Pioneer winemaker bottles Napa Valley cabernet

Lodian Heather Jane Pyle is a pioneer winemaker. Unlike many of her counterparts who sell Lodi wine to Napa Valley winemakers so that it can be blended into Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon, Pyle has taken Napa Valley cabernet and barreled and bottled it in Lodi.

Pyle has always been unique. She was born in 1960 in Scotland to British and Australian parents, and they moved to California when she was 8. Pyle wanted to be a veterinarian, so she went to University of California, Davis, and spent the next six years there. Pyle said, as a 22-year-old student, she had an epiphany and realized that winemaking, not caring for animals, was the career that offered the proper lifestyle and a perfect blend of science and art.

In 1985, she left in the middle of graduate school to work on a harvest at the Robert Mondavi winery in Oakville and never looked back, getting her education at Mondavi as the company pursued excellence. In 1988, Pyle was put in charge of the pinot noir program, and from 1990 to 1996, she was in charge of the cabernet and merlot programs, include the Mondavi reserve wines. Then in 1996, she oversaw Mondavi’s La Famiglia program of producing Italian varietal wines in California.

But in 2001, she got the itch to move on and left Mondavi to be a consulting winemaker at start-up wineries in the Napa Valley and throughout the rest of the state. This also gave her the chance to produce her own label.

Pyle said she took her 17 wonderful years of experience at Mondavi and put it in her 2001 Tangles Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($45 a bottle).

“I never contemplated making my own wine until I was asked, ‘Why not make a great Cab?’” she said.

If you have ever had the pleasure of tasting an early Opus One vintage or the 1994 Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, you quickly understand the foundation that Pyle has built into her first Tangles. The incredible flavor, balance, finesse and finish are evident in the 2001 Tangles Cabernet Sauvignon. It is soft and supple in the layers of tart fruit, yet has a bold finish of toasted oak.

“Tangles is intended to be first and foremost drinkable,” Pyle writes in her tasting notes. “My vision is to create a wine that elevates the dining experience in some tangible, but also intangible ways. ... This is not a trophy, not just a beverage, but rather a strong contributor to a perfect meal.”

The grapes for the wine come from Coombsville, a tiny wedge of 11ò2 acres at the base of Mt. George on the southeastern edge of the city of Napa. The cabernet sauvignon and merlot are from the Farella Ranch’s Third Avenue and Hagen Road vineyards; the cabernet franc is exclusively from Hagen Road. Both locations are among the coolest in the Napa Valley and the soil of Third Avenue is Tufa volcanic —like talcum over a layer of rocks — that produces a silky, expressive grape. Hagen Road’s soil is more loamy and conducive to a light harvest bearing intense flavored fruit.

The 2001 Tangles (88 percent cabernet sauvignon, 10 percent merlot and 2 percent cabernet franc) spent 27 months in new French oak and another 18 months in the bottle at The Lucas Winery in Lodi before it was released last month.

“I was petrified after its release until it was put in the right places (wine shops and restaurants),” Pyle said of the immediate popularity of the wine.

The brand name is unique. Tangles represents both vines wrapping themselves on vineyard trellises and Pyle’s naturally curly auburn locks.

Like winemaker Pyle, the world of wine drinkers have discovered that her 2001 Tangles Cabernet Sauvignon is extraordinary, too.

The 2001 Tangles Cabernet Sauvignon is available at The Lucas Winery, 18196 N. Davis Road, in Lodi, or by calling 368-2006.

To reach Jack Eddy about his column, Cheers from the Vineyard, call him at 830-4233, fax to 835-0655 or send an e-mail to jwe@tracypress.com.

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