Pahlmeyer Wine

Pahlmeyer Wine produced their first vintage in 1986. Their first vintages were made at Merryvale Winery; they began producing wine at Napa Wine Co (where we first met up with them for a private tasting many years ago) in 1994 soon after Napa Wine Co underwent a huge renovation to accommodate production from wineries who do not actually have their own physical winery. However, Pahlmeyer has not made their wine at Napa Wine Co for years and eventually built their own production facility.

NOTE: William Hill Winery (also owned by GALLO) is no longer offering tastings. Pahlmeyer is in the process of transitioning their hospitality to the old William Hill Winery. As soon as it opens, and we will significantly update this review including tasting notes for current releases.

Pahlmeyer was started by Jayson Pahlmeyer, a former trial attorney who once his wines started becoming popular, stopped his legal work and dedicated his time to building the Pahlmeyer wine brand. As with numerous other vintners we have met with over the years who worked in other industries before becoming vintners, Jayson started becoming hooked by the wine industry and slowly phased out his law practice. Over the years he made several trips to France to located specific clones from Bordeaux red grapes.

Pahlmeyer’s initial roots were tied to John Caldwell’s vineyard in what is now Coombsville (east of the city of Napa). He and John were originally going to develop that property for housing but with restrictions set by the Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve, they soon shelved those plans and opted to plant grapes instead (reference our review on Caldwell Vineyards for the smuggler story of how part of this vineyard was planted. Coombsville is known as a cooler weather part of Napa Valley and during the 1970s and 1980s Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were primarily planted (reference the historic Haynes Vineyard as an example). But Caldwell successfully planted Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux red varieties; the first few vintages of Pahlmeyer were from the Caldwell Vineyard.

In late 2019 GALLO purchased the Pahlmeyer and Jayson by Pahlmeyer brands (but not the vineyard). While no longer running Pahlmeyer (in 2017 his daughter Cleo took over the operations for two years), Jayson stays busy growing champion size pumpkins with several entries in the famed Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Weigh-Off. The well-known master of Howell Mountain wines, Randy Dunn ran Pahlmeyer’s initial wine making operations for seven years and helped put this winery on the map so to speak. Other notables who have helped with the winemaking include Bob Levy, Helen Turley, and Kale Anderson.

Timing is everything in wine – the producers for Disclosure, a moving starring Demi Moore and Michael Douglas were eating at Spago of Beverly Hills and were served a bottle of Pahlmeyer’s 1991 Chardonnay based on the sommelier’s recommendation (only 40 cases were made of that vintage). They fell in love with this very limited production wine and as a result, it was used in a pivotal scene in the movie which ended up being the perfect tool for initially marketing their wine. Even today, the winery still receives phone calls about the wine when Disclosure shows on prime-time television.

Along with their estate vineyards, they work with area growers and purchase grapes from a number of locations mostly in the Napa Valley. Their vineyards are typically heavily crop thinned, so lots of fruit is dropped on the ground ensuring very small productions, the canopies are carefully managed to create just the right amount of sunlight and ensure the fruit becomes ripe but still retaining the acidity and pH balance. David Abreu is one of the “stars” of Napa’s vineyard managers and Pahlmeyer sources from several of his managed vineyards including one of our favorite vineyards, the Thorevilos Vineyard near Howell Mountain (although as of 2019, this vineyard is now called Ecotone Vineyard and is no longer managed by David Abreu).

The Atlas Peak estate (Waters Ranch) is planted to approximately 72 acres of vines – with an uppermost elevation of around 2200 feet. The Pahlmeyer’s retained ownership of this site after the sale to GALLO. Approximately 80% of the vineyards on this site are within the Atlas Peak AVA while the remainder is in the Napa Valley appellation. Unlike most Atlas Peak vineyards whose access is via either Atlas Peak Road or Soda Canyon Road – the Pahlmeyer estate (while able to be seen from select parts of the Southern Napa Valley floor) is only accessible via long and winding roads leading up to the east side of Atlas Peak. David Abreu oversaw the development of this vineyard.

The Pahlmeyer’s founded the Wayfarer Estate Vineyard, a prime 30-acre site in the coveted Fort Ross Seaview appellation of western Sonoma County. This brand is not to be confused with Wayfarer Wines based in the United Kingdom. The Wayfarer Estate Vineyard is the source for the Wayfarer Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines. And this brand and vineyard were also not included in the sale to GALLO and continue to be operated by Cleo and Jayson. Wayfarer’s offices are located in downtown Napa.

Select Wines
Pahlmeyer
The 2005 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay is a delicious wine sourced from the Ritchie Vineyard located in the Russian River Valley of neighboring Sonoma County; this wine was fermented with 100% wild yeast and went through 100% malolactic fermentation. It is a wine well-balanced between acidity and fruit. The nose is very floral with lots of honeysuckle. The 2005 Pahlmeyer Pinot Noir was their first ever Pinot Noir produced …not bad at all for a first effort. This is a darker and deeper Pinot Noir then some of the more delicate wines we have tried from this varietal; shows some mint characteristics on the nose and raspberry and blackberry on the palate.

