Zeitgeist Cellars was founded by winemaker Mark Porembski; both he and his wife, Jennifer Williams, also a winemaker oversee the brand but also consult for several other small and local brands. Mark moved to Napa Valley in 2000 and began working as assistant winemaker at Anomaly Vineyards in 2002; he has been their head winemaker since 2005. Jennifer’s first winery job in Napa Valley was an internship at Beaulieu Vineyard. She was head winemaker at Spottswoode Estate from 2006 through 2010 and currently consults for several small premium Napa Valley based wineries.
Mark’s background is not in wine; his degree is in poetry. He remembers first becoming interested in wine while in college even before he was of legal drinking age. While studying in Dallas he fortuitously met two guys from St. Helena who told him about life in Napa Valley. After college he packed everything into his car and drove to Napa Valley without having a job lined up prior to his arrival. He arrived during harvest, a time of year when its easier to find seasonal wine related jobs. He worked at Far Niente, Araujo Estate (now Eisele Vineyard) and El Molino Winery.
Zeitgeist’s first vintage was 2005 and included a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and a Santa Barbara Syrah; other than that first year, he used only two vineyards for the first few vintages including from St. Helena and from Farella Vineyard in Coombsville near the town of Napa. Vintner Juan Mercado originally introduced Mark to Tom Farella whose family owns Farella Vineyard. Their vineyard sources have since increased; while focusing on Napa Valley they also source from one vineyard in neighboring Sonoma County. One of their flagship vineyards is the historic Lewelling Vineyard in St. Helena. Lewelling Vineyard is one of the oldest continuously owned family vineyards in Napa Valley with family roots dating back to 1864 when family patriarch John Lewelling moved to St. Helena. The vineyard is located at the base of the Mayacamas mountains on the western side of the valley. The vines grow on rich benchland soils; several premium producers source grapes from this vineyard.
While they currently produce two highly unusual wines for a Napa Valley based producer including Chenin Blanc from St. Helena and a very rare Trousseau Gris from neighboring Sonoma County, the focus of their production is Cabernet Sauvignon. They used to source small quantities of Syrah in the past, although this was not made every year.
The name Zeitgeist means “the spirit of the times” first created by German Romanticists to describe the mood or feeling of a particular time period. This is a term that relates to the current wine industry very well. For example, in the 1960s there were less than 30 wineries in Napa Valley; we maintain a list of wineries dating from 1979 and before who are still in business and who have continuously produced wines since their inaugural vintage. That list numbers less than 70 producers. Currently there are approximately 500 physical wineries within Napa Valley with well more than twice that number being virtual producers. And in the spirit of the times, as Mark told us, “There are many smaller virtual producers today who are helping push the envelope for quality.” This has led to better quality wines as a result of improved practices both in the vineyard and in the winery; these are exciting yet extremely challenging times to be a small producer in Napa Valley.
Zeitgeist is fastidious with their winemaking, most notably during two stages. One at sorting when they sort multiple times taking care to remove any desiccated fruit or unripe grapes and then again during blending trials. They will only blend the highest quality barrels; if a barrel “is on the fence” as Mark says, it will not make the final blend. One year they started with 18 barrels and only used 5 for their final blend.
Growing organically, slowly and with purpose, Mark and Jennifer have built Zeitgeist around relationships with both their customers and growers. Since our first visit with Zeitgeist many years ago, their portfolio has expanded; showcasing exceptional vineyards and wines with precision, balance and personality.
Select Wines
Whites, Trousseau Gris
Never had a glass of Trousseau Gris? You are not alone. The Zeitgeist Trousseau Gris (also known as Grey Riesling) is from the Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard off of River Road near the town of Fulton, just north of Santa Rosa. One of the few plantings of this variety in California these vines date back to 1981 and are growing on AXR-1 rootstock (not yet infected by phylloxera). Doing a quick search for this variety often brings one back to this particular vineyard as several producers make a 100% varietal wine from the Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard. They have one of the largest plantings of Trousseau Gris in California at 10 acres. According to Mark, the only Trousseau Gris in Napa Valley is a very tiny planting in the experimental vineyard at Larkmead Vineyards in Calistoga.
At the Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard, the Trousseau Gris has minimal trellising and the vines are trained as ‘California sprawl’. As a result this vineyard expresses a wide variation in ripeness; they have to carefully sample the vineyard to get an overall estimate of its maturity. They target picking at about 21 brix and always harvest twice each year; the grapes are fermented in separate lots using both indigenous and commercial yeasts and are kept separate until the final blending.
The 2023 Zeitgeist Trousseau Gris, Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard Russian River Valley; this wine is medium straw in color. The bouquet is elegant, perhaps a bit shy initially when the wine is cold but with time and increase in temperature its aromatics evolve wonderfully. The nose offers scents of bruised apples, golden apples, a saline character, pomelo, white peach, pear, quince and a white floral note including of jasmine. On the palate there are flavors of pomelo, pineapple, lemon zest, not fully ripe spiky gooseberries which grow wild, high in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, kiwi and a light but lingering note of chalk. Its that element of minerality which is one of the appealing characteristics of this bottling. Its texture is noteworthy, featuring a briny and saline character which slides like silk across the palate. At 13.0% alcohol, this wine is fully ripe and expressive of its varietal characteristics. Fresh, lively and with a spirit of ‘wake me up’, the finish lingers energetically with a mouth watering zesty character. When you find yourself unconsciously reaching for the glass after the last sip, you know you are in good company.
