This week’s Mayacama wine offer zeroes in on a Napa Valley winery with enormous historic significance. The story of Freemark Abbey has several different chapters, the first of which takes us all the way back to the 1880s.
The estates entry point into winemaking was overseen by Josephine Tychson who is considered to be Napa Valley’s first female winemaker. Josephine and her husband John had dreams of moving to the Valley and starting their own wine estate. While Mr. Tychson passed away during the early phase of the project, Josephine kept the dream alive and established a lineup of bottlings along with a significant vineyard.
1898 Stone Built Winery
In 1898, Tychson was forced to sell the property due to a losing battle with Phylloxera – an insect pest of grapevines that has the ability to wipe out an entire vineyard. The property was purchased by the Forni family who rebranded the winery, Lombarda. Tychsons original facility was torn down and replaced by a large stone winery made of hand-strewn stones from nearby Glass Mountain. This historic winery structure is still used for barrel storage today.
Along with many other wineries, Lombarda shuttered due to the Volstead Act, otherwise known as Prohibition. The winery would remain abandoned for 20 years until 1939 when it was purchased by a group of San Francisco investors. These men were Charles Freeman, Markquand Foster, and Albert “Abbey” Ahren, who combined their names to reopen the winery as Freemark Abbey.
The Seven Partners, 1967
The wineries’ ascent into greatness would begin in 1967 when seven of the era’s top wine professionals came together to purchase the property. The team of experienced winemakers and vintners elevated Freemark Abbey’s status to become known for producing high-quality Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, especially the profound, long-lived Cabernets from the Bosché Vineyard in Rutherford. Freemark Abbey’s reputation for bottling superior wine was solidified in 1976’s Judgement of Paris where they were the only California winery to have two entries – the 1969 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 1972 Pinot Chardonnay.
Today, Freemark Abbey’s focus on quality single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon remains in-tact. 1970 marks the first vintage Freemark Abbey Cabernet Bosché – one of the earliest vineyard-designated wines in California.
Bosché Vineyard
The Bosché Vineyard has been farmed by the Bosché family for multiple generations. It sits at the northern end of the Rutherford appellation along the Rutherford Bench and enjoys deep alluvial loam soils studded with gravel. Its 22-acres of dry-farmed Cabernet Sauvignon dates back to 1991. As it shares a fence line with BV#1 (Beaulieu Vineyard #1, just north of and adjacent to Inglenook), this fruit was included in the Private Reserve Georges de Latour for many years. In 1970, the Bosché family stopped selling their fruit to BV and started selling to Freemark Abbey, based in large part because of the opportunity to have their fruit vineyard-designated and their family name on the label. These wines have since become known as some of the most ageworthy Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignons still in production today.
In addition to Bosché, Freemark Abbey is also well known for their Sycamore Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. The Sycamore Vineyard was purchased by Freemark Abbey in 1976 and first bottled as a single vineyard wine in 1984. Located next to Staglin and Bella Oaks along the Rutherford Bench, Sycamore enjoys deep, well-drained gravelly loam alluvial soils. Its 22-acres were most recently planted in 1995 and are both biodynamically and dry-farmed.
Freemark Abbey Judgement of Paris Wines
Today’s Mayacama wine offer provides members with access to the Freemark Abbey library cellar, focusing on back vintage wines from both Bosché Vineyard and Sycamore Vineyard.
In my experience as a Sommelier, some of the most ageworthy and spectacular wines I have tasted have come from the Rutherford appellation and vineyards in very close proximity to these highly rated sites.
All wines being offered are coming directly from Freemark Abbey and so provenance in 100% guaranteed.
As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions regarding these wines.
Thank you for your continued support.
Cheers!
Carey Vanderborg, Wine Director
WINES BEING OFFERED:
2001 Sycamore Vineyard, Rutherford -- $325/btl
2002 Sycamore Vineyard, Rutherford -- $345/btl
2006 Sycamore Vineyard, Rutherford -- $285/btl
2009 Sycamore Vineyard, Rutherford -- $205/btl
2012 Sycamore Vineyard, Rutherford -- $245/btl
2014 Sycamore Vineyard, Rutherford -- $150/btl
2016 Sycamore Vineyard, Rutherford -- $175/btl
2017 Sycamore Vineyard, Rutherford -- $180/btl
2018 Sycamore Vineyard, Rutherford -- $180/btl
2019 Sycamore Vineyard, Rutherford -- $210/btl
2013 Bosché Vineyard, Rutherford -- $265/btl
2016 Bosché Vineyard, Rutherford -- $175/btl
2017 Bosché Vineyard, Rutherford -- $180/btl
2018 Bosché Vineyard, Rutherford -- $180/btl
2019 Bosché Vineyard, Rutherford -- $210/btl |