Patria Wines

History

Tony Biagi was a fifth-generation Northern Californian who planned to enroll at UC Davis and major in marine biology. A winemaking class he took with Ann Noble changed the course of his career. He graduated with a degree in Fermentation Sciences in 1995, and by that time, in 1992, he had already completed his first harvest internship at Hess.

From 1995 to 2001, he made wine at Duckhorn, where he says he learned the craft from Tom Rinaldi, Alex Ryan, and Dan Duckhorn. From 2003 to 2011, he worked at PlumpJack, while also serving as the founding winemaker at CADE, Sinegal Estate, and Neal Family Vineyards. In 2012, he founded his own consulting firm, Paternus Wine Consulting.

Kimberly Jones entered the industry after a series of twists and turns. After working in restaurants in Manhattan in the 1980s, she worked in the film industry in New York and Hollywood, and in the 1990s, she somewhat impulsively took on a wine sales role in Los Angeles. She helped grow the brokerage firm Griffin Wine Marketing, and in 2003, she launched Kimberly Jones Selections, which currently distributes small-scale California brands both domestically and internationally.

The two met through PlumpJack and have been friends for over two decades. When Biagi expressed a desire to own his own winery, he needed someone to handle the business side of things and asked her for help. Patria, which means homeland in Latin, was founded in the spring of 2013. Since then, their division of labor has remained unchanged: he manages the vineyards and production, while she handles market expansion.

Bought fruit, named sites

Patria Wines does not cultivate its own vineyards. All grapes are sourced from contract vineyards in Napa and Sonoma counties, and each site is bottled under its own name rather than being blended into a single cuvée representing the entire valley.

Oakville Ranch is the flagship vineyard. This vineyard is located on the eastern hillside above Oakville, quite high above the valley floor; it not only supplies grapes to Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc but also provides the base for the Avoyelles blend. A. Price is located in St. Helena, further north of Napa Valley. Charlie Smith, the origin of Chardonnay, is located in Moon Mountain District within Sonoma County.

To produce a label that yields only a few hundred cases per bottling, one must drive across two counties. This is the trade-off Biagi accepted when he chose growing regions over ownership.

The soils and terroir

At Oakville Ranch, elevation is key. Located on an eastern hillside at an elevation of approximately 425 meters, this site is high enough to exhibit characteristics entirely different from those of the Oakville plain below; the soil is rocky and volcanic. Organic farming practices are employed here.

The rocky hillside soil restricts vine growth and produces smaller berries, which are generally desirable conditions when prioritizing the wine's structure. Patria Wines capitalizes on this very aspect.

Bordeaux grape varieties

Patria Wines is a wine in the Bordeaux grape variety series, and Chardonnay is next to it. The various types included in this product line are as follows:

• Cabernet Sauvignon: The main component of most red wines
• Cabernet Franc: Bottled separately from Oakville Ranch and used for blending
• Petit Verdot: A component used in blending
• Malbec: Appears in small quantities
• Chardonnay: Derived from Sonoma County

Winemaking

Biagi runs Patria Wines like a consultant. He divides the vineyards into separate plots, clearly distinguishing each one. Nothing is blended into a single, massive Napa Cabernet. The wines are aged in oak barrels; the reds are full-bodied, with an alcohol content typically in the mid-14% range.

He does this work alongside his rather busy day job. Biagi serves as winemaker at Hourglass in St. Helena and Amici in Calistoga, as well as at To Kalon Vineyard Company, and acts as a consultant for Clos du Val in Napa, as well as Lasseter in Sonoma and Jada Estate in Paso Robles. His stance on this is quite clear. He believes that projects succeed because the team functions well, and that his mission is to make the winery a better place, not to make any individual winemaker stand out.

The wines from Patria

Three of these wines make up the premium lineup. Avoyelles is an Oakville Ranch red blend, made from a mix of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot, and is the most expensive wine produced by Patria Wines. Oakville Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon is produced from the same hillside vineyard. A. Price Cabernet Sauvignon is a St. Helena-bottled wine.

In addition, Patria produces Cabernet Franc, a single-varietal wine made from The Monarch, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and Oakville Ranch, as well as Charlie Smith Chardonnay, produced from Moon Mountain District of Sonoma County.

Overall, production volumes are extremely low, typically ranging from 100 to 400 cases per wine. New releases are launched twice a year and are offered first to mailing list members. This is not due to a shortage of supply but rather a deliberate choice. The founding philosophy was to offer Napa wines, which highlight the characteristics of the vineyard, at prices lower than those of Napa's collector-grade wines.