Jordan Estate Tales - Volume 11, 2016 - 13

guests by revealing that 2015 was also a special 40 for him-
his 40th anniversary since signing his first contract to play Major
League Baseball.
Daniel Baron, long-time friend of Rob and winemaker at Silver
Oak, brought a special bottle of 2005 Château Magdelaine as
a gift. (Jean-Claude Berrouet, who made wine at Château Petrus
and Magdelaine for many years and worked with Daniel at
Dominus Estate, was also in attendance.) Daniel had asked his
assistant to pull a bottle from his cellar in Oakville, and he didn't
look closely at the bottle until just before the event. The label was
streaked with wine stains. It was among the bottles spared from
Silver Oak's cellars during the historic earthquake that had struck
Napa Valley exactly one year before: August 24, 2014.
Jean-Claude Berrouet, retired from Château Petrus and now
consulting with Daniel at Twomey Cellars, shared the story of
the first time he'd met Rob. It was 1981, and Rob had traveled to
Bordeaux with Daniel, a fellow UC-Davis graduate. The three men
had never met before, and as the story unfolded about the time
they had spent together with Jean-Claude and Christian Moueix,
the owner of Petrus, Jean-Claude realized that his wife had been
pregnant during that trip with his son Jean-Francois-who was
sitting across the Jordan dining room-and it was Jean-Francois's
first time to visit Rob at Jordan.
Mario Pinto of Corval Corks, who oversees cork sourcing for
Jordan wines in Portugal, brought three very thoughtful wines
to celebrate the occasion: the 40 Year Port to share with all the
guests to commemorate Rob's 40th harvest, a 1954 Colheita (Rob's
birth year-and a very rare wine since 1954 was not a declared
year for Port) and a 1976 Graham's Malvedos (Rob's first vintage at
Jordan). He also shared the story of the time he came to America to
visit his winemaker-customers, and experienced his first Vineman
triathlon-cheering on a bloody-kneed, sweaty Rob as he crossed
the finish line.
The afternoon of laughter and tears culminated with Jean-Jacques
Nadalie of Nadalie Cooperage in France, who crafts barrels for
Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon. He flew to California specifically for
the celebration to present Rob with a one-of-a-kind, French oak
barrel he personally made (pictured bottom left)-a process that
took more than two years, from tree harvesting, seasoning and
milling to assembly and shipping. Visit blog.jordanwinery.com for
a behind-the-scenes video on the making of this wine barrel.
Forty years on the same job at the same winery-such a milestone
is rare in California winemaking. Paul Draper at Ridge has Rob beat
by six years, but as one journalist who attended reported, Paul has
passed most of his winemaking reins to assistants. Anyone who
knows Rob can attest to his boundless energy and drive to work as
long as his mentor, André Tchelistcheff. Though Rob has said his
full Vineman triathlon days are over, we know his best vintages still
lie ahead-many, many more of them.
13
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jordanwinery/albums/72157657329537499 http://blog.jordanwinery.com/2015/09/the-making-of-a-one-of-a-kind-wine-barrel-by-nadalie-cooperage-2/
Jordan Estate Tales - Volume 11, 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jordan Estate Tales - Volume 11, 2016
