After checking in on Andy Erickson and Annie Favia’s developing project, I maintained the new calendar/new things theme with another stop in Oakville. This time winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown was my host.
“It’s so incredible to be able to get in on this fruit,” he says.
Rivers Brown isn’t prone to hyperbole and “incredible” isn’t a term he uses often. In this case, he drops it in his typical matter-of-fact style as he looks out over the East Block of the Detert family vineyard, a parcel located within the To Kalon vineyard in Oakville. His enthusiasm is understandable. Not very many people have ever had access to Detert family fruit, which, starting with the 2023 vintage, will be the source for Rivers Brown’s new Dorsey label. The project is Rivers Brown’s first ever as solo owner with no outside investors.
Napa History
The Deterts’ old vine Cabernet Franc (planted 1979) in their East Block is arguably the highlight of the historic property. The old vines are interspersed with younger vines planted in 2015 to replace virused ones, using the budwood from the old vines. Those old vines make up about 60 percent of the block, and Rivers Brown is taking fruit from just 25 rows, less than an acre in total. The 2023 vintage yielded a mere 2.1 tons of fruit…