Simon Family Estate. Sam Simon (Armenian but born in Iraq) immigrated from northern Iraq through Lebanon to Detroit, Michigan in 1973 at age 9 along with his parents and four siblings. They family brought only $200 with them and lived in a church (one of their sponsors) before they found their own housing. The story of his success over the past few decades is remarkable. His father Ramzi began working at a friend’s gas station in Detroit; he acquired this service station and grew his business to 30 locations. This gas station is remarkably still there and is located at 11622 E. McNichols Road in Detroit.
Sam worked cleaning various mechanical equipment, pumping gas, delivering newspapers and cutting lawns and by his mid-teens began managing several stations. He purchased a fuel truck at age 19 in 1985 by getting a cash advance on his credit card and began a ‘fleet filling’ service, driving and delivering diesel fuel to gas stations. His first employee Nada (originally from Mosul in Iraq) eventually became his wife. She had a good job working for Ford Motor Company, but Sam convinced her to drive around with him for several weeks during the winter holidays; and in January 1986 she was hired as the Director of Sales.
Sam established Atlas Oil Company (still privately owned and operated) in 1985 initially providing fuel to 20 service stations. The Houston, TX based company delivers between 1 and 2 billion gallons of fuel annually and services 49 of the 50 states. The 500+ person company maintains terminals and other physical assets in numerous states including larger operations in Michigan, Florida and Texas. Atlas Oil, along with four other divisions including sports, capital/real estate, aerospace/defense, and insurance, is a part of Birmingham, MI based Simon Group Holdings.
In 2009, the Simons established the Sam and Nada Simon Foundation, helping military/law enforcement and their families and supporting health and education programs for youth. Nada serves as the foundation’s president. One of their contributions was Atlas Park in Taylor, Michigan across from the Atlas Oil Innovation Center.
Atlas Oil Innovation Center, Taylor MI
Atlas Park, Taylor MI
Sunoco Station, Detroit MI
(original gas station Sam’s father worked at and later owned)
As sometimes happens in this business, a single bottle creates a memorable moment that starts one on the never-ending journey of wine where curiosity becomes passion, and without even knowing when, morphs into obsession. Sam became hooked by a bottle of Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon during a business meeting in New York in 1989. And not only for its quality but how he noticed it brought those from all walks of life together, stimulated conversation, broke down barriers and created connections on a deeper level. As a young man and an immigrant whose grandfather had fled from Armenia during the Armenian genocide of the early 1900s and whose own family had to leave Iraq in pursuit of freedom, experiencing this shared joy over a single bottle of wine was a powerful experience.
He kept the cork from the bottle and later asked a friend to find out the price of a bottle. His friend told Sam the price was $55, and Sam replied he only wanted a bottle, not a case. As Beringer’s top of the line wine, $55 was the actual price per bottle at the time. Sam and Nada soon made their first trip to Napa Valley and Beringer was one of the stops.
During the Naples Wine Auction in 2002 Sam and Nada met Bill Harlan (founder of Harlan Estate) who told them they should join the Napa Valley Reserve. They made a winning big on membership and the resulting membership the next year became an excuse to spend more time in Napa Valley, meeting vintners, learning more about the business and as Sam remembers, harvesting grapes at 5am. He also began collecting wines from around the world. And just as importantly, their two sons Michel and Peter were also introduced to Napa Valley at a young age. Their personal wine made through the Napa Valley Reserve was called Simon Estates. When they decided to start their own brand, they were referred to winemaker Maayan Koschitzky. Maayan is also an immigrant whose family escaped persecution during World War II.
Maayan worked as a Mechanical Engineer in Israel, but in his mid 20s in 2004 he switched careers and began to work in wineries. In 2010 he and his wife decided to move to the USA, and he applied for winemaking positions in Napa Valley. He was accepted by one small premium producer in the valley but then was accepted for an intern position at Screaming Eagle to work with new winemaker at the time, Nick Gislason. He had never heard of Screaming Eagle, so he mentioned the name to his older brother – who then looked up their pedigree online and quickly realized this was a job too good to turn down. With the intent to only stay a year or two and work a single harvest before returning to Israel, Maayan and his wife moved to Napa Valley.
