Brandon Boesch

9.1

Strawberry cola and some blackberry bramble. Nice finish. Not the most complex wine but pretty darn good. Fruit forward pinot with some balance. — 3 years ago

Raul Puga

9.5

Delicious — 5 years ago

with Eduardo, Orlando and 3 others

Bob McDonald

9.5

Lovely perfume - evidence of whole bunch - Asian spices. Barb who is a keen gardener said “Sweet Pea, Compost Heap and Twigs”. On the palate red cherries and plums - a succulent mouth filling texture. A really good Pinot Noir and the first Pinot to win the Jimmy Watson Trophy at Royal Melbourne in 2013, in controversial circumstances over the Giant Steps entry. Sold out in days after it won “The Jimmy “ - only 3836 bottles made says the label. — 6 years ago

Didier

9.2

Wine bar in uptown. Crisp, light. Not buttery — 9 years ago

Caitlyn Christensen

9.6

Such a unique wine! Strawberries, floral, crisp. Had to go back and update my rating, because months later I'm still raving about this wine! — 11 years ago

Zach Gusa

9.3

This bottle was top notch — 11 years ago

Brandon Boesch

9.1

Very nice Pinot, crushed rocks, cherries, herbs, a hint of smoke, more tart berries on the finish. After some air it reminds me of a very tart berry crumble a la mode with a bit of smoke. Interesting. — 5 years ago

Severn G

9.2

Prior notes still apply, no new notes, pop & pour format today to see performance under non-decant setting. All good. 👍

Used for keeping the chef hydrated this afternoon while crafting today's batch of Peach jam. Fruits are coming in early this year, so I'm about three weeks ahead of most years. Yesterday was Apricot/Red Currant jam and Red Currant/Black Currant/Raspberry jam. Last weekend was a big batch of Red Currant jam. If you're a gardener, learn how to preserve your harvest into future years. Home canning will bring you great satisfaction to open a jar of something that'll remind you of warm weather when the snow is flying and piling up.

Pro tip for 🍑 jam, don't blanche all your skins off, they impart flavor and help add nice red-ish color to the finished product. (10, 8oz jars today) — 6 years ago

Drew Raphael

10

Excellent — 8 years ago

Jennifer

9.4

Viognier at its best. Rhone valley grapes that express their happiness. Excellent wine at a superb price point. #iloveEurope #gardener — 9 years ago

Thomas Monroe

Winemaker Division Winemaking Company, Owner/Winemaker SE Wine Collective

8.9

Organic Rhythm! — 10 years ago

David Collins

9.0

Tropical fruits, green apple, wet stone, a little grassy and some decent acid - perhaps off-dry. — 11 years ago

Courtney Humiston

Sommelier Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen, Freelance Wine Writer

9.0

A lovely wine made my good people. Pinot Blanc from Robert Sinskey's vineyard in Carneros. Fresh and ethereal. — 12 years ago

JKT

9.3

Simply delicious Burg! Light colored. Intriguing and attractive nose of forest floor red berries and an interesting mysterious note of woodsy perfume of some kind carrying through to a liveliness and dancing texture. More pure pleasure than the complexity and depth folks chase after. Excellent finish to cap it off. Hard to find. Hopefully another bottle left. Yum. What a GL 29 buy back then! A traditionally made wine, 50 barrels with no sulfur. Gardener than farmer as DR says! — 5 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.5

Pale to mid Ruby in colour. Bright red fruits with a sooty stalky earthy note. Barb the gardener thought pansy perfume amongst the forest floor. Earthy savouriness on the medium weight palate with red fruits - red cherry to the fore. Still fresh at 10 years. We both loved it. Even though the Lavaux site is one of the last picked in Gevrey Chambertin ensuring longer hang time and good depth, Jasper Morris MW described it as “fine boned”. A very good Premier Cru from a good vintage. — 6 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.7

Of the Napa wines I tasted over 4 days on this trip, the 16 Sinegal Reserve & the 13 Seavey Cabernet were my favorites. Both great wines but, stylistically very different. The Seavy big and bold and the Sinegal pure beauty & elegance.

The nose reveals very dark currants. Dark & milk chocolate. Blackberries, creamy black raspberries, black plum & plum, mocha powder, core of anise, beautiful dark spice, soft volcanic soils, some dry brush and lavender, violets and fresh dark red florals.

