated tannins here. No harsh texture. Built to drink now, but also built to age.

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Other brands under Lawer ownership not available at the tasting room include Three Coins, Hooker, Voodoo and Duckshack. The identity of all three brands are highly personal. Three Coins is named after a tradition Betsy’s father maintained when sluicing on the family’s gold mining claim located several hours north of Anchorage. He would place three coins into the sluice to gauge the pressure of the water running through the riffles. Too much pressure, the coins would wash away and so would any gold – to little pressure, then to much sediment would build up, also not ideal when trying to trap the gold in the riffles of the sluice.

Hooker is not named after some of Alaska’s sordid history surrounding its gold mining days but rather refers to the hooker position in Rugby. And David was a hooker on the Duke Rugby team and so was Betsy’s father (while he attended Stanford).

The label for the Lawer Estate wines mimics the look of a bond or stock certificate – a nod to Betsy’s family history in the banking industry.

Eight North, Lawer Estates Restaurant & Winery
NOTE: Lawer Estate plans to move operations into a building under their ownership which previously housed Brannan’s Grill in downtown Calistoga at 1374 Lincoln Avenue. Plans call for converting this space to a tasting room, bar and dining room, opening most likely sometime in 2025 but maybe in 2026. It will be called: Eight North. As part of this transition, the original Lawyer Estates tasting room is now closed; as of our latest update to this review the building that housed the former Lawer tasting room is for sale. Until the new restaurant opens, Lawer Estates will be pouring select wines every Saturday at the Calistoga Farmers’ Market held across from the Sharpsteen Museum.

California regulation allows a winery to own up to two restaurants if the winery serves no more than 15% of their own own wines at its restaurants. However, if a winery owned restaurant produces wine as a bonded winery within their restaurant, they can serve more than 15% of their own wines at the restaurant. Lawer Estates plans to produce some of their own wines within Eight North (primarily white wines).

The building has a long history of housing restaurants. Brannan’s Grill closed in 2018 after 20 years operating. We remember meeting several vintners here over the years and always being impressed by what was the focal point of the restaurant, the historic mahogany bar. In the 1970s the building was home to Silverado Restaurant & Tavern. And for parts of the 1950s and 1960s it was home to the Colonial Coffee Shop, known for their crab Louie.

We will visit the new home of Lawer Estate once it is open and will *significantly update our notes and photography here* at that time.

Future home of Lawer Estates Restaurant & Winery

Estate Rentals
Lawer Estates offers three distinctive property rentals in Calistoga. All must be rented for a minimum of 30 days at a time. The closest airport, Santa Rosa’s Charles M Schulz (STS) is located only about a 30 minute drive from any of these three properties.

1. The The Farmhouse in the Vineyard
This property is located four miles from Calistoga; it is 60 acres including a vineyard lined with olive and apple trees. Resist the temptation to pick an olive and bit into it straight from the tree. It is a sensations you will not soon forget – leaving you with hours of tannin coating astringency that you want to eliminate from your palate but just can’t find a way to do so. And if you visit during the fall, you should bit into one of the crisp ripe apples.

This 1940s two story farmhouse sleeps a maximum of four people among two bedrooms, each with a queen size bed. The kitchen will be fully stocked at the time of your visit including local ingredients picked daily. This property also features a bocce court and a private pool.

2. Retreat on the Knoll
This 15-acre property is located only a mile from downtown Calistoga. This two story house offers three bedrooms, each with a king-sized bed and accompanying private bathroom and a gourmet kitchen. A one-bedroom guest house is also located on site and sleeps up to two people. A solar heated pool is available for guests of the property.

3. Creekside
This private home houses up to 6 people and is located next to their 60-acre vineyard property. The house offers two stories, a galley kitchen and a full-size washer and dryer. Guests can also use the oversized hot tub.

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The Lawer family owns a two-address empty lot at 1215 Lincoln Avenue; the original plans were to build a small tasting room and hospitality space with the design overseen by the architectural firm, Backen, Gillam & Kroeger. Three magnolia trees are planted right on the Lincoln side of this sizable lot; in researching their history, Betsy discovered that these three trees were planted in honor of three Calistoga servicemen killed in World War II, one of whom actually lived in Alaska for a time.

Lawer Estates has accumulated an impressive collection of various medals and awards the wines have won over the years. Their total production is around 3,000 cases per year with plans to grow this over time to potentially around 10,000 cases. For more information or to join their mailing list, to purchase wine or one of several wine clubs, visit: www.lawerestates.com

ARCHIVED NOTES
Former Tasting Room
The original Lawer Estates tasting room coincidentally was in a building that used to house First Counties Bank and dates from 1958. As of the end of July 2024, Lawer Estates vacated this space; we keep our notes and photography here for historical reference. We first visited this space many years ago when Mary Sue Frediani ran the tasting room for OnTheEdge Winery. At one point, a number of live bees were on display inside the tasting room, a colony that was part of the interior decor. The only remnant of that intriguing display is a still-existing hole in the wall. Prior to Lawer Estate, the most recent occupant was Dick Vermeil’s Vermeil Tasting Room. Several Syrah vines damaged in the October 2017 fires were re-purposed and were displayed inside. Lawer Estate hosted a soft opening in late November 2019.

Noted Calistoga based artist Carlo Marchiori maintains the Ca’ Toga Galleria D’ Arte (art gallery) in the adjacent building (both buildings share the same parking lot). Carlo is a well-known muralist who has created murals around the world primarily in North America, Europe and Asia – in select hotels, wineries and casinos. He lives in his self-titled Villa CA’TOGA in the northern part of Calistoga and opens his impressive house to visitors for tours by appointment during select times in the summer. But relevant to the former Lawer Estates tasting room is the mural Carlo painted on the outside east and south facing walls. It is worth taking a quick look if walking by.

This tasting room had plenty of space with both sit down and standing room at either of the two wine bars. The staff was very hospitable, and tastings were highly personalized. Calistoga is a small town; during one of our visits one of the staff waived to the mayor who was walking by and pointed out a restaurant owner driving by in an antique truck.

Former Tasting Room