Old & New

In 1963, three years before Robert Mondavi founded his namesake Napa Valley winery and 13 years before the Paris Tasting put California wines in the worldwide spotlight, Robert Young became the first Alexander Valley farmer to plant cabernet sauvignon.

In 1994, Ted Simpkins first walked the property at the southern tip of the same valley that would become Lancaster Estate, his dream spot for making cabernet. Lancaster's winemaker is a young up-and-comer; their 2003 vintage is the current release.

Today, cabernet sauvignon is firmly established as the valley's signature varietal. The old and the new have put their mark on the valley.

The 88-year-old Young, though slowed a bit from a stroke a few years ago, is poised to release the first 100 percent cabernet sauvignon from his family venture, Robert Young Estate Winery. And as he does, his inspiration draws a new generation into this famed valley.

"When Robert first began growing cabernet sauvignon, everyone thought he was out of his mind," said Richard Arrowood, who served as Robert Young's first winemaker. "I recognized that he was merely far ahead of his time in understanding and planting for what was next to come."

Driven to preserve the homestead that had been in his family since 1858, Young had a vision for the valley that drives his children -- sons Jim and Fred, and daughters JoAnn Young and Susan Sheehy -- and other young winemakers to pursue excellence.

"As a region, I think Alexander Valley is exceptional," said Jennifer Higgins, the 39-year-old winemaker for Lancaster Estate. "There's the old guard, but there's room for new anchors and as everybody jumps on this boat, the wineries are only going to bring their standards up."

Vineyard manager Jim Young credits more than his father's foresight for cabernet's eventual success in the valley.

"My dad has always been very supportive of research and education and worked a lot with UC Davis Extension doing rootstock trials," he said. "At the time, the farm adviser, Robert Sisson, was probably talking up cabernet as the new thing to be planting . . . and they just thought it was an ideal area to do that."

They had 200 acres of prunes at the time and were told by other grape growers they'd be best off sticking with the then-traditional red varieties -- carignane and zinfandel.

"People thought cabernet bunches would be too small, that they wouldn't yield (a decent-size crop)," Jim Young said. "But dad knew about trellis systems; he had one of the first trellised vineyards in Sonoma County probably."

They planted the cabernet mainly on hillsides, a decision they remain thankful for to this day. With a largely southwestern exposure, the grapes get the right kind of heat for the right amount of time.

A winery was built on the estate in 2002, an idea for which Jim Young credits his brother, Fred.

"He rallied the family, saying future generations don't all want to drive a tractor. The winery is something the next generation can become involved in."

In making their wines -- even if production is relatively small at 7,500 cases a year and using a mere 5 percent of the grapes they grow -- they're creating a calling card, a showcase for the quality of their grapes.

Robert Young's winemaker is Kevin Warren, who worked alongside consulting winemaker Arrowood for years in establishing a line of Robert Young Estate wines, the first of which were released in 2001: a chardonnay (following in the footsteps of Arrowood's legendary Robert Young Vineyards' Chardonnay, which he made for decades at Chateau St. Jean), a merlot and Scion, a Bordeaux-style blend, in which cabernet has always played a significant part.

It was in the blending process for Scion that Warren was able to hand pick certain barrels and elevate them into the special bottlings for the about-to-be-released 2004 cabernet. It's been dubbed Bob's Burnpile because the grapes are from a block that overlooks an area of the vineyard where cuttings are left to be burned. With only six barrels made, the wine was aged two years in all new French oak.

If the Youngs are excited about their new cabernet -- "We're coveting it like diamonds," said winery president Bob Rebuschatis, Jr. -- Lancaster Estate's Higgins can relate.

Higgins has found her own ideal locale in this "nice, cool, southernmost tip" of the valley, where it meets Knights Valley and Chalk Hill.

The Santa Rosa native grew up in a family of four kids, the daughter of a novice wine aficionado. Her dad would take his brood to area wineries and tasting rooms on the weekends.

"He would hand me the wine and say, 'OK, what variety is it? Can you smell the butter in the chardonnay? What's the malolactic like?' He was really into that," Higgins remembered. "I just figured every kid in the world had that experience. By the time I was 16, I would baby-sit for wine. By the time I turned 21, I had an excellent cellar. I had every kind of zin you'd ever want."

After studying at Santa Rosa Junior College, Higgins attended UC Davis as a biochemistry major, in preparation for a medical career, never taking a viticulture or enology class.

After graduation, she went to Italy for a few years, getting by teaching English, bartending and waiting plenty of tables. Upon her return, she needed a part-time job while she studied for the MCATs, the rigorous set of tests needed to enter medical school. She ended up at Simi Winery at the time Zelma Long was running the show both as CEO and head winemaker.

Soon Higgins was working harvest, then working full time at nearby Alexander Valley powerhouse Clos du Bois, where she trained alongside Margaret Davenport, who had also started her winemaking career at Simi.

In the end, Higgins' background in biochemistry has proven very useful, but it was her time among some of the industry's great teachers, women in particular, that brought her into the fold.

"Zelma was the one that pulled me in -- she was in charge, she was running the show. She was truly a pioneer at a time when women weren't around."

Pioneering the wines for Lancaster, Higgins knows she's in a special place for cabernet, a proud lineage she can trace all the way back to Robert Young's first plantings in 1963.

"We've found a great way to get intensity, and all the things you need for high-end cab. That said, I don't want to make the best cab in Alexander Valley. I want to make the best cab in California."

You can reach Staff Writer Virginie Boone at 521-5440 or virginie.boone@

pressdemocrat.com.