Origin Napa revives region's "forgotten varietal"

Wines & Vines, August, 2003 by Tina Caputo

When Bill Davies Tom Gamble met in 1964, on the first day of nursery school, they knew they were going to be great friends. What they didn't know was that, decades later, they would become business partners.

The son of Jack and Jamie Davies of Schramsberg fame, Bill worked in sales and marketing for his family's winery before striking out on his own. Gamble spent 20 years as an entrepreneur--including a stint as a Hollywood movie producer--before returning to the Napa ranch his family has farmed since the 1930s. Together Davies and Gamble formed the Origin Napa winery in 2000.

I recently had a chance to sit down and chat with Davies over lunch. In addition to filling me up with his delicious Napa Valley Sauvignon blanc, Davies filled me in on the philosophy behind Origin Napa.

Wines & Vines: Why did you step away from Schramsberg to start a winery with Tom?

Davies: I got to a point where I decided to go off and start something on my own, and Tom and I had dreamed of creating some kind of business together. Both my folks were entrepreneurs and ended up venturing away from things that were going on in their families, so maybe it runs in the family. I'm still on the board of directors at Schramsberg, so I get to help in that way and stay connected and I really like that. My brother Hugh is now the general manager and my mother is still the CEO, so we've got a great team in place there. I think there are a lot of exciting things ahead for Schramsberg, and I think it's been a great opportunity for Hugh to grow into his own and take on a bigger responsibility. At first I was reluctant to go into business with Tom because he's such a good friend, but it's really working out well.

W&V: What's the story behind the name, Origin Napa?

Davies: The name refers to the fact that Tom and I were both raised in Napa. The photo on the label is of the two of us playing together as kids on the Gamble Ranch.

W&V: How would you describe the company's winemaking philosophy?

Davies: Natural wine-making with minimal intervention. We want to be careful stewards of the land. Not necessarily organic, but we want to do the right thing. Our motto is "from the land to the table."

W&V: Your first release was a 2000 Napa Valley Sauvignon blanc. Why focus on that instead of something more "Napa," like Cabernet?

Davies: Sauvignon blanc is Napa Valley's forgotten varietal. I don't think it's going to replace Cabernet, but I think it joins Cabernet as an exemplary varietal for Napa. We want to raise the bar on Sauvignon blanc, and I think people are ready for world-class wine from this variety. We're making a second Sauvignon blanc called "Heart Block," made from the center three rows of the Gamble Vineyard. This block is a low-yield area, with low vigor. In the future we'll also be making a late-harvest Sauvignon blanc.

W&V: How would you describe the style of your Sauvignon blanc?

Davies: It's a richer, fuller style. Some people like these very racy, high acid New Zealand wines--and I love those wines too--but we're working with where we are and what's the best of the Gamble Vineyard. I think balance is a word that's important to all of us, though it doesn't really have the sexiest reputation anymore. I think when you talk about balance, people think "not as big." Big wines are all the rage, but I like to have acidity in the wine. What we've been able to achieve here is a beautiful, sensuous wine that has this very vibrant fruit, but it also has length and natural acidity. There is some of that grapefruit and lime zest.

W&V: Yum, you're not kidding. So what about reds?

Davies: We just had a soft launch in California for our 2001 Heritage Sites wine. It's a Bordeaux-style blend, made from grapes from four different vineyard sites in Carneros, Oakville, St. Helena and Diamond Mountain. The name Heritage Sites references the fact that two of the vineyards come from within our families--one of them was in Tom's family and one was in my family. That gives us a foundation from which to make some really interesting red wines, and we've drawn upon little niches of Napa that we think we can bring together to make a compelling Napa blend.

W&V: Why did you decide to make a blend instead of a single-varietal wine?

Davies: I felt there were some really exciting single-vineyard wines that we could have made, and I have to give credit to David De Sante, our winemaker, for leading us to the blends. I think he just felt that over time it would allow us to make beautiful wines that were balanced and harmonious and that really expressed interesting things from Napa and might give us a little more continuity from one vintage to the next. What I'm seeing is, in the longer analysis, David's blends are making beautiful wines, so I'm sold on what he recommended to us.

W&V: Do you label your blends as "Meritage" wines?

Davies: We haven't gone that route. We call it Napa Valley red wine. Meritage is interesting, I just don't know if we've decided to join the association or do what we do and leave it at that. I can see restaurants struggling with how to categorize blends, so maybe we'll get drafted into this dialogue.