2008-02-29
Winemaker Profile: Patz & Hall
JAMES HALL
by Michelle J. Baker
Imagine heading to your big job interview and finding the only road there closed. That’s what James Hall did in 1983, as a young winemaker on his way to an interview for the assistant winemaker position at Flora Springs Winery in St. Helena. When Hall found his way to the winery despite the road block, his duly impressed potential employer, winemaker Ken Deis, hired him on the spot.
In his four years at Flora Springs, Hall honed his skill making barrel-fermented Chardonnay under the tutelage of his mentor, Deis. It was also at Flora Springs that Hall met Donald Patz, the winery’s national sales manager. In 1987, Hall left Flora Springs to become the winemaker at Honig Vineyard and Winery in Rutherford, but kept his friendship with Donald Patz. Together Patz and Hall and their respective partners, Heather Patz and Anne Moses, came up with the idea of starting their own winery.
But what wine to make? The couples had little money between them. With only $5,000, they needed to make a wine that they could produce, bottle and sell in time to have cash to purchase grapes the following year. Napa Valley’s hot varietal, Cabernet Sauvignon, needed up to two years in the barrel and one in the bottle before they could sell it, so it was out of the question.
The group decided to make Chardonnay, which they could produce, bottle and sell within a year. Hall says he also admired the “Burgundy model,” where winemakers crafted their wines to show their unique sense of place. While single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons were already commonplace in the late 1980s, only a few wineries were making single-vineyard Chardonnays. In 1988, Patz & Hall made their first Chardonnay.
Fast forward 20 years, and Patz & Hall is sporting a brand new, state-of-the-art winery in Sonoma, a brand new tasting salon in Napa, and a winemaker who’s having so much fun, sometimes he thinks he should pinch himself. Patz & Hall is at the top of its game, producing 35,000 cases of wine and more than a dozen highly acclaimed single-vineyard Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs in lots of less than 1,000 cases each.
Hall loves spending time in the vineyards, where he’s developed longstanding relationships with the finest growers in the state. In the cellar, he keeps his winemaking both simple and consistent to allow each vineyard’s terroir to show through. Even with so many single-vineyard wines, Hall plans to make more “so people can see smaller looks at the vineyard at the clonal and block levels, and at very small family vineyards.”
At Patz & Hall’s new tasting salon in Napa, visitors can taste through several wines, often starting with an older Chardonnay. Hall says his wines age very well, especially the Chardonnays, which he thinks “develop added layers, complexity and vineyard character” with time in the bottle. Call Patz & Hall at (707) 265-7700 to make an appointment to visit the tasting salon at 851 Napa Valley Corporate Way, Suite A.
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