Estate

BRYANT ESTATE is the vision of proprietors Don and Bettina Bryant. After purchasing land on Pritchard Hill in 1986, Don acquired a 13-acre adjacent vineyard and was inspired to plant Cabernet Sauvignon. David Abreu was enlisted to plant the vines and Helen Turley made the wines for the estate’s first decade. The trio’s efforts established the Bryant Family Vineyard, a pure Cabernet Sauvignon recognized today as one of California’s First Growth wines.

A passionate collector of Bordeaux wines, Don was inspired to produce a wine blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot to complement the 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from Pritchard Hill. The grapes for this wine are sourced from two of David Abreu’s vineyards, Madrona and Las Posadas, and in recent years also receives fruit from Bryant Family Vineyard. 2009 marks the first vintage bottled, which commemorates the year that Don and Bettina married. Don aptly named this parallel wine BETTINA.

“Bryant under the direction of Bettina Bryant and winemaker KK Carothers is a terrific example of the contemporary style of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  There is plenty of textural richness and intensity, but with greater vibrancy than in years past.  It is a style that is so well suited to the estate vineyard and the David Abreu sites where Bryant purchases fruit.  KK Carothers is one of the most talented and detail-oriented winemakers of her generation.”

Antonio Galloni, Vinous, 2022

History

Spanning nearly 20 miles from the San Francisco Bay to the foot of Mount St. Helena, Napa Valley—with its many microclimates, rich soils, diverse geological features and deep traditions—is the ideal setting for producing some of the world’s finest wines. The BRYANT ESTATE property overlooks Lake Hennessy on the western slope of Pritchard Hill, a discreet enclave situated in the Vaca Mountains between Oakville, Howell Mountain, Rutherford and Chiles Valley. Perched above the fog line at a 900-foot elevation, the steepness, undulating shape, light and ventilation make Pritchard Hill one of the most dynamic sites in winemaking.

Scientists have traced the origins of Napa Valley soils back 145 million years. Accumulated in shallow waters beneath the young Sierra Nevada Mountains, sandstone and shale deposits formed the rocks of the Great Valley Sequence. Petrifying in the subaquatic depression, the rocks ground and twisted under the colliding tectonic plates. Over the course of 25 million years, these tectonic plates shifted and collided, resulting in volcanoes that rained lava and volcanic ash over the valley. Eventually, volcanic deposits along with sandstone and shale were forced upward, forming the Vaca Mountain Range, where BRYANT ESTATE currently sits. Vast areas of eroded sandstone and shale blanket the area just below the winery.

At its boundaries, the terrain becomes rocky—the basalts and andesitic rocks a testament to the massive lava flows of the Sonoma Volcanic Era. To develop the vineyard, numerous volcanic boulders were removed. The remaining rock formations provide deep fissures where foraging grapevine roots find moisture and nutrient-rich minerals. Since the end of the Ice Age, intense weathering caused by heavy rainfall in the area pulled potassium and silicate minerals off the surface and left behind rich brown clay loam. The predominant vineyard soils are known as Hambright, Guenoc and Sobrante. These geologically young soils are intensely mineral-rich, thereby producing extraordinarily powerful wines.

Winemaking

“Harvest is a most exhilarating time of year which requires all of our energy and focus; from the field to the cellar, we as a team execute with precision and fervor.”

Kathryn "KK" Carothers (Winemaker)

We use no pre-emergent herbicides and embrace the biodiversity of our cover crops, relying wholly on elemental forces, such as fire, to coordinate the vegetative growth alongside our vines. As we proceed along an organic/biodynamic trajectory, we have introduced chickens to the vineyard to provide natural fertilizer to our rocky hillside vineyard, natural pest control to our riparian blocks and healthy eggs to our team.

Flaming the fields

“My goal in making wine is to respect terroir and the tradition of Bryant Estate with utmost and uncompromising care, dedication and hard work.”

Kathryn "KK" Carothers (Winemaker)

People

Don & Bettina Bryant

Proprietors

Don, a successful entrepreneur, and Bettina, a performing artist, film producer and art curator, met through their mutual appreciation of the arts and it remains a thread woven throughout their lives. As long-time collectors, they understand the importance of art in bringing beauty, perspective and hope to the individual and to the world. They also share an unwavering commitment to excellence in every endeavor they undertake.

“We do it right, even if that means painstakingly by hand, in order to improve wine quality and ensure the sustainability of not only the grapes, but all the surrounding organisms.”

Bettina Bryant