Mowe Napa Valley was founded in 2022 by Dustin and Renee Mowe. Both were born and raised in Shasta County, Dustin in the tiny community of Burney and Renee in Redding. After college Dustin moved to Napa Valley in the late 1990s. He met someone who sold corks for a living for a startup French company. When Dustin asked him about his career, he responded by saying, “every winery needs them.” Dustin then said, “yes, like shoe laces”. And the guy agreed. With this conversation still fresh in his mind, Dustin was browsing classified job ads in the Napa Register when he spotted a listing requesting a cork salesman for a different company. He called the number in the job listing and setup an interview.
But then he called back the other salesman and told him he was intrigued by his work and asked him if he could meet to ask him questions about the cork business. They did meet and the salesman told Dustin he was also looking to hire someone to sell corks. Dustin did go to his interview but ultimately worked for several years for the individual he originally met.
He was recruited by PortoCork in 2001 as a sales manager and in 2006 he became President and CEO of PortoCork, a position he continues to hold today. This south Napa based company supplies premium corks to numerous wineries in Napa Valley but also to markets across North America. Their operations are impressive, including detailed and rigorous testing for TCA.
He and Renee lived near downtown Napa, but eventually both began to consider moving up valley. They would often take drives to St. Helena and look at properties but soon realized the prices were beyond what they could afford at the time. One day he looked at his own house on Zillow and was pleasantly surprised by its estimated value. He called up a real estate agent and asked her about this price. She told him she could try to either sell the house at one price quickly or at a different price if they wanted to wait longer.
They listed their home and it quickly sold. While visiting the property near St. Helena for the first time that they would eventually buy, Dustin remembers he and Renee were parked next to the gate leading up to the house. He noticed three cork trees (which he estimated to be at least 50 years old) and pointed them out to Renee. Both took that as a good sign. Wanting to purchase the home, but noticing the small vineyard in front, he queried the real estate agent. She told him the vineyard was part of the same property and the grapes were being sold to Spottswoode. Another aha moment, as Spottswoode is one of their favorite producers in Napa Valley.
He soon called up Aron, the winemaker at Spottswoode to ask him about the vineyard. Aron immediately told him to buy it as he had been working with the site for a number of years and was always impressed by the quality of grapes. The Mowe’s purchased this property in 2020 and soon set about renovating the home. Dustin remembers hanging a new chandelier over one of their tables on a Wednesday, having a welcoming party on Friday and by Saturday evacuating because of the quickly approaching Glass Fire. Firefighters from three firetrucks came on to the property, two from Manteca and one local engine. They saved the home despite trees burning on their property including right next to the house. And other than a few vines which burned on the edge, the vineyard survived unscathed. Nearby neighbors were not so lucky, including Chateau Boswell’s main winery building and several that lost their homes.
This property was previously owned by Stephen and Sue Parry. Before selling the grapes to Spottswoode the fruit was going to Pahlmeyer Winery. And the Parry’s produced their own limited production estate Cabernet Sauvignon for several years, bottled under Parry Cellars. Andy Schweiger of Schweiger Vineyards was their winemaker. The high density, low to the ground vines were planted by David Abreu in 1990, entirely to Cabernet Sauvignon, a Spottswoode selection. Nearby winery neighbors include Casa Nuestra owned vineyards and Chateau Boswell.
The vineyard is slightly less than an acre; after three decades the vines are disease free and produce between 3 and 4 tons per acre. Their property contains a fair amount of obsidian; the appropriately named Glass Mountain and Glass Mountain Road are both located within a very short drive of their property. After the Mowe’s purchased the property, updates were made to how the vines were managed including significantly cutting back the amount of water used each growing season. Part of the transition in ownership involved hiring Gallegos Vineyard Management company to oversee the vines. And the Mowe’s also help with some of the vineyard management duties.
The Mowe’s sold the grapes to Spottswoode through the 2021 vintage. Both Dustin and Renee have collected wines for many years and had talked about producing their own wines someday but were waiting for the right timing. Now that they owned the vineyard, they made a promise to themselves; start their wine brand by the time their son Tristan graduated from high school. He was just entering high school, so they had 4 years to prepare.
In 2022, Aron called Dustin and invited him over to Spottswoode to try the wine made from Mowe Vineyard before it was blended into Spottswoode’s Cabernet Sauvignon. Both men were extremely impressed with the quality of the wine, helped in part by some of the viticulture upgrades that had been made. Dustin returned home and told Renee that he was ready to take the next step.
Winemaker Maayan Koschitzky was over for dinner one evening; during conversation Renee mentioned how much she enjoyed Sauvignon Blanc and that it would be nice if they also could produce a wine from this variety. Timing was great; Mayan had been working with a small Sauvignon Blanc vineyard in Coombsville and he was looking for a buyer for the grapes from that site. He offered to make this wine, but needed an urgent decision in regard to purchasing the grapes. It wasn’t a hard decision to make; Mayaan crafts this one wine for them each year from the same vineyard.
More connections in the industry proved beneficial. Another friend, winemaker Matt Sands asked them where they would be producing their Cabernet Sauvignon. He then suggested he make the wine at the winery where he worked; Sands makes their Cabernet Sauvignon every year.
