meet aaron
What has the last 10 years taught you about your respective winery and Napa as a whole?
PlumpJack, Cade, and Odette are 100% committed to bringing the highest quality wines to our fans. I know this doesn’t seem particularly insightful. But it’s easy to stake this claim when times are good. We had extraordinary vintages from 2012 to 2016. It wasn’t an overwhelming challenge to make great wines for our people - aside from the “typical” challenges we face when making wine. But when 2017 then 2020 brought previously unprecedented challenges in the form of catastrophic fires in the Napa Valley, our commitment to quality did not waver. We chose not to bottle any of the smoke tainted wines in either vintage. So, in 2017, when the fires started later in the harvest season, we only made half of our Cabernet Sauvignon and no Merlot or Syrah. And in 2020, when the fires started prior to harvest, we didn’t bottle a single drop of 2020 red wines. We will not compromise on quality.
At the same time, I learned that our community in the Napa Valley is extraordinarily resilient. Many wineries lost vintages of wine, vineyards, and property to these fires. Grape growers lost all that they invested in their vineyards in these vintages. Relationships between wineries and grape growers were stressed and tested. Once the smoke cleared, we were able to come together, mend, and grow stronger.
2. With so many opportunities in the Napa Valley to make wine, why did you seek out your Winery and what has motivated you to stay for a decade?
I was already familiar with the wines at PlumpJack Winery and Cade Estate before learning that the Winemaker position was open at PlumpJack Winery. Each wine was so remarkable - elegant, powerful, fresh, rich, complex, balanced - and they are each of a style that I appreciate. The prospect of crafting these wines was a huge draw.
Before and during the interview process at PlumpJack, I began to learn more about the culture at PlumpJack. I learned that they were entrepreneurial, innovative, and environmentally conscientious - the first winery to use screwcaps on a wine in the ultra-premium category and to build a Gold LEED certified winery. These qualities were also very appealing.
I’m still here because these things are true. We are crafting some of the best wines in the world. We aren’t afraid to try something new. We value what the earth has given us and are working to be good stewards of the land. On top of this, the ownership at PlumpJack allows for the highest degree of autonomy. I’m trusted to make the right decisions in the vineyard and the cellar. Plus, I love what I’m doing. I’m still here because it feels good to be here.
3. What are some of the biggest changes you have seen happen in your career?
There have been many changes in the wine industry since my first internship in 2000. We have seen dramatic changes in technology from optical grape sorters to methods of measuring vine water stress by tapping directly into a vine. We have seen changes in grape growing in response to a warming world. We have responded to recessions, fires, and a pandemic.
But I think that the greatest change in my career has been my own personal and professional growth. I knew so little when I began. I was only introduced to fine wine when I was 21 years old and found myself in a cellar when I was 22. My peers had more wine experience, wine knowledge, and well-developed palates. I was terribly humbled. Gradually, with years of tasting, study, working in cellars, and traveling, I sharpened my palate and learned the trade from soil to bottle. But the most important thing I learned along the way was to trust myself.
4. Of your many accomplishments, what are you most proud of?
We’ve been blessed with several accolades over the last ten years - Three 100-point Cabernet Sauvignons and two Syrahs in the Top 100 Wines of the World. These are accomplishments that I never imagined I would achieve when I broke into the wine industry. While this recognition is appreciated - even celebrated - I am most proud that I have been able to craft wines that speak of place. Twenty years ago, I didn’t fully appreciate the impact of place on a wine. The soils, the terrain, the climate all have a greater impact on the wine than I do. Reaching this conclusion was my professional enlightenment. Shifting my focus from the cellar to the vineyard has helped me to craft more unique wines with more life, energy, and soul.
5. What advice do you have for aspiring Winemakers trying to break into the industry?
If you are an aspiring Winemaker, then, clearly, you love wine. Now, you need to know if you love making wine. This work is hard. During harvest, the work is extremely physical and we work deliriously long hours. While much of the rest of the year can be punishingly tedious in nature. If you don’t find that you have a passion for the process itself, you will likely burn out quickly. So, do some harvest internships. Move from the Northern to Southern Hemispheres if you are able. This allows you to gain more experience in a shorter period, to see varying techniques, work with a range of varietals, and to see some of the world and its cultures at the same time.
6. What is your favorite wine to make?
I love to make GREAT wine! And I love making all my wines for a variety of reasons. Each grape varietal has inherent differences and I have a distinct vision for each wine. I use a range of techniques unique to each varietal to allow each wine to achieve what I believe to be its greatest potential.
During harvest, I may have answered that Syrah is my favorite wine to make. We use a range of fermentation strategies with Syrah - fermentation in stainless steel tanks, fermentation in concrete tanks, and whole-cluster fermentation in open-top tanks - each contributing different aromatic attributes and textures to the wine.
But today, as I’m working on our first blend of the 2021 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, I would say that this is my favorite wine to make. To craft this wine requires a high degree of focus, discernment, and patience. We do extensive tastings to identify the 2021 Cabernet lots in our cellar that have the characteristics that stylistically align with my vision of a Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. We taste countless combinations of the lots that we have identified. We add some Petit Verdot or Malbec to see how these varietals affect the wine. We taste individual barrels to select the best barrels within each lot. Each element of the blend is painstakingly chosen and has a purpose. And, ultimately, this work leads to some of our most stunning wines.
7. What is your favorite wine that you have ever made (including vintage) and why?
Tough question. We say picking our favorite wine is like picking our favorite child. That’s just crazy hyperbole, obviously. It’s way easier to pick your favorite child. Sentimentally, I love my 2012 and 2015 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignons because those are my childrens’ birth years. And they’re delicious. I think that the 2018 Estate and Reserve Cabernet Sauvignons are among the richest, deepest, most complex wines that I have ever made. I could say the same for the 2014 Syrah. And my 2018 Merlot is one of the more dynamic and exciting wines I’ve made. 2016 could be the best overall vintage since I’ve been at PlumpJack. But I think I will go with the oft-forgotten 2014 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine was sandwiched between two 100-point wines - the 2013 and 2015 Reserve Cabs - so it just doesn’t get the attention it deserves. This is a wine of staggering depth, concentration, and complexity. It’s definitely worthy of a spot in your cellar.
8. What are you looking forward to in the next 10 years?
I look forward to continued growth. As I am a curious person and am very aware that there is much that I do not know, growth comes relatively naturally. I look forward to being confronted with the new and contradictory. I look forward to meeting with other winemakers and grape growers to glean from their experiences. I look forward to exploring different wine-growing regions and pondering how the techniques and philosophies found in these regions can impact what I am doing here. Also, I enjoy teaching as much as I enjoy learning. And I look forward to mentoring the next great winemakers.
10 Year Anniversary Reserve
Winemaker Dinner & Release Weekend
September 9 - 10
PlumpJack Estate 10 Year Anniversary Reserve Winemaker Dinner and Release Weekend
Tickets available this summer