And while the general perception is that white wine doesn’t pair well with steak, there are some exceptions to that including their Trousseau Gris. For example, the Texas steakhouse, Pappas Bros., serves this in their Dallas restaurant with a 45 day dry aged steak. Mark recommends drinking this with the truffle fries at Bouchon Restaurant in Yountville.
Whites, Chenin Blanc
Chenin Blanc is no longer a common variety in Napa Valley; one of the latest crop reports shows a mere 17 acres in the entire county, although more recently there is a renewed interest in this variety, especially from some of the younger winemakers in the valley. Several producers we are aware of who grow Chenin Blanc in Napa Valley include Ballentine Vineyards, Chappellet Winery, Salvestrin, a two-acre block planted in Oak Knoll in 2021 and another old hillside block in Pope Valley. And finding ‘old’ Chenin Blanc is even more of an undertaking. Zeitgeist located a small vineyard in St. Helena with older vines and have worked with this vineyard since 2014.
When Zeitgeist began producing Chenin Blanc, they sourced exclusively from older vines. Their grower planted a new block; for several years Zeitgest produced wines using grapes from both the older and new blocks. And by the 7th leaf of the newer block, they began producing entirely from the new block. The Zeitgeist Chenin Blanc is aged in neutral French oak barrels and goes through no malolactic fermentation. During its élevage, they are very careful with how much oxygen this wine is exposed to.
The 2022 Zeitgeist Chenin Blanc is medium straw in color; the bouquet offers a light honeyed note including of beeswax, white florals of jasmine and citrus blossom, honeydew melon, walnut skin, not fully ripe pineapple and a light note of lemon zest. Tangy, bright and fully alive, the nose sings soprano with plenty of energy behind its voice. The palate offers flavors of pineapple, golden apples, mandarin, Cape gooseberry on the less ripe side of the spectrum, kiwi, white nectarine, grapefruit pith and pomelo. The finish lingers with a light citrusy character and an herbal note, similar to dill. The mouth feel sports a waxy character with a rounded and silken texture. Finishes vivacious, with a bright but not bracing acidity; it is thoroughly refreshing. This is a leaner and refreshing expression of this variety. While needling and nosing this, we immediatley thought of pairing it with some sort of shellfish, IE., the bar at Hog Island Oyster Company in Oxbow Public Market. A plate of raw oysters and this wine would do just fine together.
The 2018 Zeitgeist Chenin Blanc was fermented and aged sur lie in neutral French oak barrels for 10 months and underwent no secondary fermentation. Initially shows a flinty character on the bouquet but as the wine opens, is replaced by hints of sweet fruit and floral notes along with a light lanolin note, appearing more in the background. This is an easy drinking wine with flavors of lemon, red apple and a lingering note of mandarin orange. Crisp and balanced. It is a wine well worth seeking out for both its profile and the fact this variety is so rare in contemporary Napa Valley.
Reds
The 2022 Zeitgeist Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby in color and opaque; this is a blend of all the vineyards they work with although this vintage has no Cabernet Franc. Starting in 2023 they began purchasing grapes for this wine not used in their single vineyard bottling; the bouquet is ripe but elegant, offering aromas of violets, lavender and lilacs along with tobacco spice and a light note of red chili. Red fruited with a savory character, its aromatics also include dried herbs, sage and tobacco. On the palate, there are flavors of cherry, currant and red plum. The tannins are comfortable, rounded and texturally soft and are aligned in the finish like a piece of a perfectly fitting puzzle. Lingers with a note of smoked sage and dried tobacco spice. Savory. Bright. Refreshing. Balanced. And this is consistently one of Napa Valley’s great value to price point Cabernet Sauvignons.
The 2018 Zeitgeist Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (with 1% Cabernet Franc in the blend) is dark ruby in the glass; this wine is highly aromatic and we smelled its dark fruits immediately upon opening. The bouquet offers notes of dark plum, blackberry and boysenberry. Accompanying the fruit are aromatics that are slightly savory and brambly including some darker wood spice notes and crushed peppercorn. This wine is juicy across the palate with bright acidity and flavors of red plum, cherry and red currant. The still somewhat tightly woven tannins (tasted 4 years post vintage date) show a medium but long-lasting grip, finishing with darker spices. This wine is balanced in its youth but also has the character to age for years to come. It was sourced from premium vineyards including Sleeping Lady, Oakville Station, Lewelling, Farella and Rafael.
