| Livingston
Moffett Winery is owned and operated by four Livingston
Moffett family members who oversee vineyards (John
Livingston), operations (Diane Livingston), winemaking
(Mark Moffett) and sales (Trent Moffett). Located
on the Napa/Rutherford AVA's at the site of an 1883
winery, the winery began production in 1984 with the
release of its estate Moffett Vineyard Cabernet bottling.
A second Cabernet, Stanley's Selection, has been produced
since 1989 and is a blend of small, select Napa vineyards.
More recently the winery has expanded into limited
quantities of Chardonnay (Genny's Vineyard), Syrah
(Mitchell Vineyard) and a Cabernet-based blend (Gemstone
Vineyard). Total production varies between 5,000 and
6,000 cases annually. Consulting winemakers that have
overseen production in the past have been Randy Dunn,
G. Graham, John Kongsgaard and, presently, Marco DiGiulio.
Lured by
its small town character and lovely setting, we came
to St. Helena in 1976 to raise a family of six children.
Unlike many others who have arrived in the past 25
years, there was no forethought of our ever joining
in the wine business. Little did we suspect that the
decision to move to the Napa Valley was the first
step in doing just that. And looking back we must
have been clueless not to recognize the seeds of this
life change all around us. First, our new address
was in fact Cabernet Lane. Also, unbeknownst to us,
the land we had purchased happened to be located on
the Rutherford Bench – Napa’s prized Cabernet
growing district. The property included five acres
planted with old, dry-farmed Cabernet vines on St.
George rootstock that had escaped the ravages of phylloxera.
Framing our view of the valley from our 1868 farmhouse
were the walls of an old stone winery built in 1883
by a previous owner from Germany, H.W. Helms. For
a winery-minded person, this was a more or less picture
perfect setting to begin winemaking.
We
pretty much ignored all these signposts and chose
simply to hire a farming company to care for the vineyard,
selling the grapes to various wineries until 1984.
By that time we had learned a few things and notable
wineries were always in pursuit of our grapes. We
became proud of our grapes and, intrigued by the possibilities
of winemaking, took a few courses. Finally the uncertainties
of our business then, and the possibility of having
to move from the Napa Valley, forced us to look seriously
at a business we knew nothing about except the pleasure
of its product. The commitment of serious capital
and a total career change are not to be taken lightly.
However with a leap of faith we finally decided to
do what it now seems we were supposed to do all along.
We’ve never looked back since, and feel deeply
fortunate that the opportunities were there to participate
in such an enjoyable enterprise.
Today,
the Livingston Moffett Winery continues to specialize
in Cabernet wines. Gemstone Vineyard, the most recent
addition, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet
Franc, Merlot and Petite Verdot – by law a so-called
red table wine because none of the four grapes is
more than 75% of the blend. Together with the Moffett
Vineyard and Stanley’s Selection bottlings these
cabernets are among the most highly rated in America,
having earned “big league” and “top
echelon” accolades in national wine reviews.
The winery
has also expanded into small quantities of Chardonnay
and Syrah from single vineyard sources. While highly
allocated, direct mail offers of these wines normally
precede their release.
Since
its inception, the winery has been a family –
run business. Son, Trent, specializes in sales, marketing,
and strategic planning for the winery. Son, Mark oversees
the cellar operations. Diane manages the winery from
her headquarters in the barn near the family home.
With geology degrees from Yale and Rice Universities,
John’s love of the land is now focused on the
vineyards and the seasonal activities of grape growing
and winemaking. He also serves on the Boards of the
Napa Valley Vintners Association and the Napa Valley
Museum.
Since the
2000 vintage, we have settled on a single vineyard
source for our Chardonnay fruit from the Carneros
area in the southern Napa Valley. Owned by our own
vineyard manager and named after his mother Genny,
we soon viewed these wonderful grapes as part of our
extended family. When the first vintage more than
fulfilled our expectations, we naturally decided to
use Genny's name on her beautiful wines.
The
vineyard itself is planted to Dijon clones 76, 96
and a Robert Young clone from Hudson vineyard thus
assuring a complex field blend. Thin hillside soils,
a meager water supply and the cool breezy location
produce a low yield crop characterized by tropical
fruit flavors, nice minerality and naturally high
acids. All winemaking decisions are made to both preserve
and enhance these qualities. These include barrel
fermentation with indigenous yeasts, sur lees aging
and stirring for a year, modest oak levels and bottling
with little or no filtration and fining.
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