A Love Affair with Schramsberg Vineyards

For me, wine country in winter is magical. I love the silhouettes of not-yet-pruned vines against a backdrop of morning fog, the green, green hills, and the promise of spring and the new vintage it will bring with it. Every day seems wonderful.

It was on such a glorious winter day that Jamie Davies, America’s first lady of sparkling wine, passed away. It was a sad day in contrast to the bright sun that shone through the crisp temperatures. Jamie, and her late husband Jack, had brought acclaim to Schramsberg Vineyards and to the Napa Valley as a whole, forging a path that led to the production of some of the world’s finest sparkling wines—in California!

Jamie was a public person and Schramsberg is a well-known entity so it goes without saying that everyone has a story to tell about the loss they feel with Jamie’s passing. Here is my story.

It began about 15 years ago and not one I tell often. It begins with a little bit of secret shame. I was considering moving away from my beloved City to be closer to family in Napa Valley and answered a classified ad in the newspaper seeking a public relations professional for a winery. I can still remember the first sentence of my cover letter; it was bold and confident. It was no surprise I was called for an interview—by Jack Davies of Schramsberg.

I drove up to the Valley full of excitement. But once in the interview I became acutely aware of the fact that I knew nothing about PR. And the only thing I knew less about at the time was wine, especially sparkling wine. It was the worst interview of my life made worse by the fact that Jack—who was one of the most intimidating individuals I’d ever met—asked me to take a little test. Needless to say, I left without a job offer.

I tried not to think about my own impudence when I went back to Schramsberg many, many years later as a visitor. It had been several years and I had finally moved to the Valley after a detour that took me to New York for more than a year. In that time I’d learned a lot about wine and had tasted more than my fair share of Schramsberg.

Nothing could have prepared me for the love affair I’d begin with Schramsberg wine, the winery, and the glory of America’s sparkling wine that Jamie and Jack Davies had pioneered in the Napa Valley.

The property is one of the most beautiful in the area; its history beyond the Davieses rich with lore; and the wines are simply sublime. Every time I taste a new vintage I think there could not be a more perfect nectar on earth until I taste one of Schramsberg’s aged wines—heavenly.

But my infatuation was more than the basics. It was the sensual experience of the tour through the caves—the sight of thousands and thousands of bottles stacked to an unbelievable height and depth; the sounds of bottles being riddled by hand; the aroma of damp earth. And it was the idea that two people, Jack and Jamie Davies could drive up to what was on their first visit a grown-over, rugged property on a hillside in the middle of nowhere and decide to make sparkling wine. The juxtaposition alone between its rustic property and the elegant couple and their wines is enough to take my breath away.

I’ve since been back many times for tours, special events and even attendance at Camp Schramsberg—an intensive exploration of sparkling wine. It began in the vineyard before dawn, where we were given a hands-on lesson picking grapes and ended in the bottling room of the winery where we disgorged, dosaged, closed, and labeled our own individual bottle of 1999 Blanc de Blanc. In between we tasted, and tasted, and tasted.

It was during Camp Schramsberg that I had the opportunity to speak with Jamie one-on-one. She was gracious, engaging and knowledgeable. We talked about her lovely Victorian home and the gardens surrounding it. I parted from her with a lasting impression of how Schramsberg was not just her life’s work, not just her home, but something deep inside her bones.

As the years passed I’ve had the pleasure of writing about Schramsberg in my wine country books, serving its rosé at one book launching party, and boasting on CNN that it is the winery to visit if you only had one day in wine country. In September, when I started a new job—ironically in PR—for Wilson Daniels I was thrilled to learn Schramsberg is one of the wineries we represent.

In the last decade I’ve also had the pleasure of pairing Schramsberg wines with a variety of tasty recipes, one of which has since become one of my all time favorites. It’s include below. The simplicity of this recipe belies its full flavor. When figs aren’t in season it can be transformed into an equally scrumptious salad with baby lettuces drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (If you can find a pistachio oil and Sparrow Lane Golden Balsamic use them!), and seasoned with fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Then top with dried apricots, crumbled mild blue or goat cheese, and chopped pistachio nuts.

Figs with Goat Cheese and Pistachios
Serves 4

1/4 cup shelled pistachio nuts
8 fresh Mission figs, room temperature
2 ounces fresh goat cheese, room temperature
Kosher salt
Pistachio oil (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Put the pistachios in a small baking dish and bake for 8 to 10 minutes until they being to release their aroma. (The nuts can be toasted a few days in advance and then stored in an airtight container.) Chop fine.

Cut the figs in half and press about 1 teaspoon of goat cheese into the center of each half. Turn upside down and press into the pistachios covering the entire cut side. Sprinkle with pinch of salt and drizzle with a few drops of pistachio oil. Serve immediately.