The body is full. The tannins are really meaty but, exceptionally soft, fine and meaty. Lots of dark spice with plenty of heat. The mouthfeel is gorgeously sexy with feminine elegance. Dark & milk chocolate. Blackberries, creamy black raspberries, black plum & plum, mocha powder, core of anise, beautiful dark spice, big sweet tarry notes, soft volcanic soils, some dry brush, lavender, violets and fresh dark red florals. The acidity is perfect. The finish is well balanced sexy and gorgeous. The structure, tension say this needs to cellar eight to ten years.

Photos of; tasting cellar area, modern stainless tanks, outside terrace tasting and or dining area and their grounds and lake.

Producer history and notes...Sinegal Estate was founded in 2013 with wines made from their 30 acre Inglewood estate in St Helena (not to be confused with the Inglenook Estate in Rutherford). This is not a new property, it was part of an original land grant and its more modern day history dates back to 1879 when owner Alton Williams purchased the property and planted the first vines in 1881.

The property has changed owners a number of times over the decades. At one point the Jaegers’ owned the estate, Bill Jaeger and his wife Lila lived here. These Napa Valley pioneers were in part responsible for helping establish Freemark Abbey and Rutherford Hill. Lila was also a gardener and established beautiful gardens on the property.

Owners, David (father)and James (son) Sinegal purchased the property in 2013. James was the co-founder of Costco and once CEO. David worked at Costco for 21 years.

After the purchase, David divided each of their vineyards into smaller blocks, picking selectively (30 times in 2013) rather than all at once, and adding technology to the vineyards so they have up to the date reports on a number of data points including temperatures, soil moisture and various barometric pressures. If they want to selectively water, say vine #67 in row number three, they can do so with their irrigation system. Extremely efficient!

Nine acres of vines are planted to various red varietals including; Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. They have some of the older Cabernet Franc vines in the valley that are 30+ years old.

The soils here are diverse and can vary even within small geographic ranges on the property. Some of their vineyards are planted on the valley floor – while their upper vineyards are hillside, on the edges of the Mayacamas Mountains.

Their landscape above the property is interesting and part of the Mayacamas Mountains. Visually, it appears drier than other parts of this mountain range and the vegetation reflects that with grey pine and more open natural vegetation rather than the thicker wooded vegetation more commonly associated with parts of Spring and Diamond Mountains to the north.

After purchasing the property, David created planned and laid out his vision to create a world-class boutique wine making operation. Many wineries in the Napa Valley can take years before they come to fruition, not so here. After only about 10 months, the existing winery was remodeled. 6,500 feet of caves were expanded and drilled into the hillside behind the winery and a new hospitality center was built. The hospitality center ties in very well with the winery. From the small tasting room, large doors open revealing the tanks.

A vegetable garden slightly under an acre grows just south of the winery building. Vegetables from this garden are sold to nearby restaurants.

A skeleton key appears on the labels of their wine and is prominently displayed on the outside of their winery building. This has historical significance. The original key opens the front door to the historic home on site and is displayed in the tasting room. With respect to the history of this property, this one key has already become iconic to the brand.

You only need to look inside of the winery to see that their wine making team is focused on quality. Each of the small lot tanks have built in pumps which can be controlled and programmed to do pump-overs anytime of the day or night. In addition, these tanks have multiple points at which the temperature can be controlled. These tanks do not necessarily handle all their fermentation’s. They also ferment small lots in puncheons and barrels as needed. Control across the board is the key here and it is the control of the details in wine making that is is so integral from when the fruit first arrives through to when it is bottled.

2013 was their inaugural release. The focus is currently on two primary varietals, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2013 Sauvignon Blanc were sourced from the estate but, then it was determined it was growing in an area better suited for red varietals so it was torn up and new plantings were made in the back of the property. While not far from these original plantings, their new home for their Sauvignon Blanc features different soils and is growing in a cooler part of the property.


The wine making team has been experimenting with the style of this varietal since 2013 with subsequent vintages seeing more oak. Especially, using the slightly longer cigar shaped barrels , which have extra surface area for maximizing complexities including textural feel imparted from aging the wine on the lees in these particular barrels. Maceration on the red wines is often 8-10 days and sometimes up to 20 days.

Most of their sales are direct to visitors or through their mailing list. However, they do have some distribution outside California in Florida, New York and Washington. Primarily to restaurants. — 8 years ago