Passion

Beginning with an Audacious Dream

Two individuals are standing outdoors in a vineyard, one looking down at the ground and the other shading their eyes from the sun. There are rows of grapevines and hilly terrain in the background.

Jayson Pahlmeyer

Nearly four decades ago, Jayson Pahlmeyer embarked on a daring journey, arriving in Napa Valley with a bold dream and shoeboxes filled with smuggled Bordeaux vine cuttings. A trial lawyer by profession, Jayson, captivated by the allure of First Growth Bordeaux, was driven by a singular ambition: to create a Napa Valley wine that could stand shoulder to shoulder with Bordeaux’s finest. “All I wanted to do was to create my own ‘California Mouton’ – a rich, powerful Napa Valley Bordeaux blend, a wine that would drop wine lovers to their knees,” he explains.

Four people sit at a round table in a restaurant, toasting with wine glasses. Plates of food, a candle, and bottles of wine are on the table. A painting and a plate rack are in the background.
A person wearing glasses and a black leather jacket is sitting on a brown leather chair, drinking from a glass. They appear relaxed in a dimly lit room.
Four men posing together at a dining table, with various glassware and wine bottles in front of them, inside a cozy restaurant with wooden beams and soft lighting.

With a bit of ingenuity, Jayson and his accomplice and friend, John Caldwell, surreptitiously planted his “suitcase” clones on John’s Coombsville property in 1981. The exceptional quality of fruit in Caldwell Vineyard soon caught local attention, and by 1986, storied Napa Valley winemaker Randy Dunn – agreeing to make Jayson’s first wine in exchange for access to his fruit – crafted the debut Proprietary Red. Comprising five of the red Bordeaux varieties that Jayson had planted, the wine garnered 94 points from Robert M. Parker, Jr. upon its release and launched Pahlmeyer’s reputation for excellence.

A person walks through rows of a vineyard in early spring or late winter, with bare vines and tilled soil. The surrounding landscape includes a forested hill in the background.
Two individuals stand in front of a building with "PETRUS" written on it, surrounded by greenery and trees.
Four men standing outdoors under a trellis, with greenery in the background. Three of them are embracing each other.

In the late 90s, Jayson looked to the rugged mountaintops to establish his own vineyard. “My closest advisors, Helen Turley and John Wetlaufer, told me, ‘If you want to be a first-growth, you have to have your own vineyards,’” says Jayson Pahlmeyer. “I found this property in Atlas Peak, in the eastern hills of Napa Valley — an incredible parcel with views of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco skyline.

Everything worth doing is worth doing to excess.
— Jason Pahlmeyer, Founder


After John analyzed the soil and David Abreu studied the terrain, Helen Turley spoke for all of them when she declared the site “paradisiacal.” Rocky and desolate with low vigor and good drainage, it was perfect for growing intense, expressive Bordeaux varietals. Jayson hired David Abreu to develop it, and Helen and Erin Green, Helen’s protégé and longtime Pahlmeyer winemaker, selected the clones, which included those smuggled from Bordeaux.

Two children holding grape clusters stand beside a man wearing glasses and a white t-shirt with a palm tree design. They are near a container filled with grapes.
A man wearing glasses and a patterned short-sleeve shirt sits and smiles while holding a glass of red wine, with several wine bottles on a table in front of him.
Two men sit at a restaurant table, clinking glasses of white wine and smiling at the camera. Various bottles and a menu are on the table. Other patrons are visible in the background.

Today, Pahlmeyer wines are crafted through a steadfast commitment to the principles of site, discipline, and high quality of First Growth Bordeaux coupled with the signature richness, power, and depth of Napa Valley. Pahlmeyer wines are built on a foundation of extraordinary mountain vineyard sites and confident, discerning viticulture choices that demand maximum flavor intensity.

Stories

Conviction