Favia will get a brand new vineyard as a part of the transfer from its base in Coombsville to a 34.8-hectare (86 acres) winery property within the Oakville American Viticultural Space (AVA).
It’s a part of a brand new partnership settlement between the star husband-and-wife duo behind Favia, winemaker Andy Erickson and viticulturist Annie Favia-Erickson, and their long-standing buddies, the Huneeus household, who personal the Oakville website and have already got a portfolio of wines, together with Quintessa.
‘This began as a dialog amongst buddies,’ Erickson informed Decanter through electronic mail.
He defined the brand new association ‘signifies that we now can have fairness within the [Oakville] winery property, and the Huneeus household will take an fairness stake within the Favia wine enterprise’.
He mentioned, ‘It’s a nice alternative for Favia to convey our philosophy of farming and winemaking to a broader viewers.
‘Now we have been making wines from each Coombsville and Oakville for nearly 20 years.’ He mentioned Favia will ‘proceed to supply our Coombsville wines, and have a brand new supply of fruit in Oakville’.
By way of a timetable for the brand new vineyard, Erickson mentioned, ‘We are going to begin interviewing architects and designing this yr. If all goes effectively, we might be in for harvest of 2025.’
A few of the winery land has already been planted, and the primary of these vines will start producing fruit this yr, permitting the winemaking crew to experiment, mentioned Erickson. Many of the new planting work might be completed this yr, he added.
On grape varieties, he mentioned, ‘We in fact have fairly a little bit of Cabernet Sauvignon planted, but additionally Merlot (the soils are effectively suited in some components of the winery with a clay loam soil).
‘Additionally Cabernet Franc (our favorite selection within the Valley), a small quantity of Petit Verdot, and an honest trial block of Malbec, which I really feel is extremely well-suited to the brand new local weather realities we face.
‘We additionally love Sauvignon Blanc, and might be planting quantity of that for some white wine.’ All the things has been farmed organically and biodynamically from the beginning, ‘which is nice’, he added.
He mentioned Favia will proceed to make all 4 of its completely different Napa Valley purple wines, in addition to a white wine, which it has beforehand produced. ‘We are going to solely improve manufacturing if we are able to accomplish that on the identical high quality degree or higher,’ he added.
Final yr, Favia’s Cerro Sur label turned a brand new addition to the Place de Bordeaux’s rising roster of worldwide releases.
Decanter’s Georgie Hindle rated the Cabernet Franc-dominant Cerro Sur 2019 a full 100 factors.
