Celebrating 45 years of family owned winemaking! Burgess Cellars is a historic California wine producer in Napa Valley situated on the hillsides of Howell Mountain. It was founded in 1972 by Tom Burgess on a circa 1870s hillside vineyard and winery, and has been continuously family owned and operated. Today it is run by the second generation of the Burgess family and it includes 65 acres across its two estate vineyards, which are at elevations of 800 to 1,000 feet (240 to 300 m).
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Wines
Burgess Cellars showcases its two estate vineyards on Howell Mountain, with a hillside terroir representing only 4% of Napa acreage. For much of Burgess Cellars history Cabernet Sauvignon has been the flagship grape since Burgess Cellars inception in 1972. Today, they craft an estate and a Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, and also single vineyard, single block bottlings of Petit Sirah, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and an intentionally farmed Rosé of Syrah. They also craft a single vineyard Chardonnay with fruit purchased from the Balletto family of grape growers in Russian River Valley, Sonoma County.
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Library Selection
An unparalleled library selection, with every vintage from 1979 on, is available for sale and cellared in the Tasting Room. Few wineries maintain a library selection on the scale of Burgess Cellars Library Program. Tom Burgess first started putting aside wines in 1980. He initially held back about 15% of a vintage, between 500 and 1000 cases, which was released a decade later in 1990. Tom wanted people to have the opportunity, as he had in Europe, to taste how beautiful wine can become with age. Selections in Burgess Cellars Library Program are stored in ideal conditions to protect the provenance of our wines until release.
Mountainside Terroir
There are several components that make up the terroir of Burgess Cellars two estate vineyard, Winery Ranch Vineyard and Haymaker Vineyard, both located on Howell Mountain in Upper Napa Valley. Of all the components that make up the terroir of mountain grown wines, elevation and the associated exposure are the most critical. Burgess Cellars is situated at 1,000' above the valley floor and, as such, the vineyards are not impacted by the fog that moves up and down the floor of Napa valley on its daily voyage. These factors ensure longer growing days with greater exposure to sunlight. This, coupled with overall cooler daytime temperatures, allows the grapes to attain full maturity and ensure the flavors and colors are maximized.
Burgess Cellars soil history begins some 4 million years ago, when Napa Valley underwent a long episode of volcanic activity, which created the primary soil, the Konocti Series, which is composed of volcanic ash studded with naturally hard stones. Many of the structures at Burgess Cellars are built from ancient rocks hewn from the hillsides. Grapevines in these soils develop strong root systems in order to dig deeply into the rocky, nutrient poor environment. This struggle, along with efficient drainage, results in a mountain terroir that is reflected in the unique qualities that mountain grapes exhibit versus valley floor equivalent varieties. Burgess Cellars hillside grapes tend to be smaller, with more concentrated flavors and tannins, varietal intensity and excellent aging properties.
History
Early History
Burgess Cellars' history starts long ago in the 1870s, when Italian brothers Carlo and Fulgenzio Rossini first planted grapes on a western facing mountainside, with views of a valley below and access to an unpaved county road up Howell Mountain. This is today's Winery Ranch Vineyard, and it was soon sold to Giovanni and Elva Poncetta, Italian Swiss immigrants with dreams of operating a mountainside property, a goal certainly attainable in Napa Valley's burgeoning 19th century wine industry. The Poncettas built a gravity flow winery in the 1890s, which still stands in operation today as the oldest section of Burgess Cellars' winery.
After Prohibition
Prohibition saw the mountainside's grapevines pulled out for cattle ranching, and cattle roamed freely for 21 years. Lee Stewart bought the thirty acres and old winery in 1943, restoring the property and naming his winery Souverain. The esteemed mountainside won Souverain many awards and was the first job of two of Napa's greats, Warren Winiarski (Stag's Leap Wine Cellars) and Mike Grgich (Chateau Montelena, Grgich Hills Estate) who both went on to craft the winners at the 1976 Judgment of Paris.
Founder Tom Burgess
Burgess Cellars has been family owned and creating wines with mountain distinction since 1972 on Howell Mountain in Napa Valley.
When the founder Tom Burgess purchased the 1870's era winery in 1972 he established himself as a pioneer of mountain side wineries. At the time, there were only approximately 2 dozen wineries in operation in the whole of Napa Valley and he saw the potential of mountain vineyards to produce wines that evoke the French concept of terroir: that the grapes, and thus wines, should reflect the vineyard's soil, exposure, and overall micro-climate.
Born in 1939, Tom Burgess grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, in the northern part of the state. His father, Otis, was a co-founder of Morse Controls, and Tom's summers were spent selling parts out of a station wagon for Morse Controls. He had an early exposure to wine in Ohio. Prohibition had closed down Ohio's fine wineries, but by the time Tom was a teenager the industry had begun a modest recovery, and vineyards were beginning to appear on the shores of Lake Erie once again.
Tom attended Miami University in Oxford, OH where he majored in Geology and Aeronautics. He joined the Air Force ROTC in college and went on to serve over 5 years. He earned incredible assignments in the Air Force, flying Project Gemini astronauts around in a C-135. He met and became lifelong friends with Neil Armstrong on one of these flights when Neil had to splash down in the South Pacific unplanned, then needed a ride to Honolulu.
