2021 Loomis Grenache Blanc Snow Estate Grown Napa Valley 750 ml

Jeff Loomis is an “O.G.” California Rhône Ranger. You’d have to be devoted to launch a winery in Napa Valley—big-time Cabernet country—dedicated exclusively to Rhône varieties. He’d make a lot more money by growing big-name grapes, but chose to follow his passion.

It’s no whim. Jeff’s been at it for 23 years now: In 2000, on his estate east of Napa, he planted six clones of Syrah, three of Grenache Noir, also Mourvèdre, Counoise, Grenache Blanc, and Viognier. Most of the clonal material originates from Château de Beaucastel, the $100 Châteauneuf-du-Pape icon.

An advertising executive by trade, Jeff caught the wine bug while riding his bike through Châteauneuf, playing hooky from a university program in Avignon. One taste was all it took. He was hooked for life, and Rhône wines became his passion.

Our VP of Wine Eduardo Dingler has gotten to know Jeff over the last ten years while working as the global wine director for the Morimoto Group, and through that connection, he scored an allocation of the 2021 Loomis Grenache Blanc Snow Estate. 

Jeff only made 114 cases of the 2021 Grenache Blanc, a gorgeously full-bodied white wine he treated to eight months in new French oak. It’s a delightful wine of power and elegance, and it shows all of Grenache Blanc’s signature floral flavors, along with white peach, Golden Delicious apple, hazelnut praline, and chamomile. It’s wonderfully rich, it will definitely please the Chardonnay lovers in your life—although we find it hard to imagine a white-wine fan who won’t adore this.