The 2021 Zeitgeist The Grove (Lewelling Vineyard) is 100% varietal from Cabernet Sauvignon clone 7 on 110R rootstock. The vines are cane pruned, providing a wide diversity of sun exposure and also shade for the canopy during the growing season. Its name, The Grove is personal; when meeting at Lewelling Vineyard, Mark and Jennifer often say, “lets just meet at the grove”. The grove is an old olive orchard adjacent to their block, dating to the 1860s; the canopy of the olive trees are connected and it is this view of the branches they used as the image on the label. This wine is deep ruby and opaque. Bright and beautiful, the bouquet is floral and dark fruited with violets, freshly tilled soil, old cedar box, dark raspberry and Santa Rosa plum. Higher toned. The well-endowed palate is both red and dark fruited with loads of layering including flavors of plum, dark raspberry, cherry and blackberry. The acidity is both bright and balanced. We like that. Plush across the palate; this wine sports a tumbled and lightly gravelly texture felt more in the front of the palate than the finish. It finishes with notes of dust, dried tobacco leaf, dried herbs and a light but persistent drying character. Fresh and alive.
The 2021 Zeitgeist Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville Station; this wine is not lacking in color. It is deep ruby and opaque; deeply layered and floral with aromas of violets, lavender and lilacs. In addition to its bright fruit there are notes of petrichor and tobacco spice. The influences from the oak are complementary. This is another beautiful expression from this side of the valley; it has depth, intensity of flavor, texture, freshness and character. Its fruit flavors are of dark plum, bright cherry, and blackberry jam. The tannins are grainy, gritty and still pixelated at this age. Lingers with a persistent dusty and chalky character. Dried herbs. This wine is built to age and has all the stuffing to be able to do so with the proper cellaring.
Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon
While not located in the mountains, Sleeping Lady Vineyard produces wines that are high in tannins and resemble wines with mountain structure. As a result, tannin management both in the vineyard and in the cellar is a critical part of their winemaking with any wines from this vineyard.
When making Cabernet Franc, Marc uses medium toast barrels and barrel ferments, finding this integrates the wine better early in its development. It doesn’t make the wine ‘oakier’ but it does help with smoothing out both oak and grape tannins. He never wants to produce a Cabernet Franc that resembles a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, but at the same time doesn’t want to showcase its greener characteristics. A couple of local Cabernet Francs he has been inspired by include from Detert Family and also Maya from Dalla Valle.
The 2021 Zeitgest Sleeping Lady Vineyard Cabernet Franc is 100% varietal; this wine is deep ruby. The bouquet is fresh, floral including notes of dried rose petals and a layer of tobacco, chalk and dried sage. It has power but also a simultaneous elegance both on the bouquet and the palate. These are aromatics you don’t want to pull away from. Its palate profile includes more red fruit than dark with flavors of plum, raspberry, cherry and currant. The tannins are broadly distributed; their weight is an attractive character; they are well tumbled and remarkably integrated for both the vintage and its youth. A light drying character persists. Sleeping Lady is home to one of Napa Valley’s most special Cabernet Franc. And with a very judicious use of oak on this wine, the fruit shines and is the star of the show.
The 2022 Zeitgest Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% varietal. This is a special and extremely limited bottling; only 50 cases were produced. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; dark fruited, the layered bouquet offers scents of blackberry, boysenberry, dark cherry and mulberry with additional layers of dark chocolate, dark cocoa powder and sweet baking spices including all-spice and cloves. On the palate there are flavors of plum, dark raspberry, boysenberry, blackberry and Pakistani mulberry. Brightly lit on the finish and savory, additional notes include tobacco, dried herbs and chalk. The finish is memorable, sporting dense and still edgy tannins with a firm and persistent long-lasting drying and chalky grip. At this stage, the tannins far outpace the fruit on the finish. Chewy. Very age worthy. This is a collector wine; a serious Howell Mountain showing and an extremely age worthy bottling. We would love to try this again in 15 to 20 years.
ARCHIVED NOTES
Heron House, Yountville
Zeitgeist was a member of the Heron House in Yountville until December 11, 2022, when the Heron House closed permanently. We keep these notes and photographs for historical reference. Heron House opened the day after Thanksgiving 2019 and was a retail wine tasting space in SoYo (South Yountville) which featured a select number of small-brand producers who did not maintain their own tasting rooms.
The Heron House was setup to feel like walking into someone’s living room – comfortable, cozy and inviting. The retail portion of the space was open during normal business hours and included mostly locally crafted products including select works of art. Two private tasting rooms were available by reservation. Several curated flights were offered, each containing wines from the various producers represented. Hours are subject to change, but as of our latest update to this review, this space is daily from 10am until 6pm with the last tasting appointment at 5pm.
Zeitgeist selectively distributes their wines within Napa Valley; one can sometimes find the wines at ACME Wine Shop and V Wine Cellars in Yountville. For more information, to schedule a visit or to join their mailing list, visit: www.zeitgeistcellars.com
I hear the 2012 is very good
Can you tell me the price and what is blended with THE CAB SAV
THANK YOU
Really neat to see this tiny producer evolve over the years – we first met with Mark not longer after Zeitgeist had released their first vintage.