Tamber Bey Vineyards

Tamber Bey Vineyards produced their first commercial vintage in 2001 (merely 150 cases) and now crafts over 5,000 cases a year and growing.

In late summer 2013, Tamber Bey moved their winemaking and hospitality to a 22-acre site (Sundance Ranch) located a few minutes drive north of the center of Calistoga. In this far northern part of Napa Valley, there are fewer wineries compared to in the center and southern part of the valley and generally less traffic. However, Tubbs Lane is a major commute avenue, primarily very early morning and mid to late afternoon for employees working in Napa Valley who live in Lake County to the north.

The use of the property is unique; an existing building was converted to a winery, and a prior house now serves as the tasting room. However, what is rare in Napa Valley is a winery combined with the equestrian world (reference Shadybrook and Rustridge wineries for more details). There is space for more than 40 horses on site and at any given time a number of horses are always kept here including horses owned by area vintners. A full-time horse trainer lives on site; some of their more exotic horses include Arabian endurance racehorses and some miniature horses.

Until 2020, this was also home to Napa County’s largest horse rescue organization, the non-profit, Sunrise Horse Rescue. The rescue horses have since been moved to a new site further east on Tubbs Lane. Tours can still be arranged by appointment of the rescue grounds generally from April through mid November.

While part of Tamber Bey’s production includes grapes from outside of Napa County, they also produce wine from vineyards in Napa Valley including two vineyards under their ownership. Each of these two sites are very different from the other in terms of soils and microclimates despite being only about 1500 feet apart. One is located in the southern Oakville sub-appellation and the other one in the northern Yountville appellation. Their Oakville estate features a Tuscan-style villa including a guest house which is available for rent to wine club members and other interested individuals (maximum of four guests).

The Oakville Vineyard is 3 acres and is planted in clone 337 Cabernet Sauvignon, a Bordeaux clone known for small berries & intense flavors. Their 60 acre “Deux Chevaux Vineyard”, meaning two horses in French (not to be confused with Mumm Napa’s Carneros based Devaux Vineyard Ranch) in Yountville is planted with several varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Locals and Tamber Bey enthusiasts may remember when they operated a tasting room in St. Helena. In late 2010, Tamber Bey was the first single winery public public tasting room to open in the center of St. Helena; this former location on Adams Street had numerous tenants over the years. During part of the 1940s and 1950s it was home to V & M Machine Works, the primary dealer of Berkely Pumps in St. Helena. Fred Carpenter was the inventor of Berkely Pumps and owned land in St. Helena; his family would later start Ruston Vineyards.

And prior to Tamber Bey’s occupancy, the space was previously home to GoVino (stemless plastic wine cups). We remember meeting GoVino founder Joseph Perrulli for the first time in either 2008 or 2009 while we were tasting with Todd White of Napa Valley Farms. He was excited about his new product. But we digress, the former Tamber Bey tasting room is currently home of the women’s boutique clothing retailer, Veronica Beard. Incidentally, this business was cofounded by Veronica Swanson Beard the daughter of the founder of Napa Valley’s Swanson Vineyards with her sister-in-law, Veronica Miele Beard in 2010.

The winery was founded Barry Waitte. Barry is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (shoutout to our alma mater); his background is rooted in a variety of technology companies; he was an early employee and investor at Apple from 1982 until 1994, worked at AOL in the mid to late 1990s and co-founded Marina del Rey headquartered Front Bridge Technologies whose business offered spam filtering and virus protection software. This company sounds vaguely familiar from our days of running a small ISP in the mid to late 1990s. Later, Barry was CEO of Vintrust, a San Francisco wine asset management firm.

During the 1990s, Barry was also part of a group of individuals who worked at Medior, a company which launched one of the early online shopping cart services. The company was later sold to AOL. Remarkably a number of former employees at Medior later became involved in Napa Valley’s wine scene.

Barry and Tracy Schuler co-founded Medior and also founded Meteor Vineyards in Coombsville. The other co-founder of the company, David Goldman developed the Dead Fred Vineyard, also in Coombsville. One of their early employees, Eric Risch (back when there were only 11 employees) would eventually become General Manager of Pellet Estate in St. Helena and co-founded DoublePlus Wines with winemaker Tom Rinaldi. And one of the employees they hired for business development was Barry Waitte.

Jennifer, Barry’s wife is also a graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, (second shoutout to our alma mater here) and an author an journalist who spent 15 years as an editor for lifestyle, equine and equestrian sporting magazines. She has written several books including the novel, Lifeline to Marionette. This novel is takes place in Aspen, CO and is centered around a life of a high profile model who professionally is seemingly at the peak of her career. However, her life is filled with secrets, drama, drugs, and a deep unhappiness with her own life. And complicating matters are those surrounding her are motivated by greed at her expense.

A childhood prodigy of the world’s most famous living composer, Michelle Seko eventually fled his suffocating clutches, but for a career that has no freedom.

