About
2018 Old Federal Block Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville, Napa Valley
It all started when…
In October of 2015, Michael Kennedy - then Wine Director & Sommelier for Chef Eric Ripert’s Blue & The Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman - was on a visit to Napa Valley from the Cayman Islands. He spent the afternoon visiting Bryant Family Vineyard on Pritchard Hill with the winemaker, Marc Gagnon. The two hit it off, spending hours talking about rocks, vines, beer and a million other topics.
A couple of months later, Kennedy hosted Bryant Family Vineyard and Gagnon at his resort in Cayman for the Cayman Cookout, as a featured winery during the food and wine festival. The two became quick friends… very different people, but with a mutual understanding of each other’s strengths.
In 2018, when Gagnon left Bryant Estate, over a dinner with friends at a local Italian restaurant in Napa, Kennedy asked Gagnon what was next. That night, they both went home knowing that something amazing was about to happen.
A week or so later, over the phone, Kennedy and Gagnon started talking about doing something together. The consensus was simple.
“Explaining terroir and history of Napa Valley through historic vineyards.”
The next months saw the beginning of an incredible partnership filled with discovery, yin and yang and a massive amount of fun. Gagnon and Kennedy signed vineyard contracts on three of the oldest and most iconic sites in Napa Valley:
Historic Beckstoffer Georges III in Rutherford
Historic Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper in Oakville
Historic Samuel Brannan Vineyard in Calistoga
The goal is simply to explore the vineyards that stood out as prime to the earliest settlers of Napa Valley, to express them uniquely and purely, and to provide an experience in the valley unlike any other.