His first harvest at Screaming Eagle was in 2011, the same year the new winery was completed; he recalls the tanks had arrived just in time for harvest that year. The amount of time he spent at the winery that harvest was remarkable – often working 20+ hours days over 5 months. As Maayan admits, working at Screaming Eagle as his first job in Napa Valley was a shortcut of sorts. Instead of returning to Israel, Maayan and his wife decided to stay in Napa Valley.
In 2014 Maayan began working for Atelier Melka and ultimately moved to his current position, the Director of Winemaking for Atelier Melka and eventually a partner in the business. Maayan also consults for several international projects including in Australia, Chile and Israel.
Select Wines
Simon Family Estate produces limited production, texturally driven but balanced wines from some of Napa Valley’s top vineyards. While their focus is on blending grapes from premium vineyard sites to create 100% varietal Cabernet Sauvignon, their lighter styled wines should not be overlooked. These are inspired, energetic and food friendly bottlings.
Rosé of Grenache
There is not a lot of Grenache planted in Napa Valley; according to the California Grape Crush Final Report dated March 10, 2023, there was 135.9 tons of Grenache purchased in 2022 in District 4 (Napa Valley). For reference, there were nearly 45,000 tons purchased of Napa Valley’s largest wine variety, Cabernet Sauvignon.
A beautiful bottling is their 2021 Rosé of Grenache. This wine is produced from head-trained Grenache dating to 1994 growing in the McGah Vineyard in Rutherford. The 2021 Simon Family Tigress Rosé of Grenache is salmon color in the glass. It is run through the press slowly whole cluster and settles for one or two nights depending on the vintage to help capture some of its color. It was then fermented cool and slowly in stainless steel tanks for up to 40 days followed by up to 5 months on the lees to help build texture and weight before being bottled around February. The bouquet is immediately engaging with aromas of citrus blossom, lemon/lime, a flinty nuance and some mineralities. This wine smells fresh. It is lively, bright and energetic across the palate with mouthwatering acidity anchoring a variety of citrus flavors including grapefruit along with wild strawberries. This is a savory and mineral driven showing. We always enjoy tasting wines with this type of freshness, especially following a tasting of multiple Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons. This wine is named Tigress in honor of Nada and is crafted in a style she enjoys drinking and as she told Mayan due to its beautiful aromatics, “every time she smells this wine it inspires her to someday make a perfume”.
The 2023 Simon Family Estate Tigress, Napa Valley Rosé of Grenache is 100% varietal. It was fermented cold in a stainless steel tank and then spent four months aging on its gross lees before being bottled. This wine is pale copper in color. Its aromas are both delicate and elegant with a pretty minerality component. Its scents include wild strawberry, not fully ripe raspberry, orchard blossoms and some light citrus influences including kaffir lime. Fresh, bright and thoroughly alive across the palate, it offers flavors of ruby grapefruit, Sierra Nevada mountain gooseberry, lime, raspberry and guava. Lingers with a very light note of dill on the finish that this variety sometimes expresses. The rounded and gentle mouth feel complements the refreshing acidity. Balanced and easy drinking.
Sauvignon Blanc
The 2020 Simon Family Estate Golden Ore Sauvignon Blanc, Ashe Vineyard Oakville. When Ashe used to produce wines under the Entre Nous label, we always remember they stood out at the annual Taste of Oakville because they were one of the few Oakville producers showing a white wine. This wine was fermented slowly in barrel for nearly a month and a half; it was then aged in barrel for 18 months of which 30% was in new French very tight grained and lightly toasted longer (cigar shaped) oak barrels. According to Maayan, it was crafted to be a lower alcohol, higher acidity representation of the variety. It is medium gold in color; the bouquet offers a diversity of aromas including lemongrass, lemon meringue, honeycomb and honeysuckle. It offers a lovely balance between texture, acidity and fruit. The palate is fresh, seamless and offers flavors of melon, white peach, some tropical fruit notes and a hint of apricot and vanilla. This wine strikes a pleasing balance between greener/more grassy showings and those made to showcase the varietal ripeness. The name Golden Ore refers to its very limited production, its color and while perhaps not the original intent, ties in very well with California’s long and rich gold mining heritage. Due to smoke issues from the Glass Fire, this was the only wine they produced in 2020.
