Dominus Estate, Napa Valley, Dominus

About Dominus Estate

In the late 1960s, while attending the University of California at Davis, Christian Moueix fell in love with the napa valley and its wines. Son of Jean-Pierre Moueix, the famed wine merchant and producer from Libourne, France, Moueix returned home in 1970 to manage the family vineyards, including Chateaux Petrus, la Fleur-Petrus, Trotanoy in Pomerol and Magdelaine in Saint Emilion. His love of napa valley lingered and, in 1981, he discovered the historic Napanook vineyard, a 124-acre site west of Yountville that had been the source of fruit for some of the finest napa valley wines of the 1940s and 1950s. In 1982, Moueix entered into a partnership to develop the vineyard and, in 1995, became its sole owner. he chose the name Dominus or lord of the estate in Latin to underscore his longstanding commitment to stewardship of the land. Varietals planted are cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, Petit Verdot. The soil type is gravelly and clay loam and the climate is warm dry summers tempered by cooling breezes from the San Pablo bay. cold, wet winters. the mid-valley location affords moderate temperatures. Rinsing the grapes 10 to 15 days before harvest removes dust and enhances the purity of the fruit. Everything is hand-picked with small French shears instead of harvest knives, which minimizes bruising and vine damage. Small harvest baskets preserve the integrity of the clusters as they are transported to the winery. The sunny side of the vines is picked a few days before the shady side respecting perfect maturity.