People’s Wine Revolution

People’s Wine Revolution (PWR) was founded with the 2009 vintage by husband-wife vintners Matt Reid and Marcy Webb (tragically Marcy passed away far too young in 2019). Matt grew up in Northern Virginia but fell in love with California during a trip out west while in college. Eventually he moved to San Francisco, did some work for the United States Environmental Protection Agency and also IT work for the city’s health department. Finding neither of these jobs fulfilling he started to explore wine making. He made his first wine at his house in San Francisco.

He then decided to pursue wine making more seriously and enrolled in the UC Davis UC-Davis Viticulture & Enology M.S. program – completing his studies in 2003. Matt’s first job in Napa was at Seavey Winery; he also helped make wine at Quixote Winery and oversaw the custom crush operations at Failla Vineyards. His original intent was to come to Napa Valley, gain winemaking experience and then parlay that into a career in another wine region. However, Matt never left and fell in love with Calistoga, in particular. It was while working at Failla Vineyards that he decided he wanted a more hands on role in wine making – the “creative control” as he puts it. It was then that he and Marcy decided to start PWR.

Matt has a flexible wine making day job at a NoNaVa winery allowing him to spend as much time as needed working on his own wines. For reference, we coined the term NoNaVa to describe up valley locations, combining the first two initials from the words: North Napa Valley. Marcy also used to help with their wine making duties.

Whenever Matt would meet friends for dinner – they would try to impress him by bringing wines they thought would excite him, often with price tags they perhaps normally wouldn’t spend on a bottle of wine. Matt admits that most of the time these wines were not that interesting. Matt wanted to create a well-made wine that anyone could enjoy at an affordable price point. This was the impetus for starting PWR. At the time of this review all his PWR wines are priced in the $20-$60 range. The economics of sourcing grapes entirely from Napa Valley for wines at this price point is extremely challenging and is part of the reason why Matt also sources fruit from outside of the county.

In addition to Napa Valley, his vineyard sources range from Sonoma, Mendocino County and Suisun Valley. Matt used to source from Lodi but eventually realized that spending two hours driving to these further vineyards for 10 minutes of sampling time was not worth the extended time in the car. Current vineyard sources are usually within a more reasonable drive from his house in Calistoga. A number of his vineyard sources have been found based on word of mouth from contacts in the industry.

Select Wines
Whites/Rosé
The 2023 PWR Rosé of Sangiovese, St. Helena Napa Valley was sourced from a tiny vineyard next to the primary ag supply store in St. Helena. This wine is pale salmon in color; the minerally bouquet reveals aromas of grapefruit pith, kaffir lime leaf, rose petals and lemon zest. Also a note of petrol. No, wait, completely scratch that last aromatic descriptor; that smell is wafting in through the window from a neighbor cutting their lawn with a gasoline powered mower. This bottling is a refreshing summertime sipper; the palate delivers loads of flavor including wild strawberry, raspberry, lemon/lime, pineapple guava and white peach. The acidity delivers a zesty zip across the palate; it is bright and mouth watering but perfectly balanced. Lingers with a note of tarragon. We love the texture on this bottling as its creamy and velvety character complements the lively acidity quite well. The mouth feel is like running one’s hand over the soft fur of a young white Miniature Schnauzer puppy. Pair with grilled artichokes and fried oysters.

The 2023 PWR Viognier Avenali Vineyard, Rutherford is pale gold in color; the bouquet offers attractive floral driven aromatics including most prominently of honeysuckle. This scent reminds us when we used to pick off honeysuckle flowers and pull out the style leaving a small drop of sweet smelling and tasting nectar. There are also notes of star jasmine, citrus blossom, vanilla, mango, yellow peach, nectarine and caramel. If one mentions they also smell apricot in this highly aromatic bouquet, we would not argue. The palate offers flavors of pineapple, tangerine and assorted stone fruits including peach and nectarine. It lingers with a persistent note of pomelo or grapefruit pith which distracts one from its core fruit characteristics. Features a supple, rounded and velvety mouth feel with a subtle dryness on the finish. Pairing candidate: Atlantic cod lightly covered in an apricot glaze.

The 2020 PWR Viognier Avenali Vineyard, Rutherford is 100% varietal. Due to economics, Rutherford is primarily planted to red varieties. However, this appellation showcases certain white varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc very well. And as far as Viognier, this might be the only planting of this variety in Rutherford. The Avenali family has owned this vineyard on Bella Oaks Lane since 1961 and is also planted to Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is pale to medium gold in color; shows aromas of Asian pear, green apple, kiwi and citrus blossom. Shows more floral notes as the bouquet breathes further including honeysuckle and jasmine. Soft in its textural feel, offers flavors of apple, lemon and lime (but not tart). Lingers with a richness of fruit and perhaps a very slight perceived sweetness (although the wine is dry). 12.6% alcohol. Pair with seafood in lighter style sauces.

Reds
The 2021 PWR Grenache Capay Valley (Yolo County) is from Berryessa Ridge located east of Napa Valley. This wine is medium ruby in color; the bouquet offers aromas of chocolate covered cherries, raspberry, mocha, vanilla, dried orange peel, white pepper, and a pronounced aroma of cardamom spice. Bright, lively and refreshing across the palate, this wine offers flavors of red cherry, currant, cranberry, pomegranate, red licorice, cinnamon and a hint of tobacco spice especially noticeable on the finish. The wine lingers with a light but persistent drying character, light anise seed, a subtle tartness and grainy and gravelly tannins which parallel the fruit for some time. Balanced. We could see pairing this bottling with a crisp Alaskan mid summer afternoon and freshly caught steamed halibut. It won a gold medal from the Sunset International Wine Competition.

