FIRST VINTAGE EARNS ACCOLADES FROM WINE CRITICS
© 2001- The Press Democrat
BYLINE: PEG MELNIK
In 1992, Barry Collier spent his 50th birthday in Napa at Auberge du Soleil and he and his wife Susan sat on the balcony overlooking the valley.
Crush and fermentation were in the air, and that’s when the romance of winemaking set in.
“Barry said, `I’d really like to do this,”’ Susan says. “Like everybody probably says when they come to Wine Country.”
Six years later they surprised themselves by radically changing their lives. They landed a 90-point rating in The Wine Spectator for their first vintage out, the 1997 Collier Falls Zinfandel.
“We were blown away,” Susan says. “We were so excited. Of course we wanted to make good wine, but that’s not what we expected. With 500 cases, we didn’t think selling it was going to be an issue.”
Alex MacGregor, the winemaker of Collier Falls at the time, says “What a way to start a brand. There are some pretty hot Napa cabernets that after one or two years have gotten good ratings, but in Dry Creek I’m not familiar with any zinfandel producers that have done that well (a 90-point rating) in their first vintage.”
Senior Editor Jim Laube of the Wine Spectator says he wasn’t surprised the wine did so well. “In 1997 there were a lot of great wines I also think because of his (Collier’s) property he has a really nice site for zinfandel and I hope for cab.”
Laube says he was impressed by the purity of the zinfandel. “It’s nice to see a mildly mannered restrained wine it’s more of a finesse wine with elegance rather than with sheer power.”
Collier says he takes pride in their role as winegrowers. “We have a hand in wine as it relates to growing the fruit, and that’s plenty rewarding. I don’t ever have to say I’m the winemaker.”
MacGregor, who made the wine at Everett Ridge Winery, says, “what made the wine so good was our gentle processing technique that allowed us to sort out under-ripe or overripe fruit, and Barry and Susan were right there helping us sort the grapes.”
Today, Collier Falls has a new consultant winemaker on board, Cecile Lemerle-Derbes, the former director of wine production at Opus One. In addition to zinfandel, the Colliers are aspiring to make a great Sonoma County hillside cabernet. They have 800 cases of cabernet in barrel, and they plan to release their first 2000 cabernet in September of 2003. The plan is to limit their production of cabernet and zinfandel to 1,500 cases each. At least that’s the plan for now.
“This is much more rewarding than having my name on any film I ever made,” Collier says.
“In the film industry we didn’t write the screenplays, I didn’t act in the film and I didn’t direct. In this business, we have our hand on every single vine a half a dozen times a year. We’re creating the product. It’s the first time in my life I’ve done that.”
You can reach Staff Writer Peg Melnik at 521-5310 or e-mail pmelnik@pressdemocrat.com