Relationships with men have been shallow to this point. But then she meets someone who truly cares for her and she begins to reveal her deepest secrets to him. And her flaws. She struggles to find her way out of her own darkness. He is patient. Painfully so while she continues to slip out of control.

This novel is richly rewarding but it is no bed of rose petals and features a number of low points. Thankfully, the ending is not one of them.

Recommended location for reading: somewhere tropical on a white sand beach and we say this from personal experience.

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Barry used to vacation in Napa Valley with his parents and fell in love with the wine country. Later he developed an interest in endurance horse racing and has since entered numerous competitions. He won the Gold Medal at the North American Championship in 2004, and also won the 100 Mile National Championship in 2005 in Montana. The name Tamber Bey comes from shortening and combining the names of two of his former racehorses, Tamborina and Bayamo.

We’ve seen a number of wineries named after dogs, but this is the first one in our Napa odyssey that is directly named after horses. Their “mythical” horse appears on all their labels. As of our latest update to this review, they produce 10+ wines – all generally fermented with non-inoculated yeasts. Accomplished and well-respected Thomas Brown was their founding winemaker and designed the winery; while he no longer handles the primary winemaking duties, he still consults for Tamber Bey and is often on site.

And the name of Tubbs Lane where Tamber Bey is located is in homage to Alfred Lovering Tubbs, a successful businessman in San Francisco. He had the “rope market” cornered during California’s gold rush by supplying rope to gold miners as well maritime rope to the thriving clipper ship industry. His business, Tubbs Cordage Company was founded in 1849 but didn’t produce their first rope until 1856 in partnership with his brother Hiram. Remarkably the business operated until 1962.

Tubbs moved to Calistoga in 1882 and built a wooden winery he named Hillcrest Estate slightly east on Tubbs Lane and a very short distance from Tamber Bey Vineyards; the first vintage there was in 1886. This winery soon burned down, and Alfred oversaw the construction of a new stone winery which was completed in 1888. Alfred renamed the winery A.L Tubbs Winery after himself. Alfred’s grandson Chapin, who had been overseeing the property for many years, renamed the winery to Chateau Montelena in 1934.

Select Wines
Whites
The 2023 Tamber Bey LamBentz Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc is 100% varietal and is a blend of Clone 1 and Musque from a 13-acre site in eastern Napa Valley overlooking Lake Berryessa. It was aged 80% in a stainless steel vats, 8% in stainless steel barrels and 12% in neutral French oak barrels. It is deep straw in color; the bouquet is immediately generous – no shy expression here. The aromatics are energetic, powerful and bursting from the glass including scents of star jasmine, comise pear, tangerine, lychee, pineapple guava, an aromatic we are highly familiar with from our 35+ years of harvesting guavas from our favorite guava trees in Santa Rosa, CA, lychee and passion fruit. If you want to say this is “a tropical island in the glass’ we would not argue with you. Fresh and vibrant across the palate, this wine offers flavors of nectarine, pineapple, Oro Blanco grapefruit, lime, lemongrass, green apple and thyme. The acidity is laser-like focused, contributing to a zesty, lively and mouth watering finish. No argument please; pair with oysters and a view of the Pacific Ocean anywhere from northern California up through British Colombia.

The Tamber Bey 2018 Lizzy’s Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc (located off of Oakville Cross Road) is pale to medium yellow; the bouquet reminds of a freshly sliced pineapple and triggers a memory of harvesting and cutting open a ripe pineapple on the island of Mo’orea in the warm sunshine during the summer of 2020. As the wine opens, it shows notes of white peach and a floral note (jasmine). The edges of the bouquet offer pleasing aromas of vanilla and caramel. The palate features plenty of acid pleasing brightness and freshness with flavors of lemon drops and some lime notes. Also shows a steely minerality nuance. Very balanced. Finishes richly flavored. This wine was aged for 7 months in both a combination of stainless-steel vessels, neutral French oak barrels and a small percentage of acacia oak barrels.

The 2019 Tamber Bey Sans Chêne Chardonnay is 100% Dijon clone and was sourced from both the Trio Vineyard and Deux Chevaux Vineyards in Yountville. The wine is medium gold in color; the bouquet shows sweet aromatics of honeysuckle, ripe nectarine, Golden Delicious apple, Comice pear and vanilla extract. Rounded and richly flavored across the palate, this wine is noteworthy for what it is lacking including no malolactic fermentation, overt creaminess, butter notes or oak influence. Lingers with a rich brightness of both fruit, acid and a subtle hint of vanilla sweetness. This is one of Napa Valley’s most refreshingly pure Chardonnays. This wine is a true expression of the variety; Sans Chêne translates in French to without oak; it was entirely aged in stainless steel.

Reds
The 2022 Tamber Bey Burnside Vineyard Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley (Sonoma County) is 100% varietal; this wine is pale ruby in color. The bouquet is fruit forward with aromas of licorice, raspberry, red cherry, strawberry, rose petals, sage and white pepper. Beautifully balanced across the palate between flavor, acidity and texture, this wine offers some complexity and cerebral character. It sports flavors of red plum, currant, cranberry, pomegranate and tart cherry. The tannins are noticeable with lightly grainy texture. Finishes bright and red fruited with a light tart and drying character acompanied by a note of white pepper. We immediately thought of pairing this with our favorite BBQ chicken wing recipe which includes garlic, black pepper, oyster sauce, soy sauce and pinches of salt and brown sugar. 13.4% alcohol.

