Helen Keplinger Wine Offer

“I believe that when you make wine with real passion and dedication, you can taste the heart and soul in the wine.” – Helen Keplinger

You could argue there are quite a few stars in the world of winemaking in California’s famed Napa Valley; however, few winemakers have been able to step outside the confines of the area between Carneros and Calistoga and still achieve greatness by what they capture inside the bottle.

In 1998 Helen Keplinger moved to California to attend the MS program in Enology at UC Davis. She has since worked alongside winemaking greats such as Heidi Barrett at Paradigm in Napa Valley, Kathy Joseph at Fiddlehead in Santa Barbara, Michel Rolland, and David Abreu in Napa Valley.

Since 2004, she has made wine for some exciting projects, including Cellers Melis (Priorat, Spain), Kenzo Estate, Arrow & Branch, Bryant Family Vineyards, and is currently crafting wine for Grace Family Vineyard, Carte Blanche, and Kerr Cellars.

Helen’s time in Priorat working with Grenache and finding unique singular vineyard sites for Melis was the inspiration for her eponymous label, Keplinger.

Helen and her future life and business partner, DJ Warner, met in a Spanish wine shop in Los Angeles toward the end of 2003. DJ, having worked in sales and marketing within the technology sector, moved to Los Angeles to launch an organic line of foods in 2001. Managing a Spanish wine shop part-time in the evenings led the two to meet over a bottle of 1995 Pago de los Capellanes, Riserva.

The couple moved to Napa Valley in 2005 where Helen was named winemaker for a new winery, Kenzo Estate. After settling back into Napa, Helen started searching for Grenache and found a special vineyard in Knights Valley. With the 2006 vintage, Helen founded Keplinger, and the couple released the first vintage in 2008 with a focus on small production, single-vineyard Rhone varietal wines. Since then, acclaim has been building, with press accolades naming Helen Food & Wine Magazine’s 2012 Winemaker of the Year, as well as a cover story for Wine Spectator’s June 15, 2014 edition.

Keplinger focuses on making seamlessly crafted, terroir-driven, Rhone and Bordeaux varietal wines from unique and diverse sites in Napa, Sonoma & Sierra Foothills. All the vineyards are carefully farmed by hand for small berries and concentrated flavors, in close collaboration with Helen. Each wine comes from a singular vineyard to represent the characteristics of the grape or grapes in the wine from their respective vineyard’s terroir each vintage. The wines are made in small lots, with careful attention paid to every detail.

Today’s Mayacama Wine Offer highlights an impressive lineup of Keplinger bottlings, one of which comes straight from the Helen and DJ’s library cellar.

2021 Keplinger Eldorado, Sierra Foothills – The 2021 Eldorado is a blend of 85% Viognier and 15% Chardonnay. The usual Eldorado blend of Viognier, Roussanne, and Grenache Blanc could not be made in 2021 due to wildfires near Goldbud Vineyard, so we experimented with some beautiful Chardonnay from Bien Nacido Vineyard to blend with our Viognier from Shake Ridge Vineyard. The resulting wine is quite ethereal, with a nose of fresh pear, crushed rock, honeysuckle, raw almond, and pastry flour. The entry is silky, with flavors of apricot, honeysuckle, pear, and a hint of minerality, deftly balanced acidity, and impressive length. This is a beauty.

2016 Keplinger El Diablo, Russian River Valley (97% Grenache, 3% Syrah) – The stoney sandy-loam soil and gentle south-east exposure make such an intensely pretty Grenache. This special vineyard on Eastside Road in the Russian River, was historically farmed to the detail by the amazing Ulises Valdez, and now tended by his talented son, Ulises Jr. The name is due to an unsavory previous owner who thankfully only lingers in colorful stories. This vineyard is less than 5 miles northeast from the Basilisk vineyard, but it has a character altogether very different. With sandy, gemstoney-soils, a southeast face, and a very slightly warmer site, the expression of the Grenache is in the blue fruit range, more perfumed and mineral, with less muscle and more finesse on the palate.

2019 Keplinger Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville Ranch Vineyard – In 2014, we began working with the gorgeous mountain fruit of Oakville Ranch Vineyard, which sits high up on the Vaca range above Dalla Valle, tucked just below the southern edge of Pritchard Hill. Farmed organically with great heart and attention to every leaf and bug by the brilliant Phil Coturri. Working with Phil and his dedicated team really feels like a true collaboration to make something special, which is essential when making world-class wines with a soul. The 2019 Oakville Ranch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon has a complex, sweet and savory nose of red currant, red plum, cassis, dried thyme, lavender, leather and graphite. The silky entry opens to a broad mid-palate, with flavors of ripe fig, rose, and carob. Fine tannins run the full length of the palate, driving a long, flavorful, pure finish. This wine is drinking beautifully now, and will age effortlessly for 20 years and beyond. 175 cases produced.

2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, Vine Hill Ranch – After years of conversations and patience, we began working with Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon in 2018 from two very special blocks at the Phillips’ Ranch. The mother block of the Eisele clone, the budwood for which was given by Bart Araujo to Bruce Phillips, is on a steep, east-facing slope. This stunning fruit transforms into wine with notes of cassis, cassis bud, and violets that are captivating in their purity. We fervently 'won' one ton of gorgeous fruit from this block at the 2018 Harvest Stomp Auction, which benefits the Napa Valley Farmworkers Foundation and Napa Valley Grapegrowers. Bidding far exceeded our original budget, and Bruce and Heather were so astounded by the final price, they graciously offered us a small amount of fruit from an additional block, which we enthusiastically accepted. This second block is on a bench of rhyolitic deposits, resulting in a wine of greater structure with notes of boysenberry, deep forest, white flowers, and delicate minerality. Our second vintage, the 2019 has vibrant aromas of black cherry, black licorice, cedar, bay leaf, plum, rose, and lavender. The palate has striking finesse, with a silky entry and velvety tannins lifting flavors of dark fruits, aromatic herbs and spice notes, which persist on the lengthy finish. Purity and elegance alongside power and intensity. Drinking exceptionally well now, the 2019 Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard also promises to age effortlessly.

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions regarding these wine.

Thank you for your continued support.

Cheers!

Carey Vanderborg, Wine Director