2023 Slow Dance 'Napa' Red, 750ml

"When I started farming this vineyard I was 28 years old. At this point, I had a couple years of farming in Petaluma, and many more farming for other winemakers. So by the time I stumbled on to the Napa vineyard, I for all intents and purposes should have been prepared. But nothing can really prepare you for Napa owners that deem their vineyard the next big thing in Napa. Not that I was up against the Mondavi’s, but what unfolded was a beautiful relationship that pushed me to be better. In some ways passionate owners drive your passion as well. The owners at Napa are what you might deem “traditional”. They’ll send you home with jam but scold you for smelling like marijuana. Like many “traditional” parents, retiring in Napa is a dream worth chasing. “We’ll have a vineyard someday darling just you wait,” you can hear them say as they’re washing the dishes one night pre retirement. However what may look traditional on the outside is not what it always is on the inside. Born and raised into blue collar families from the midwest, the owners know hard work, and I had to prove that I did too. Unlike my other vineyards, visits were often planned, work was recorded, and no expense was wasted. Together we have put everything into this vineyard, and I have remarkably improved my farming because of them. While I was often pushed to deliver the best, I didn’t know what my best was until I stumbled across this vineyard and these owners.

In 2023-24 we purchased older lambs to graze in the vineyard for roughly 4 months. Usually grazers have older sheep to bring but often don’t want to bring the normal size outfit for a small vineyard. After some experience with this we went ahead and bought lambs so we could sell them to a restaurant afterwards. We felt this was the best way to bring the benefits of grazers to the vineyard while also being able to sustainably afford the purchasing of the lambs. It was my first winter setting up electric fencing for myself and checking in regularly on my own lambs. The vineyard sits tucked up against a hill just on the ridge that begins the west side of the Napa Valley. The soil is primarily a silty loam." - Graham Shelton, winemaker