The 2018 Tamber Bey Merlot, Yountville is 100% varietal from the Deux Chevaux Vineyard in Yountville. Color is not a problem with this wine – shows deep ruby in the glass. One immediately notices the powerful aromatics. Initially the bouquet reveals notes of freshly baked bread just out of the oven (the smell of yeast), dark chocolate, plum, black currant, boysenberry and a hint of dried tobacco leaf. This is a very distinctive bouquet. Offers mouth filling fruit – the palate is juicy with light to medium textured tannins. The finish is a bit savory, persisting with both some pepper spice notes and cedar. There is plenty of character to pique the interest of those who generally gravitate toward rich Napa Valley grown and produced Cabernet Sauvignon. Very nicely done.

The 2016 Tamber Bey Deux Chevaux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby red in color – both elegant and ripe on the bouquet, it offers aromas of ripe blackberry and dark plum along with pretty secondary aromas including French vanilla bean, espresso, raisins soaked in rum, and a pleasing brown chocolate nuance. Rounded on the entry and packed with flavor shows blackberry and boysenberry – more black fruit dominated then red fruit. Lingers with dessert spices and well-integrated somewhat chalky tannins (not grippy). A crowd pleaser.

The 2005 Tamber Bey Chardonnay is a gorgeous wine that shows a nice golden color in the glass. It is usually their first wine to sell out due to its limited production and popularity. The grapes sourced for this wine (Dijon clone) are also used for another local wineries’ high-end Chardonnay. This wine is barrel fermented for a lengthy 17 months and for a long portion of that time is not stirred during the aging. The thinking behind this is that if you stop agitating the wine you will better preserve the inherent flavors of the fruit (including citrus) as well as the wine’s structure. Due to the popularity of this wine, Tamber Bey added another 4 acres of this specific Chardonnay clone.

The 2008 Tamber Bey Deux Chevaux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is a great value. It’s a wine with plenty of complexities in the nose as well as layers of aroma. The entry on the palate is rather soft but then the layers of flavor show mid palate including blackberry, dark chocolate and a trace of oak on the finish.

A red blend called Rabicano is named after specific set of white markings often found on horses. Their first vintage was merely 350 cases but quickly sold out; the next vintage reached 1200 cases. This wine is crafted each year to be food friendly although the varietal percentages do change each vintage.

The Oakville Cabernet is their flagship wine; the 2004 Tamber Bey Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon was already a well-balanced wine several years post vintage at the time of our tasting with flavors of licorice and hints of black fig. Let this wine age for a few years and one should receive some additional satisfaction from the bottle. The tannins do not disrupt and only add depth to the long finish. One can sometimes find their wines locally at ACME Wine Shop in the town of St. Helena.

Tastings
The tasting room is first rate; is spacious and well appointed. It is so nice when you are able to talk to someone knowledgeable about the wine at a tasting room (as we have always experienced during our visits to the winery) rather than someone who just “pours” wine. Their offices adjoin the tasting room and owners Barry and Jennifer are often on site.

The tasting menu includes several flight options and visitors can buy wine by the glass or by the bottle. Check out the cool “water” bottles featuring fine filtered St. Helena tap water with owner Barry’s humor showing through on the back label! In addition to tasting at their bar, wines can also be enjoyed outside in a courtyard near the horse stables. And if you are visiting during lunch time, Tamber Bey provides a picnic lunch option to pair with a glass of their wine.

Their most unique tasting are wines paired with a cookie tasting. They have partnered with a local cookie chef in the city of Napa with each cookie specially created to pair with one of their wines. Names such as Wasabi Ginger, Black Bacon, and Cardamom Crunch gives you an idea of the diversity of flavors offered.

Serious wine enthusiasts can make an appointment to visit and taste at their Oakville estate, where we were first introduced to their wines many years ago.

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The immediate neighbor to the east of Tamber Bey is Old Faithful Geyser. This geyser erupts regularly every approximately 30-40 minutes. If one drives by at the right time, one can see part of the eruption from the road, although the lower part of the geyser is blocked by surrounding bamboo. This geyser has been featured in National Geographic. If visiting Tamber Bey, a stop to see the geyser adds a totally different experience to a day of wine tasting.

And wondering why some of the neighboring fields are not planted to grapes? The reason is that this part of Calistoga has a high concentration of boron in the soils; this element is not conducive for growing premium wine grapes.

Besides crafting their own wines at Tamber Bey, their winery is also home to numerous small brands, some of whom are allowed to taste their own wines on the property. For more information or to join their wine club, visit: www.tamberbey.com

Exterior

Interior

Horses/stables

Snow on Mt. nearby St. Helena & the Palisades