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Winemaking

Andre Tchelistcheff told us in 1992, "Listen to the vines --
they will tell you what to do." We believe that our wine is made
in the vineyard.

David Abreu and Celia Masyczek

Working by this belief, our winemakers throughout our history have had an important role in cooperation with our vineyard manager, David Abreu, in developing viticulture practices that give us optimal ripeness in our grapes picked in small lots.  We have been fortunate to have had the advice and winemaking passion of several great winemakers during our history since 1985.  In the '80s, we worked with winemakers Phil Zorn, Don Weaver and Bob Levy, when our wines were produced at the old Merryvale facility in St. Helena.  When we moved to the Sinskey facility in 1989, Cathy Corison contributed her expertise. In 1991 we had the good fortune to begin a long relationship with Celia Masyczek that transcended our move to the Hess Collection and then to the Napa Wine Company for the years 1993 to 2002.

Andy Erickson

That May, our 24,000 square foot underground winemaking and barrel storage facility was completed, designed to our vineyard sources and philosophy, where Andy Erickson, assisted by Matt Dees, began to help us solidify Staglin's new style. This style, characterized as "rich, plush, and complex" by James Laube, has grown since the 1999 vintage with the guidance of Michel Rolland.  Gerard Zanzonico lent his experience from many years at Chateau Montelena to help us further refine our integration of the many clone/rootstock combinations into wines of high ratings and complexity.  In 2005, Luc Morlet came to provide additional refinements based on his four generations of family winemaking and his experience with Newton and Peter Michael.

Winemaker Fredrik Johansson

Our winemaker, Fredrik Johansson, is focused and passionate about making wine. He previously worked with consulting winemaker, Thomas Rivers Brown, taking the traditional route of an apprentice to acquire his knowledge and expertise. He began his education at Nicholson Ranch in Sonoma, continued it at Two Hands Wines in Australia and honed it further at Outpost Wines on Howell Mountain where he also oversaw several of Thomas’ consulting projects, including Schrader Cellars and Maybach Family Vineyards. Now that Fredrik is at Staglin, he says, “My goal is to make the best possible wine with the fruit from this vineyard without letting what I do in the winery get in the way. It’s such an amazing vineyard that I feel a responsibility to help it express itself to its fullest.”

We know that Andre Tchelistcheff’s wise counsel to us in 1992, that we should “listen to the vines,” is and will continue to be the most important element in our goal of making the best wine possible from our estate. We hope you'll enjoy our wines as much as we enjoy making them.

Learn more about our winemaking process in a photo tour of Harvest 2007