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Feature Article
Winemaker at one of Napa Valley's newest wineries, Alpha Omega, Jean Hoefliger likes to keep everything as natural as possible.
Rutherford ~ Napa Valley (AVA)
When Mr. Natural Meets Dr. Blender
You are at Alpha Omega
An interview with Alpha Omega Winery's JEAN HOEFLIGER reveals what happens when master blender Michel Rolland consults.
by
Alan Goldfarb
August 27, 2007
"For me, the quality of the wine is the vineyard, its nature. Try to understand where the vineyard takes you. That’s why I decided to have different sources. Vineyards react differently in different places. I believe very much in terroir." ~Jean Hoefliger
t first blush, it seems highly incongruous that a California winemaker, who insists he makes wines as natural as all get out, is taking advice from a consultant that we’ll call Dr. Blender. But that’s precisely what Mr. Natural, Jean Hoefliger, is doing at one of Napa Valley’s newest wineries, Alpha Omega.
Hoefliger is a Swiss-born winemaker who put the wines together at Newton Vineyards before he came to the Rutherford start-up last year. He gets a visit several times a year from none other than Michel Rolland, or the Dr. Blender in the story. Rolland, one of the most renowned wine consultants in the world, is also purported to be one of the great progenitors of wine technology.
As he was portrayed in the notorious documentary "Mondovino” Rolland came off as a latter day Dr. Frankenstein. Rolland has since backed off of that stance. Nonetheless, the rep precedes him to tiny AO.
That’s where Hoefliger comes in. He is very familiar with Rolland, having worked with him at Newton, but Hoefliger ( pronounced HUFF-fliger), while conceding that the Frenchman is “one of the greatest blenders of all time,” does not adhere to Rolland’s penchant for technology.
In fact, the AO winemaker says he asked Rolland point blank, “five years ago before the movie even came out, ‘Don’t you think you and Robert Parker make wine more uniform throughout the world?’”
The reference went directly toward Rolland and Parker’s making and favoring wines that many believe to be undistinguishable from another because of their high alcohol and fruit forward profiles.
The Meeting of the Minds: Jean Hoefliger meets Michel Rolland in the Alpha Omega vineyard.Hoefliger insists that, because of the direct query, Rolland was stopped in his tracks and apparently earned the winemaker’s respect; which, as he told me recently, has allowed Hoefliger to stick to his guns and make less interventionist wines at AO.
Before we get further into our story, Alpha Omega – on Highway 29 across the road from the Provenance Winery -- was originally Domaine de Napa, then Quail Ridge from 1995-’02 (after which the brand was sold to Fred Franzia’s Bronco Wine Co.) and in its last incarnation, Esquisse.
The property was purchased by Robin Baggett and Eric Sklar last July, resurrecting it as Alpha Omega. Baggett originally developed more than 800 acres of vineyards in Edna Valley near San Luis Obispo. He founded Courtside Cellars, a custom crush facility, and Tolosa Winery. He was general counsel for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors for eight years.
Sklar and his family have a history in Rutherford as grape growers. The Sklars have been growing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc for nearly 30 years, from which AO will purchase fruit. Sklar has managed the vineyard for the last 10 years. He also has been a real estate developer and is currently a St. Helena councilperson.
AO’s first wine made fully at its Rutherford facility was released this summer. There are currently 8,000 cases being made, but the winery is permitted for 20,000. Among the portfolio is a Sauvignon Blanc, made from its 10-acre Rutherford estate.
t first blush, it seems highly incongruous that a California winemaker, who insists he makes wines as natural as all get out, is taking advice from a consultant that we’ll call Dr. Blender. But that’s precisely what Mr. Natural, Jean Hoefliger, is doing at one of Napa Valley’s newest wineries, Alpha Omega.
Hoefliger is a Swiss-born winemaker who put the wines together at Newton Vineyards before he came to the Rutherford start-up last year. He gets a visit several times a year from none other than Michel Rolland, or the Dr. Blender in the story. Rolland, one of the most renowned wine consultants in the world, is also purported to be one of the great progenitors of wine technology.
As he was portrayed in the notorious documentary "Mondovino” Rolland came off as a latter day Dr. Frankenstein. Rolland has since backed off of that stance. Nonetheless, the rep precedes him to tiny AO.
That’s where Hoefliger comes in. He is very familiar with Rolland, having worked with him at Newton, but Hoefliger ( pronounced HUFF-fliger), while conceding that the Frenchman is “one of the greatest blenders of all time,” does not adhere to Rolland’s penchant for technology.
In fact, the AO winemaker says he asked Rolland point blank, “five years ago before the movie even came out, ‘Don’t you think you and Robert Parker make wine more uniform throughout the world?’”
The reference went directly toward Rolland and Parker’s making and favoring wines that many believe to be undistinguishable from another because of their high alcohol and fruit forward profiles.
The Meeting of the Minds: Jean Hoefliger meets Michel Rolland in the Alpha Omega vineyard.
Before we get further into our story, Alpha Omega – on Highway 29 across the road from the Provenance Winery -- was originally Domaine de Napa, then Quail Ridge from 1995-’02 (after which the brand was sold to Fred Franzia’s Bronco Wine Co.) and in its last incarnation, Esquisse.
The property was purchased by Robin Baggett and Eric Sklar last July, resurrecting it as Alpha Omega. Baggett originally developed more than 800 acres of vineyards in Edna Valley near San Luis Obispo. He founded Courtside Cellars, a custom crush facility, and Tolosa Winery. He was general counsel for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors for eight years.
Sklar and his family have a history in Rutherford as grape growers. The Sklars have been growing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc for nearly 30 years, from which AO will purchase fruit. Sklar has managed the vineyard for the last 10 years. He also has been a real estate developer and is currently a St. Helena councilperson.
AO’s first wine made fully at its Rutherford facility was released this summer. There are currently 8,000 cases being made, but the winery is permitted for 20,000. Among the portfolio is a Sauvignon Blanc, made from its 10-acre Rutherford estate.
ALAN GOLDFARB (AG): Rolland seems to have the polar opposite philosophy from yours. How do you work together?
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