Golden ore, we discovered on our mining claim
The 2022 Simon Family Estate Golden Ore Sauvignon Blanc, McGah Vineyard Rutherford. This wine is medium gold in color; immediatley open-knitted the elegant bouquet reveals aromas of beeswax, honeycomb, not fully ripe pineapple, citrus blossom and stone fruits including peach, yellow nectarine and apricot. The aromatic profile is not over ripe nor under ripe, but comfortably saddled somewhere in the middle. The palate offers a tangy and lively character in between citrus and stone fruits.
Its texture offers a light silky mouth feel completed nicely by its bright acidity. On the palate there are flavors of orange zest, kiwi and mandarin. Its fresh finish continues to persist bright as a halogen lamp, satisfying and mouthwatering. And one can feel a light textural drying character on the finish. Ageworthy. This wine was aged in cigar shaped oak barrels similar to what are used at Didier Dagueneau in Pouilly-Fumé. It was aged for 18 months in 50% new barrels. And this was the first vintage bottled in antique green glass. From this vintage moving forward, the Simon Family Estate Sauvignon Blanc is from the McGah Vineyard in Rutherford from clone one from the older vines.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2022 Simon Family Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is blended with 2% Cabernet Franc. Grapes for this wine are grown from some of Napa Valley’s most exceptional vineyards many of which are vineyard designated by other wine producers. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; elegant was the first word we noted to describe its aromatic character. This is a wine one doesn’t want to stop smelling. Dark plum is at its core with additional layers of blackberry and boysenberry. And a layer of sweet cedar complements the fruit nicely. The palate features dark fruited flavors of black cherry, Satsuma plum and a persistent savory element most noticeable on the finish. It lingers dark with notes of dried sage, dust, old cedar and tobacco spice. The pillowy textured tannins sport a grainy and gravelly grip and persist in tandem with the fruit on the extended finish before eventually pulling away with their dusty grip.
The 2019 Simon Family Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is from diversity of vineyard sites within Coombsville, Yountville and Oakville. Each individual pick is fermented and aged separately for up to 12 months before the final blend is created. This wine is deep ruby in color; the bouquet offers a pleasing union of darker fruited aromas along with secondary barrel spices. It shows blackberry, boysenberry, a floral note including violets, sweet tobacco spice, chocolate and a light note of old cedar wood. If we were to choose one word to describe its cadence across the palate, it would be balance. The tannins are chalky, rounded and finely woven. This wine lingers lightly savory with notes of dust and a hint of crushed pepper. It was aged 70% in new French oak barrels.
Each vintage, Simon Family Estate produces two 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines (Double Blessings) bottled as a twin pack. The name of these wines is highly personable; after being told they probably would not be able to conceive children, both spent time at the Vatican in prayer. And their prayers were later answered with the birth of twin boys, Michael and Peter. These wines were crafted to show different characteristics of the same variety in homage to the different personalities of their sons. And the blending sessions for each wine are always done with the winemaker and either Michael or Peter for their respective bottlings.
The 2019 Simon Family Estate Double Blessings Peter is sourced from a vineyard in St Helena. This wine is deep ruby in color; the bouquet showcases fruit aromatics that smell like they were just harvested. Its bright and inviting with scents of freshly picked blackberry and plum. A more subtle note of old cedar box, chocolate and dried tobacco are found deeper in the aromas. We also tried this wine 6 years post vintage and the bouquet had developed scents of petrichor, earthy and chalky characteristics. This wine features a pleasing tension which tugs at the palate in a good way, offering a density of ripe, well-tumbled and supple tannins. This wine shows very nicely in its youth but should age well for the next 10-15 years. It spent 18 months in 80% new French oak barrels before being bottled. The image on this wine is of a key; in the Bible, Peter is usually associated with holding keys, representing the keys to the kingdom of heaven. The 2021 and 2022 vintages of Double Blessings Peter feature more Cabernet Franc than the 2019 vintage.
The 2019 Simon Family Estate Double Blessings Michael was sourced from vineyards in Coombsville and Oakville. This wine is deep ruby in the glass and opaque and is the darkest of their red wines we tried. We immediately noted its floral character including notes of violets and rose petals along with old cedar box. The finish is long lasting with earthy and slightly dry tannins. This bottling shows the most grip of their red wines and the tannins are still tightly bound, but their texture is not coarse. This wine lingers with a brightness of both fruit and acid and some persistent savory notes including dried herbs. This bottling shows plenty of depth and character. It was aged for 18 months in 70% new French oak barrels. The image of the sword on this wine is in reference to archangel Michael who is often depicted carrying such a weapon.