The 2004 Pahlmeyer Red Table wine is the “big” dark inky wine”; it is well extracted with lots of color from the time spent on the skins. Again, this wine is fermented with 100% natural yeast. It does not disappoint; it has more than 75% Cabernet Sauvignon so technically they could call it a Cabernet Sauvignon, but it is the four other Bordeaux varietals that give this wine its real full-bodied strength. There are strong notes of black cherry in the mouth with a well-structured rich tannin backbone that ends with a slightly smoky finish.

NOTE: updated tasting notes needed here. Hopefully by the end of 2024 or 2025 we will have a chance to taste current release wines.

Jayson by Pahlmeyer
The 2017 Jayson by Pahlmeyer Sauvignon Blanc is highly aromatic and appealing on the bouquet – very fruit forward initially with tropical aromas including pineapple and honeysuckle as well as ripe yellow peach. Balanced but big across the palate, this wine shows a noticeable intensity of flavor. Offers a sweetness of fruit, mineralities and flavors of lime along with decent acidity (no tartness often associated with cooler weather wines of this varietal). Very long finish.

The 2016 Jayson by Pahlmeyer Cabernet Sauvignon shows plenty of fruit on the bouquet in its youth – with both blackberry and blueberry – somewhat briary in its aromatic presentation. Soft on the entry but quickly gains in structure – showcasing its youthful, muscular and still tightly wound tannins. Packs a lot of flavors including red and dark cherry.

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Pahlmeyer is distributed nationally as well as in select markets in Asia and in Europe. As of our latest update, they still taste their wines at the upscale RH Wine Vault tasting room in Yountville. They recommend calling ahead to make sure their wine is available as the tasting room does rotate their wines from time to time. They are also found in select local wine shops in the valley including V Wine Cellars in Yountville.

The first vintage of Jayson by Pahlmeyer was in 1992.

And we will leave you with a quote from Jayson Pahlmeyer, “Everything worth doing is worth doing to excess”. And to this we can add, is where there is a fine line between passion and obsession.

Former Jayson by Pahlmeyer tasting room, Vista Collina Resort

For more information or to join their wine club, visit: www.pahlmeyer.com

The Gallo Family, GALLO
The original winery under Gallo family ownership was founded in 1933 in Modesto, California immediately following the repeal of Prohibition by two brothers, Ernest and Julio Gallo. The initial seed money of $5000 to start the company came from Ernest’s mother-in-law, Teresa Franzia who had founded her family’s winery, Franzia Wine Company in 1906. They made their first wine in 1933 at a rented warehouse built in 1928 at 401 11th Street (on the northwestern corner of the often very busy 11th and D Streets in Modesto (less then a mile from both downtown Modesto and Gallo Glass and GALLO). Remarkably this warehouse building is still standing; the exterior almost completely covered in some sort of aggressive vine growth. The site is owned by GALLO.

Interestingly this is the same year that Louis M Martini purchased his property in Napa Valley, and perhaps opening within weeks apart as both wineries began operations later in the year during the 1933 harvest. Ernest and Julio’s parents immigrated to the USA from northern Italy and both brothers were born near Modesto. Tragically Julio was killed in a jeep accident in 1983 involving his wife and his two granddaughters including now winemaker Gina Gallo (the three women survived the accident).

A milestone in the company’s rich history was the founding of Gallo Glass Company in 1958 which now the largest glass manufacturing plant in North America. A visit to the exterior of this site shows an impressive campus with trucks pulling in and out of several entrances (less than a mile from downtown Modesto) and next to the enormous bottling and shipping facility of GALLO. Along with two other production wineries located in the central valley, Fresno and Livingston (small community along the 99 freeway south of Modesto), these three winery facilities are the largest in the world. GALLO is among the top 100 highest grossing private companies in the United States.

Other milestones include the launching of the Carlo Rossi brand in 1975 and Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers in 1984. The purchase of Louis Martini Winery in 2002 was just the beginning of GALLO’s acquisition of numerous brands, wineries and vineyard properties, accelerating around 2011 and continuing today.

And in 2007 the Gallo Arts Center opened in downtown Modesto, a state-of-the-art performing arts center hosting both local, national and internationally recognized talent in one of two theatres. Owned by Stanislaus County with its namesake chosen after the Gallo family donated $10 million to the original endowment fund.

Within Napa Valley, GALLO owns William Hill Estate Winery in the southern part of Napa Valley (purchased in 2007), The Ranch Winery (purchased 2015), Orin Swift Cellars (purchased in 2016), Franciscan Winery (purchased 2019), Pahlmeyer (purchased 2019), Rombauer Vineyards (purchased 2023), Massican (purchased 2023), the iconic Stagecoach Vineyards on Atlas Peak (purchased in 2017) and the California Brandy House in downtown Napa (opened in late 2020, but permanently closed in early 2024).