The Spanish variety, Tempranillo is a rare animal indeed from a Napa Valley producer. Napa Valley based producers who make wine from this variety generally source their grapes from outside of Napa Valley. Whenever we think of Tempranillo and Napa Valley we always think of Steve Ventrello of Parador Cellars who makes Tempranillo the focus of his production. Clarksburg, the source for the PWR Tempranillo is in Yolo County, located just south of Sacramento and is a region known for its Chenin Blanc.

The 2021 PWR Tempranillo, Clarksburg is medium ruby in color; the bouquet is a union of both fruit characteristics and spice notes including scents of dark raspberry and red cherry along with hints of old cedar box, coffee grinds, pipe tobacco and old saddle leather. As the wine evolves in the glass the aromatics become more fruit driven. Brightly lit across the balanced palate, this wine sports flavors of red cherry, red plum, pomegranate and cranberry. Lingers with tannins that are rounded but exert a light but lasting grip accompanied by notes of dried tobacco leaf and a subtle red pepper spicy character. This wine was awarded a Double Gold and Best of Class at the 2023 Sunset International Wine Competition. If our grandfather were still living, he would be making ravioli in his basement on weekends for friends and family. We wish we had a bottle of this wine 40 years ago to pair with his home-made ravioli.

A truly remarkable value (if you can get your hands on this), is a tiny production (usually only 25 cases) 100% varietal Cabernet Sauvignon from the western hills in Oakville above the To Kalon Vineyard. This wine is made for three parties, the vineyard owner, Matt and a select group of consumers. It is sold under PWR and is called the Albatross. This is the most consistent vineyard source in PWR’s portfolio as Matt has been making this wine every year since the PWR brand was founded in 2009. This small steep 1/3 of an acre vineyard grows only 435 vines. The property is owned by private equity manager Derek Lemke-von Ammon and his wife Sara. While sold under PWR it features a different label.

This wine takes the name Albatross because the hillside site will only support a tiny vineyard despite being a fairly sizable property as most of the property is steep hillside which cannot legally be planted to vines. Changes were made in the 1990s in regard to hillside plantings, limiting new sites to slopes under 30% grade due to erosion issues and the possibility of soils getting into city water supplies and fouling local creeks.

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon “The Albatross” von Ammon, Oakville Napa Valley is medium to dark ruby in color; from the bouquet alone one can tell this is not a ripe, opulent and hedonistic hillside Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. We like that. Its aromatics are more red fruited with scents of raspberry, cherry, and red plum. Other layers include dried herbs, old cedar wood and pipe tobacco. Fresh, lively and vibrant across the palate, this wine delivers flavors of red cherry, plum, currant and raspberry finishing with a light red-fruited tartness and dried tobacco leaf. The medium structured and gravelly tannins persist for some time with a resulting drying character along with plenty of fruit. Very food friendly. We would not mind pairing this with a lighter cut of meat such as a Sirloin tip side steak. Beautifully done.

The 2014 People’s Wine Revolution Cabernet Sauvignon Albatross is dark in the glass and shows a sweetness of vanilla initially on the bouquet which as the wine breathes turns to more of a chocolate note. Blackberry aromas lead to flavors of blackberry and plum along with other red berry flavors – and a noticeable cedar box spice that lingers on the finish along with fruit. Features a pleasing mouth feel with an inherent ‘juicy’ quality. The tannins are well-integrated and are not harsh. Very well-made wine.

The 2012 PWR Massa Vineyard Syrah from Yountville was the last time they were able to source fruit from this particular vineyard. The vineyard is certified organic. This wine shows a dark berry component on the bouquet (primarily blackberry). This wine sports a fairly soft mouth feel, is somewhat juicy and slightly savory. The tannins are well defined but would not be considered robust or out of balance. Elements of dust and a spicy note show on the finish (hints of pepper). Like the wine making on their other PWR wines, this wine sees no new oak. The spices are from the fruit and the stems (50% whole cluster fermentation). The wine making is fairly straight forward on this wine – a short cold soak followed by fermentation conducted in bins where they can foot tread / punch-down for additional extraction of color and flavor.

The 2014 Poor Ranch Zinfandel is located east of tiny Hopland in Mendocino County, about an hour drive north of Calistoga. This vineyard was first planted in the 1880s, is entirely dry farmed and ranges in elevation from about 860 to 1800 feet. This is a cleaner more varietal focused Zinfandel than a number of California Zinfandels we have tried. Balanced on the palate it shows flavors of plum with a lingering spiciness (white pepper) on the finish. This wine features long lasting flavors with moderate and well integrated tannins. Drinks well by itself. Very balanced.

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PWR has featured several labels over the years. An earlier label was loosely based on the painting by Eugène Delacroix, titled: Liberty Leading the People commemorating the French Revolution of 1830. Rather than the individuals carrying weapons as in the painting, all the individuals on their label carry tools for making wine. The wife of one of Matt’s college roommates creatively designed this label. And more recently, Matt’s daughter designed several of the labels.

Locally one can sometimes find these wines at select locations within Calistoga including at Solbar at Solage Resort and at ACME Wines in St. Helena. PWR maintains a limited amount of distribution in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. For more information, to purchase wines and to join one of the two PRW wine clubs, visit: www.pwrwines.com