It is my pleasure to share the story of Burgess Cellars — a Napa house with a fantastic history. This house began 1800s and then was purchased by Tom Burgess in the 1970s after the winery was with the Pillsbury company. For 42 harvests Bill Sorenson served as Burgess winemaker. The winery was then purchased in 2020 by Lawrence Wine Estates. Tasting with their CEO Carlton McCoy, MS, he explained “Loved the old Burgess wines that I really enjoyed. The winery came with a great library which was a blessing for us. We did a deep dive into the history and we learned about Bill and found out that he is still alive and works a few days a week for ETS. Nobody knew his pedigree and what he contributed to the valley. I met with Cathy Corrison and we peppered up a 1996 Magnum. Bill was an honest, quiet guy and we spent some time with him, learning about the vineyards and the Quartz Creek Vineyard.”
I found the new wines to be the best I had tasted from this house. Each were very black-fruit driven with good structure and refined tannins. McCoy and his team wanted to improve the overall quality of this house. He said “What does it look like to be a leader in Napa Valley viticulture right now? We own Chateau Lascombes and I don’t know if there is a region that coddles vines like we do here in the Napa Valley. The goal in viticulture is doing less and balancing things to diversity of plant material so it is naturally balanced each year. We took a deep dive into ancient farming techniques. Sometimes technology and science has pushed us away from the natural process of the vine.” He stated “We dug into the ancient viticulture on Arigultura Promiscua and this was a viticulture book written over a thousand years ago. How can we implement this? We are re-developing different blocks and how can we interplant different fruit trees and bring pollinators that can bring bio-diversity.”
The estate itself has roughly 150 different species of plants and trees. McCoy noted that the new vineyard plantings “Are thriving with the new work we are doing on the viticulture side.” I loved the 2021 Burgess ‘Quartz Creek’ Cabernet Sauvignon (OB, 95) which was very concentrated and nervy, showing plenty of power and flavor range. Learn more about this outstanding house at https://www.burgesscellars.com/ and here are my reviews of the new releases by Burgess.
2021 Burgess ‘Promiscua’ Cabernet Sauvignon- The 2021 ‘Promiscua’ comes from three separate sites and is a homage to the Ancient Roman practice of Agricultura Promiscua. The wine comes from both the Sorenson and Quartz Creek Vineyards. This comes off nicely structured with dense blackberry and black cherry fruit flavors alongside coffee grounds and shades of dried herbs on the palate. Great now, enjoy over the next fifteen years to come. Drink 2024-2039- 93
2021 Burgess ‘Quartz Creek’ Cabernet Sauvignon- The outstanding 2021 Burgess ‘Quartz Creek’ Cabernet Sauvignon comes from this 50 acre parcel planted to Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon in the Oak Knoll District. Stored for 22 months in only 30% new French oak, this delivers tar, tobacco leaf and anise on the nose alongside heady dark fruits and pencil lead accents. The palate is nicely structured and fresh but shows excellent flavor density from the heat of the vintage. Powerful and muscular, give this a year or two to shed its baby fat. A beauty! Drink 2025-2040- 95