His work transporting dignitaries took him around the world, where, on his off time, he continued his avocation as a wine enthusiast, sampling some of the best vintages on the planet. While in the Air Force, he would fly to Travis Air Force Base and rent a car to visit the Napa Valley.
His early exposure to wine in Ohio, and then international travel provided him the wisdom and intelligence to make his next move: Tom the Vintner. In 1970 he and a friend were visiting Napa Valley and stopped at Beaulieu Winery. They happened to arrive just after a shareholder lunch, when library Cabernets from the '30s, '40s, '50s and '60s were available to taste. It was a seminal event in the young pilot's life. In Tom's words, he "heard the wolves baying in the woods" when he tasted these outstanding wines: the Napa Valley was calling for him.
Because of the advent of jet travel to Europe, many Americans got turned on to wine and food as a part of life. In the early 1970s, a bank predicted Americans would increase consumption of fine wine by a significant multiple. This report gave Tom and others the confidence to start great wineries.
Tom found six wineries for sale in the Napa Valley. By far the most appealing was Lee Stewart's Souverain, which offered a fully operational winery, award-winning vineyards and a house with views of Bell Canyon Reservoir and the upper Napa Valley. The Howell Mountain winery, with its mountain fruit and heritage of gold and silver medals, was his choice. In 1972, Burgess Cellars was born.
In 1972, the number of wineries in Napa and Sonoma essentially doubled in one year! Hence, Burgess Cellars belongs to "the Class of '72". There were only about two dozen wineries at the time, now there are over 500 in Napa producing about 1400 brands. When Tom purchased the 1870's era winery, he established himself as a pioneer of mountain side wineries.
The harvest of 1972 was a tough one for Napa, but these brush breakers persevered. Soon, Tom was on the road selling his Napa Valley wines just like he used to sell Morse Controls. He had certain skills that helped him thrive: his early exposure to enology, his recent connections with influential and well-placed wine lovers, and his ability to fly. He opened up new markets for Burgess wine as well as other Napa Valley labels. In fact, Tom was the first to sell a California wine to a couple of major distributors!
Burgess bought a Cessna and later a SIAI Marchetti aerobatics airplane. He flew hundreds of customers, distributor salespeople, and press up for flights over the Napa Valley. He loved showing how small the valley really was, and sometimes he would fly upside down until they agreed to buy a pallet of wine!
After running the winery for 32 years, Tom asked his adult children to come back and work with him. In 2012, sons Steven and James became President and Vineyard Manager of Burgess Cellars. Today, they embody the pioneering spirit of their father and love for Napa Valley and mountain winemaking. The second generation is piloting Burgess Cellars to the pinnacle of Napa Valley quality, and building on the legacy of Tom Burgess.
Today
Today, the second generation is building on Tom's legacy. Brothers Steven Burgess and James Burgess took over as President and Vineyard Manager respectively. In 2013, Winemaker Kelly Woods, a UC Davis graduate, completed the new team, and together the trio has fined-tuned the vineyards and cellar to highlight mountain grapes. The new direction of the estate is taking Burgess Cellars to the pinnacle of Napa Valley wine quality.
Winemaker Kelly Woods
Brought up in the pastoral community of Santa Maria on California's Central Coast, Kelly Woods chose to build upon her agricultural roots and follow a career in viticulture through the world famous UC Davis School of Viticulture and Enology.
Kelly's winemaking career has seen her at the likes of Seavey, Bryant Family, and Sequoia Grove Winery in the Napa Valley as well as further afield in New Zealand. She manages all aspects of winemaking - be it in the cellar, lab, or out in the field. Kelly's strong sensory skills and broad knowledge of wine styles have brought Burgess an enhanced focus on objective and precision in its wine-making.
Tours & Tastings
At almost 1000 feet, far over the valley floor, a visit to Burgess includes a panoramic vista that offers real perspective on the Napa Valley. One can see the length of the Mayacamas range, from Calistoga to the hills beyond Napa.
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Mountainside Tasting - A 90 Minute Seated Experience with a View
Library wines and the best seat in the house await you in this elevated experience! This seated semi-private tasting takes place in our Mountainside Tasting Room with panoramic vistas of Napa Valley. Your group will experience the best of our terroir with selections from our 45-year Burgess Cellars Library Program, small production rare wines and current releases. We'll share our unique viticulture and wine program innovations while looking on the grapevines of our home vineyard below.
Tasting in the Cellar - A 60 Minute Experience in the Cellar Tasting Room
Our classic tasting experience brings you right into our Cellar Tasting Room, an active barrel room where founder Tom Burgess first started hosting early Napa Valley vistors years ago. Surrounded by cellaring wine, our friendly hospitality team presents wines from our current release selections. Your group will learn of our rich history as well as our current innovations and second generation team, while perusing a display of vintage bottles and a museum wall constructed from our retired wine barrels.
References
External links
- Burgess Cellars
- Burgess Cellars on Facebook
Source of article : Wikipedia
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