DONALD PATZ & HIS HISTORY IN CALIFORNIA WINE
After 29 vintages with his previous company Patz & Hall, he moved on in May of 2017. A perfect moment to quit or take some time off. That’s not really his style. Mr. Patz hit the ground running on May 1 to implement a new wine brand. “I had some things I still wanted to do in the wine business. I love sharing my wines. This time being free to rethink and take my wines in a slightly different direction was exciting and refreshing!”
OUR WINEMAKING STYLE
Our goal with Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley region of Sonoma County is to make a wine that emphasizes the most intriguing part of this special grape variety – aroma.
Of course, we want complex textures and flavors and beautiful color and all the other things that make up Pinot Noir from this region but for us the most haunting part of the Pinot Noir experience has always been that perfume!
We are looking to produce Chardonnays from the Russian River Valley that embody the spirit of this great growing region. We don’t want to deliver enormous amounts of heavy-handed new barrel character in any of our wines but have carefully selected sources of once-used barrels along with a small number of new barrels to frame the fruit and give it nuance.
Above all we want our Chardonnays to demonstrate freshness and finesse as well as concentration and depth.
You may think you know all about the Russian River Valley and the style of wines that come from there, but the Maritana Vineyards’ wines are probably not what you think.
Mr. Patz had the grapes he wanted and needed a place to make the wines. A fortuitous lunch with Adam Lee of Siduri opened the door to using Sugarloaf Crush near Santa Rosa as a base for Maritana Vineyards.
Sugarloaf Crush is the location for a number of small wine projects and has the equipment and staff to follow-through on the vision that Mr. Patz had in mind. In the end these wines will speak for themselves.