And Simon Family Estate also produces a very limited production (under 100 cases) of a Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville aged entirely in new French oak barrels (usually 70% to 100% depending on the vintage). This is a serious Cabernet Sauvignon which should be on the radar of Napa Valley collectors.
The 2021 Simon Family Reserve is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon; about 50% of the grapes for this wine were sourced from Vine Hill Ranch, one of Napa Valley’s most premium vineyards. This wine is deep ruby and opaque. The bouquet offers aromas of violets, lavender and lilacs providing a lovely floral aromatic lift, while accompanied by both red and darker fruits including cherry, dark raspberry, blueberry and plum. The barrel influences are complementary and subtle but present with a scent of old cedar box. The palate is fresh and lively showcasing both blue and purple fruits including plum, blueberry, blackberry and cherry. The finish shines brightly and lingers with a light note of dark cocoa powder. The tumbled tannins are both expressive of grapes and oak. They are fully coating, offering a lightly textured and grainy but not edgy grip. Persistent. Savory. Chalky. Highly age worthy.
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Until May 2024, tastings were hosted privately in a room at Eleven Eleven Winery located on the northern edge of the city of Napa. We have observed this winery develop into something special over the years; not only is it home for its namesake brand but also houses a limited number of other premium Napa Valley based producers. And it has attracted plenty of winemaking talent including winemakers Kirk Venge and Andy Erickson, among others.
The Simon Family wines continue to be produced at Eleven Eleven Winery. But tasting are now hosted in a private and well-appointed space in downtown Napa located on the third floor (Suite 303) of what is called the Exchange Building; this building dates from around 1900. The building features a number of offices and over the years has housed numerous tenants including in the 1980s, a computer repair company and a showroom for various artists and antique dealers. The building borders one side of the historic Napa Valley Opera House. A small open-air parking lot is located across the street from the tasting room as is the worth-visiting 9/11 Memorial created by well-known Napa artist and resident, Gordon Huether. A larger parking lot is within a very short walk of the tasting lounge, on the other side of Napa Creek.
Walking into the salon will leave you feeling worlds away from any preconceived expectations you might have after ascending three floors of the Exchange Building. The interior decor was the work of Bette Abbott Interior Design. The creative threaded light fixtures are immediately eye-catching. Its feel is cozy, intimate and elegant – like walking into a VIP lounge. And the experience is private – focusing entirely on your party and is hosted by someone from their small team. Visits typically start with a welcome glass of the Tigress Rosé and then proceed to the red wines, finishing with Sauvignon Blanc.
The wines are primarily sold direct to consumer but also have limited distribution in Florida, Michigan and Texas. Locally the wines may be found at the Oxbow Wine Merchants in the Oxbow Public Market in Napa, V Vine Cellars in Yountville, Gary’s in St. Helena and several premium restaurants including the French Laundry and Press. Total production is usually between 1,600 and 2,000 cases annually. An important part of early production but often is bypassed by small producers in favor of economics is setting aside wines for later library releases. Simon Family Estate holds back some of each of their bottlings for their library.
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In early 2025 it was announced that Simon Family Estate had purchased the Collineta Vineyard in Coombsville from the prior owners, Eric Grigsby and Mary Rocca. The Simon family were already familiar with this vineyard as they had been sourcing grapes from this site since their inaugural vintage. In 2021 about 30% of the grapes used in their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon came from this site. After acquiring the property, Simon Family kept the name of the vineyard.
This 14 acre property is defined by its physical features; the rolling hills and also an old stone chimney that is now surrounded by vines. This chimney is all that remains from a house that burned down in August 1958. The owner of this home was Jack White; his tenant at the time, musician Delbert Yarborough was away from the home when the fire started, performing at an event in Sonoma County. 200 baby chickens were being kept on the property at the time of the fire; sadly, all were stolen by the morning after the fire.
Collinetta roughly translates to “little hill” in Italian. And this vineyard is farmed organically by Bettinelli Vineyard Management and is CCOF certified.
The wines are sometimes available locally at ACME Wines in St. Helena. For more information, to request an allocation, join the Founder’s Circle (members received guaranteed allocations) or to schedule a tasting, visit: www.simonfamilyestate.com
I would like to taste your wine
Michael – Simon Family Estate now hosts tastings by appointment at a private space in downtown Napa.