I’ve now visited Napa Valley’s most original and expressive architectural wonder twice and urge visitors to put Quixote Winery on their Must Do list. Certainly if you love architecture as much as you love wine.
This one-of-a-kind winery is owned by Carl Doumani, formerly of Stags’ Leap Winery fame. Exactly 20 years ago, Doumani hired Viennese hippie-artist-turned-designer Friedensreich Hundertwasser to design the whimsical facade and inner office spaces of the winery, which only opened to the public for the first time last year; the result is sort of Gaudí on codeine. Nothing is quite as you might expect it to be. (The Gaudí reference is to Antonio Gaudí, the Catalan architect of the Modernist, or Art Nouveau, style, whose work is a national treasure in Spain.)
Hundertwasser’s buildings are all a bit off-kilter, like what the might find if you took the Blue Pill offered Neo (Keanu Reeves) in the Matrix, or if you shot down the wrong rabbit hole in Alice’s Wonderland. In short, the architecture here is, in a word, “bizarrentine.” Visiting Quixote is a bit like walking into someone else’s dream sequence and not having the appropriate DNA to decode what you’re seeing.
The winery’s front door.
"There are no straight lines in nature so why should there be in architecture?" asked the aging, now deceased, Hundertwasser. As such, Hundertwasser’s buildings in Europe and Asia, and now this one, his only structure in America, have curvy lines, uneven floors, drooping ceilings and brightly colored columns made of intentionally shattered mosaics.
But wait, there’s more: trees and shrubs, rooted in 30-inches of topsoil, grow out of the top of the winery, resembling a bad ‘do on a windy day. The kind of thing you might expect to find in a Dr. Seuss story.
“Quixote is a reflection of Carl (Doumani), who is a contrarian in just about everything – except for making wine, which he takes seriously,” says Lew Price, the winery’s general manager.
To my thinking, Doumani is a contrarian even about making wine; he has taken some of America’s best Cabernet Sauvignon-producing acres and planted them with his personal favorite grape, Petite Sirah.
Winery owner Carl Doumani resembles Harlan Saunders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.
Doumani maintains that the tannins and fruit of Petite Sirah are far more food-friendly than Cabernet and if that’s the grape he likes, well then, dammit, that’s the grape he’s gonna grow.
Which explains why Quixote is moving to a point at which three-quarters of the property will be planted with Petite Sirah. This fruit goes into two different labels produced at the winery – Quixote, basically the reserve wine, and Panza, a lesser (but not much “lesser”) label.
To get an idea of where the winery is: Quixote is east off the Silverado Trail in the Stags Leap District, sandwiched between Shafer and Stag's Leap Winery. Talk about location, location, location.
Writer Chris Colin nailed the description and significance of Quixote in his New York Times article when the winery opened in February 2007: “Another place to swirl a glass in Northern California would scarcely be news, but this is not just another place. Tucked up in the golden hills, away from the stately villas and incongruously ornate mansions, sits what might seem the creation of a beautifully demented child.”
Hundertwasser was adamant that “German gold leaf – and no other kind” be applied to the single minaret he added to the winery.
Demented child, indeed. Or maybe enfant terrible might be more appropriate. Mr. “Hundred Waters” (Hundertwasser) added many original, out-of-context flourishes, among them a gold minaret, which was not of Russian, or Turkish, origin, but which was his own design.
Inside, all the interior office walls are curvy, with no right angles. No two doors are alike, no two windows the same.
Winery general manager Lew Price leads property tours; he appears here with visitors in Carl Doumani's large, curvy-walled office.
What did this winery cost to build? Doumani has never revealed the actual sum, but says, “Whatever a winery costs – double it.”
Even the wine is a bit maverick here. Screw caps only, and whacko, slightly off-center, colorful labels. That kind of thing.
Wine Distinctions:
The label of the top-tier wine, Quixote, was designed by Hundertwasser himself. As you might expect, it is an unorthodox label, requiring 17 different printing steps.
Wine bearing the Quixote label is made only with estate fruit, it is 100 percent varietal (either Cabernet or Petite Sirah), and is aged only in French oak.
The “second label” of the winery, but not much of a lesser wine; it’s all estate fruit but is a blended wine.
Wine under the Panza label is also always estate fruit, but is a blended wine (Cab + Merlot, or Petite Sirah + Petit Verdot). Panza is aged only in American oak.
The winery, with 27 acres planted, produces 3,500 cases of wine annually.
Disclaimer: The grape to which I refer in this story – Petite Sirah – is NOT the same as the Syrah grape. When vines were brought to California in the 1800s, ag-men thought they were transporting Syrah – and, in fact, some wine pioneers did. But others mislabeled their rootstock and brought – and planted – what we now understand is Petite Sirah, which is, in fact, the Durif grape from France.
Durif is itself a hybrid grape – part Syrah (hence some of the colors and flavors of the offspring) and part Peloursin.
To make matters more complicated: Most Americans spell Petite Sirah with an “i” but given Doumani’s contrarian behavior, he spells it with a “y,” which is why his bottles claim to be filled with “Petite Syrah.”
You got all that? (You can relax: this material is NOT on the napaman.com final exam.)
Wine tasting notes
Afternoon tasting session for visitors at the winery.
2004 Panza Claret
A blend of 80 percent Cab, 20 percent Merlot. A perfect choice for a Tuesday night pizza, Lew Price likes to say about this $40 wine. Medium pale red, spiced with cloves and red juicy fruit. 89 points.
2003 Quixote Cabernet
Aged in French oak 14-17 months, this splendid wine, $60, has a lovely balance of fruit and tannin. Soft at the core, it has a beautiful long, supple finish, suggestive of licorice, tar and briar. A thoroughly food-friendly wine. 91 points.
2002 Panza Petite Syrah
They may not know how to spell Sirah at this winery, but they sure as hell know how to make it! I LOVE this wine, redolent of vanilla, blue and purple fruits. This P. Syrah, $60, is tempered with a touch (5 percent) of Petit Verdot. The wine has a glorious texture, is soft, chewy, and really lovely. 92 points.
2004 Quixote Petite Syrah
Dark color, dark fruit, this elegant $60 wine has gorgeous balance from start to finish. The middle palate has some soft notes, but the crescendo is focused and long. Hard to imagine this wine was aged in American oak because it has none of the heavy-handed hallmarks, which so many local winemakers impart to their wines using American oak. The stuff of which dreams are made. 93 points.
6126 Silverado Trail, in the Stags Leap District, Napa Valley. Tel: 707-944-2659.
Monday through Thursday, $25 per person for tour and tasting offered at 10 am, 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm. All visits by appointment only.
Friday, Sat. and Sun., only tastings are offered at the same times as tours/tastings above.
$20 per person for tasting-only, refundable if you buy wine.
Tasting sessions last about 45 minutes. Tasting-only visits are by appointment only.
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