Emmitt-Scorsone winery owners find value in staying small

When Michael Scorsone was given the chance to purchase a ton of cabernet sauvignon grapes from Napa Valley’s renowned Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard in 2015, it was an offer too good to resist.

The winemaker had previously scored Beckstoffer Georges III fruit for his small Dry Creek Valley winery, Emmitt-Scorsone. So he was keenly aware of the cachet a Beckstoffer vineyard-designate wine could bring.

“Beckstoffer can help put your winery on the map,” said Scorsone, who co-founded Emmitt-Scorsone Wines in 2011. “People closely follow that name to see who’s producing wine with the fruit. Once we made a Beckstoffer cab and listed it on the website, customers wanted to buy it without even tasting it. In hindsight, that’s not what our brand is about.”

Follow a narrow, winding driveway off West Dry Creek Road, through a thicket of damp redwoods and bracken ferns, and a modest brown barn comes into view.

This is the humble Healdsburg home of Emmitt-Scorsone Wines, where co-owners Michael Scorsone and Palmer Emmitt lease the 32-acre property and its 9 acres of grapevines.

Without a traditional tasting room, wine tastings are a casual, outdoor affair, where guests can explore the two distinct labels under the Emmitt-Scorsone brand: Domenica Amato and Judge Palmer.

Domenica Amato — a label named after Scorsone’s Sicilian grandmother — is the winemaker’s ode to Italian varietals, including superb, lively expressions of cortese, falanghina, fiano and barbera.

Select Rhone varietal wines also can be found under Domenica Amato, like viognier, grenache blanc and a lush, velvety estate grenache.

“My whole philosophy with the Domenica wines is just to source fruit from cool vineyards, then babysit the wines,” said Scorsone. “There is no magic sauce or potion that goes into the winemaking.”

With a grandmother and father that grew up poor in Sicily, Scorsone said he was taught early on to appreciate the simple things. In his family, that meant food and wine.

“My grandmother would make fresh bread and pasta, while my dad bought grapes from the Italian market to make wine in our garage. Helping him was my first experience making wine. It tasted terrible, but he thought it was the best thing in the world!”

After earning a degree from the Culinary Institute of America in New York, Scorsone developed a passion for wine during a post-graduate internship in Aspen, Colorado.

That’s where someone introduced him to Ehren Jordan, the winemaker at Failla Wines in St. Helena.

Two wine internships later, Scorsone joined Failla as assistant winemaker in 2004, where he and Jordan would go on to produce Wine Enthusiast’s 2008 wine of the year: a 2006 Syrah, Phoenix Ranch, Napa Valley.

Scorsone dreamed of having his own winery someday — even producing a few barrels under the Domenica Amato label that he kept cellared away.

A fortuitous meeting

Palmer Emmitt had been living in Hollywood and working in the film industry when the wine bug unexpectedly bit.

After earning his Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Level 3, he moved to Sonoma County to earn his MBA in Wine Business at Sonoma State University.

He was unsure what his future wine career looked like. But once he formed a friendship with Michael Scorsone and the duo discussed launching a new wine brand, the future suddenly looked bright.

While Scorsone would oversee winemaking and manage the vineyard, Emmitt would handle the business side of the brand.

Judge Palmer

When Scorsone and Emmitt launched their brand, they decided high-end Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon would be the winery’s “bread and butter” — something that would provide a reliable source of healthy revenue.

Produced under a label called Judge Palmer — a nod to Emmitt’s grandfather — the Napa cabs were soon joined by other Bordeaux varietals, like chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, and numerous Sonoma County cabs.

The Domenica Amato label was added soon thereafter, along with a solera-style white port and late harvest viognier.

In hindsight

Considering Emmitt-Scorsone is a two-man show that produces just 3,000 cases per year, it’s difficult to imagine the modest wine brand having the means to purchase Beckstoffer To Kalon fruit.

Looking back, Scorsone acknowledges he got “swept up by the name.”

“Not many people get to purchase To Kalon fruit, so it seemed like a great opportunity in the beginning,” said Scorsone. “But at $31K a ton, it’s a rich man’s game. It ended up taking us three years just to break even. We’re a small winery that makes just 3,000 cases a year, so it’s hard for us to compete with hotshot wineries who are buying the fruit.”

While Scorsone admits the Beckstoffer fruit did open doors for their brand in the beginning, he’s currently more interested in luring customers with his uncommon Italian varietals and estate grenache. And he’s thrilled when customers call and ask for something they can’t buy anywhere else.

He’s also keen to keep the winery’s overall production numbers low, which allows him to have more control over the vineyard and wine production.

For Emmitt, who doesn’t have a lot of bandwidth to pursue outside sales, growing the brand’s wine club is the ultimate goal.

“It’s very difficult for small brands to get any traction in the marketplace and compete with the big guys if you don’t have a lot of money,” said Emmitt. “Producing wines just for our wine club allows us the freedom to make the wines we want to make and know we have a loyal following of people who will buy them. We just want people to come along on the journey with us.”

You can reach Staff Writer Sarah Doyle at 707-521-5478 or sarah.doyle@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) and Instagram @whiskymuse.