Dominari is the domain of winemaker Marie Schutz who uses mainly fruit from her beloved Atlas Peak vineyards.
Atlas Peak ~ Napa Valley (AVA)
Little Dominari About To Grow
We have very big mountain fruit that I don’t think needs a lot of chemical additions or changes. In modern winemaking there’s so much you can do to change the perception. With Atlas Peak fruit, whatever comes off the vine is pretty much how we bottle it. I think winemaking is done in the vineyards.
~Marie Schutz
by
Alan Goldfarb
March 7, 2007
At age 52, Marie Schutz has come late to making wine. She has been a grower on
Atlas Peak with her husband Jurgen since 1992, with all of their fruit going to Luna Vineyards. Then, less than six years ago, Schultz began making wine under the
Dominari label.
She says she’s a huge proponent of Atlas Peak’s mountain fruit, although her vineyard, at the 1,700-foot elevation (about halfway up the mountain), has soils that are anomalous to much of the rest of the region’s vineyards.
In addition to Dominari, Schultz has two other brands, consults for several other wineries and is looking for an additional vineyard site where a new winery can be built in order to ramp up Dominari’s production 10-fold. With only three releases under her belt, three more in various stages of production, and additional plantings on her 90-acre Atlas Peak vineyard called Guadeamus – which might include
Charbono - Schutz figures to become a very busy winemaker indeed.
Along with producing 350 cases of
Cabernet Sauvignon (that sell for $75 a bottle) and 250 cases of
Merlot ($45) for Dominari, Schultz also makes two other brands called Monet’s Palate and Baccabella. The latter uses Cabernet from Piccolo Vineyard, also on Atlas Peak at about the 1,000-foot elevation, to make from 200-400 cases ($30). The Baccabella uses fruit from the Napa Valley and the Sierra foothills to make 4,500 cases of Cabernet,
Zinfandel, and Merlot which sell from $20-$40.
With the recent purchase of 95 tons from Christina Vineyards in the Oak Knoll district on the valley floor, Dominari’s production will soon rise to 6,500 cases with the ’06 vintage. That’s quite a leap. To get there, the Schutzes are looking for another winery site and vineyard which would be closer to Highway 29 or the Silverado Trail in order to attract tourists who don’t normally venture up Atlas Peak’ s winding roads.
To help ease her load and to aid her when she’s confounded about something in particular in her wine, the winemaker and consultant calls upon another consultant. When I telephoned on a rainy winter morning recently, Schutz asked that I call back because John McKay was visiting and trying to help her solve a problem with her wine.
ALAN GOLDFARB (AG): Why do you have a consultant?
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