2015 BRAND Winery BRIO Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

Unlocking the Potential of Pritchard Hill

Pritchard Hill is home to only a handful of wineries, each more famous than the next: Chappellet, David Arthur, Continuum, Ovid, Bryant, and Colgin. But, BRAND, a relative newcomer is gaining serious momentum. When world-renowned winemaker Philippe Melka visited the property and toured with owners Ed and Deb Fitts, he recognized the same soils that are revered by the likes of Dalle Valle, Bond, and Joseph Phelps. Melka recognized that the Fitts were committed to “unlocking the potential” of the site, and signed on to lead the project. After two years of dynamiting boulders, eight acres of vines went in. Today’s 2015 BRAND “BRIO” Napa Valley Red Wine is a Cabernet-dominant blend that packs all the verve, energy and power of Pritchard Hill, and bears Melka’s 100-point golden touch. 

Philippe Melka is a Robert Parker-favorite winemaker whose accolades include numerous 100-point scores and a bevy of blue-chip clients like Dominus, Hundred Acre, Bryant Family, Tusk, and Dana Estates. After spending a half an hour with Ed and Deb Fitts, touring their then-barren property on Pritchard Hill, they realized that they were the ones being interviewed instead of the other way around.

Although not an official AVA, Pritchard Hill demands some of the highest vineyard prices in Napa Valley, with the average asking pricing coming in at over $1 million per acre. Keep that in mind.

The Fitts had all but given up on their biggest dream. Avid lovers of the outdoors, and passionate equestrians, their shared desire to live in the beautiful Napa Valley turned into a multi-year search without luck. Ed wanted a property with a view of water — a real Napa rarity. On the brink of giving up, they were tipped off to a property above the fog line on Pritchard Hill complete with a view of Lake Hennessey. They swallowed the incredible asking price, and moved to California for the beauty of the landscape, without a thought of becoming Vintners.

It was only after they purchased the property that they came to understand the pedigree of the area’s vineyards and the untapped potential of the soils under their feet. The “ah-ha” moment occurred halfway through their first meeting with Philippe Melka, who was struck by the property.

The Bordeaux-trained genius, who worked at Chateau Haut-Brion, then at Petrus, which ultimately brought him to Napa Valley to work at Dominus, recognized the potential in the Hambright series of well-drained soils on the property. It is this same soil that over time has washed down the hillside into the revered vineyards of Dalle Valle, BOND’s St. Eden Vineyard, Joseph Phelps’ Backus Vineyard, and Screaming Eagle. This site was waiting to be unlocked, but Philippe needed to be assured that Ed and Deb understood the time and financial commitment it would take to develop the vineyards. They did, so Philippe got to work.

It took two years to break up the boulders in the soil with dynamite, a sound that thankfully the neighbors are accustomed to on Pritchard Hill. While two years felt like a lifetime for Ed and Deb, for Philippe it provided him the time to design a cellar perfectly suited to his needs. The BRAND cellar is designed without one inch of wasted space and crafted in a way that would allow for a small team to handle everything.

To complete the stellar team, Philippe brought on the talents of winemaker Matt Johnson, his protege for many years at Dana Estates. As Philippe became more and more attuned to the vineyard, there was one particular block that had an energy, a freshness, that begged to be bottled separately. Ed and Deb named this block and the wine BRIO, which translates to “vivacity” and is a quality they would look for in the Peruvian horse stallions they bred. The BRIO unquestionably embodies these qualities. Their love of horses is evident in the two adjoining horseshoes that grace the BRAND label.

The 2015 vintage has been universally lauded. The last of multiple back-to-back drought vintages, the wine shows the concentration and tension of stressed vines. The 2015 BRIO is powerful, with that vivacity and energy that Philippe recognized early on. Comprised of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Cab Franc, 5% Petit Verdot, it is at once polished and a little wild. Inky black in color. Sophisticated aromas of violets, herb bouquet, cedar, blackcurrant, and dark chocolate. The tannins are dense and fine-grained providing excellent structure to the rich core of melted chocolate, bramble, black cherry, and blueberry. Impressively complex and concentrated with a long and nuanced finish.

Don’t miss this opportunity to purchase what until now was only offered to the BRAND mailing list.