Tasting up and down the valley, Dustin referenced trying wines from thirty different wineries located in approximately the same area. He noticed that 25 of these producers would produce wines of similar styles and only five would be true to the terroir. He told us that Mowe Napa Valley produces wines like a symphony rather than a soloist; showcasing both the variety and the site resulting in pretty and elegant wines. No opulent and hedonistic showings here. These are thoughtfully produced bottlings focused on attention to detail in both the vineyard and in the cellar.
Both Dustin and Renee are involved equally in the brand. The amount of thought and detail they put into creating Mowe Napa Valley, even before the wines were released is impressive. Being surrounded by hundreds of producers, all crafting at a high quality is inspirational. But when you have your own brand and you are part of something that feels innately personal, you want to do things with your own influence – carefully, thoughtfully and with precision. And they have certainly done so.
Dustin shared some of the best words of advice we have heard in regard to building a wine brand: do not wait until the wine is in bottle before creating a marketing strategy. The Mowe’s began building buzz and anticipation well before their wines were released. And once the wines were in bottle, they showed them to approximately 150 people prior to officially releasing them in October 2024.
And Dustin reached out to numerous individuals in Napa Valley who had experience working with winery startups; some were successful but many also ceased production. He posed the following question to them, “why did they fail?”. And the answers were varied, but often the owners got into the business for the wrong reasons, were not aware of the persistence one needs to sell wine in a crowded and competitive market and their brands were not built for the long term.
Select Wines
Sauvignon Blanc
The Mowe Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc is from a dry farmed and organic vineyard in Coombsville from vines planted in 2007. The vineyard is planted to approximately 65% Clone 1 and 35% to Musqué; these percentages are reflected in the wine. This wine is produced with bright acidity, mineralities and texture.
Both Dustin and Renee wanted to produce a white wine reminiscent of some of the best Bordeaux Blanc bottlings. And closer to home, to shine brightly among some of Napa Valley’s top Sauvignon Blancs including Lail, Melka and Dana Estate. It is no coincidence that some of their favorite local wines of this variety have been produced or influenced by Philippe Melka, a winemaker who arguably has elevated the quality and reputation of the variety in Napa Valley.
In addition to working with a special site, crafting this wine requires extended aging in barrel. They noticed a significant progression of the wine in its elevage between the 8-9 month range and the 13-15 month range in terms of increased richness and texture. The Mowe’s refer to this period, “as when the magic happens”. Mouth feel was built through battonage for 18 of the 19 months the wine was in barrel. They are firm believers in minimal intervention; this wine is never filtered and does not go through malolactic fermentation.
The 2022 Mowe Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, Coombsville was bottled in mid April 2024; for reference, we tasted this wine at the end of June that same year. It was fermented in French oak and then aged in 75% new French oak barrels with the remainder being once-fill barrels for 19 months before being bottled. The richness of the grapes hold up to the extended time on oak. This wine is medium golden in color; the bouquet offers an herbal character including lemongrass, pomelo, lemon verbena, light honeysuckle, stone fruit blossoms, lemon juice and pencil shavings. Its scents are saddled on the elegant side of what this variety can offer and stays far away from the tropical attributes from riper expressions. On the palate there are flavors of lemon juice, white peaches, not fully ripe pineapple, mandarin and green apple. This wine is superbly balanced in its youth. It is an elegant bottling but with a textural fleshiness supported by an energetic finish that continues to shine brightly. Its pH is 3.1. This is built to be an age worthy white.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2022 Mowe Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena was bottled in mid June; we tasted this wine several days after it was bottled. Focusing on more mid palate depth and length, their Cabernet Sauvignon is typically macerated post fermentation for at least 30 days but this varies depending on vintage. It was aged for 21 months in 70% new French oak barrels. This wine is is deep ruby in color; the initial aromatics we noted were floral including violets, lavender, sage and dried rose petals. And there are some accompanying light herbal notes of dried herbs a hint of old cedar box and petrichor. As the wine warms in the glass it offers a subtle note of cocoa powder. Its aromatics and its texture are both noteworthy attributes. Balanced wines in their youth equate to balanced wines as they age, and this wine is already well-balanced and refined. The palate offers flavors of red cherry, currant and dark raspberry with a light dried herb character on the finish including a hint of dried sage. The tannins are remarkably polished and sport a chalky texture which seamlessly fits into the finish. This is a finessed bottling of this variety showcasing its inherent elegant characteristics.
The one aspect we noted years ago when we tried the Parry Cellars wines from this property were regardless of vintage, all the wines featured supple and silky textured tannins. And while we have tried only one wine from the Mowe Napa Valley vineyard to date, this characteristic is clearly evident.
These two impressive inaugural wines are highly worth seeking out.
—-
Editors note: the Napa Wine Project was the very first signup on the Mowe Napa Valley mailing list, soon after their website was launched.
Total production from the estate is around 200 cases each year of the Cabernet Sauvignon and of the Sauvignon Blanc, about 100 cases. The wines are sold primarily direct with the intention to have limited distribution at some of their favorite restaurants in Napa Valley and also in Texas. One of their earliest retail outlets in Napa Valley was V Wine Cellars in Yountville. The wines have also been sold through K. Laz in Yountville and may be available at Goose & Gander restaurant in St. Helena. Tastings are by appointment and are always hosted with Dustin or Renee or both.
For more information, to signup for their mailing list and to purchase wines, visit: www.mowenapavalley.com
Leave a Reply