department header

PHOTO: ALEXANDER RUBIN
General Manager
Nick McGreevy of
Scoma’s in San
Francisco, CA.
DEPARTMENT HEADER
A Sonoma
O
ST. FRANCIS RELIES ON INNOVATION, SUSTAINABILITY AND A NEW
GENERATION WINEMAKING TEAM TO TELL A SONOMA STORY
pen just about any wine list
in the country that carries
California wines, and invariably at least one of the wines
featured will be from Sonoma’s St.
Francis Winery. The Santa Rosa–based
producer has embraced a series of
initiatives that include a new generation winemaking team, a focus on
sustainable vineyard practices, and the
release of small-production wines.
Founded in the 1970s upon purchase
of the Behler Ranch vineyard by the
late Joe and Emma Martin, St. Francis
Winery was one of the early players
in helping to create an identity for
Sonoma as a winemaking region.
Key to this was the 1983 arrival of
winemaker Tom Mackey, who worked
passionately and tirelessly on pinpointing varietals best-suited for Sonoma’s
soils. St. Francis soon developed its
Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel
based portfolio, and with it a reputation
for a house style of elegant, fruitdriven, food-friendly wines.
Fast forward a few decades to
present day, St. Francis Winery,
which produces about 200,000 cases
annually, has kept its leading position
in a much more crowded Sonoma
marketplace. “This is an exciting time
for us,” says Christopher Silva, CEO
of St. Francis and a fifth-generation
native of Sonoma County. “With
Winemaker Chris Louton joining us to
work alongside long-time Winemaker
Katie Madigan, and Jake Terrell taking
over management of our vineyards, St.
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PHOTO: ALEXANDER RUBIN
St. Francis Winery
President & CEO
Christopher Silva
at Scoma’s in San
Francisco, CA.
DEPARTMENT HEADER
PHOTO: DOUG YOUNG
Wine Story
One major new development in St.
Francis is that the winemaking team is
now varietal-focused in their efforts.
Francis Winery is in a unique position
to create wines like never before; we
are combining our skill and experience
with the passion and expertise of our
new team members to always innovate
and produce the best the Sonoma
Valley has to offer.”
One major new development is that
the winemaking team is now varietalfocused in their efforts. Madigan
works with the Burgundian varietals,
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and also
oversees St. Francis’ benchmark
by David Ransom
Zinfandel program. Louton heads
production of the winery’s Bordeaux
varietals, which include Cabernet
Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc.
Sustainability is also top of mind to
the St. Francis team both at the winery
and in the vineyards. The winery
received its sustainability certificate
from the California Sustainable
Winegrowing Alliance in June 2013.
To optimize its energy usage, in 2004
St. Francis became the first winery in
Sonoma Valley to install a 457-kilowatt
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New Lines, New Wines
”All these initiatives have created
a whole new dynamic in the winery,”
says Silva. “First and foremost, the
winemakers are getting better fruit
from the vineyards. Second, with the
ability to now focus on making wines
within their expertise, the winemaking team is getting the opportunity
to work, through aging and blending
techniques, towards an even better
finished product.”
It has also led to a re-structuring of
the St. Francis portfolio, which aims
towards the St. Francis mission statement: “To produce luscious, elegant,
fruit-driven wines that best interpret
the richness and distinct varietal
characteristics of Sonoma’s unique,
diverse terroir.” Nationally distributed
PHOTO: DOUG YOUNG
solar electrical system on the roof
of the winery and barrel building
which, over the next 30 years, will
reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by
4,000 tons, a conservation of natural
resources equivalent to planting 110
acres of trees. St. Francis indeed has
been recognized by the EPA as a Green
Power Partner for this solar installation.
Each initiative helps in small ways
that add up to big savings. Energy
efficient T5 lighting fixtures with
motion detectors in the winery use 55%
less energy than standard lighting.
Computerized electric carts are used
within the winery building and natural
night air cooling is used to regulate
temperatures in storage areas. In terms
of packaging, the glass bottles are
made of 50% recycled material and are
100% recyclable, without any loss of
purity or quality. They are also lighter
and, therefore, more can be loaded
into a truck, reducing the impact of
transportation by 18%.
In the vineyard, Terrell’s focus has
been to bring more detailed techniques and modernized technology to
manage the winery’s 400 acres. “Our
goal is to make better wine through
sustainability, which is made possible
by better technology,” he comments.
He is applying new irrigation practices and monitoring techniques to
help conserve water; he has installed
high-tech weather stations in the
vineyards that can be monitored and
controlled with an iPhone. Perhaps
most important is the use of mapping
techniques to determine vigor (the
growth potential in a vine’s canopy)
so he can more accurately farm
for uniformity within each block,
particularly important for grapes
like Zinfandel, one of Sonoma’s most
important varietals, which is notorious for ripening unevenly.
“Sonoma has always been about
farming,” explains Christopher
Silva, “and about caring for the land
and natural resources for future
generations. These have always been
our values, and we are pleased to be
recognized for our leadership role in
Certified Sustainable farming.”
St. Francis’s new, extremely limited-production Reserve Tier features Cabernet
Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel.
wines consist of two lines: the Sonoma
County Tier, with an on-and off premise
mix, and the new, extremely limitedproduction Reserve Tier, with an
on-premise focus.
The Sonoma County Tier consists
of Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet
Sauvignon and “Old Vines” Zinfandel,
along with a Pinot Noir (releasing Fall
2016) and Sauvignon Blanc (launched
in Spring 2014). All exclusively utilize
French oak in the winemaking process, and for the Sauvignon Blanc,
winemaker Chris Louton uses 12% oak
fermentation to give the wine a slightly
softer feel on the palate and better
compatibility with food, a stylistic
move away from previously released
all-stainless steel versions.
In answer to growing trends and a
clientele moving towards modernization and a more efficiently monitored
bottom line, another significant
development with the Sonoma County
Tier is that St. Francis has started to
offer wine in keg form in select markets. The first markets in the program
are Arizona, Florida and California,
with wider distribution planned as the
program expands through demand.
“It’s a big step for us,” says Silva.
“Our on-premise partners make up a
large part of our sales, and also help
drive our retail sales, so being able to
offer St. Francis in a form restaurants
request is a no-brainer.”
Production of the new Reserve Tier is
much smaller, around 400 cases each,
and features Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot and Zinfandel. All fruit for these
wines is handpicked from top blocks
in the winery’s best vineyards, with
grapes from the Alexander Valley for
the Cabernet, Sonoma Valley for the
Merlot, and Dry Creek Valley for the
Zinfandel, which is made with grapes
from 50- to 100-year-old-vines. All
three wines are aged in French oak
for 20 months before bottling. Due
to its limited production, St. Francis
is only marketing the Reserve Tier to
on-premise accounts in the brand’s
top seven markets: Boston, New York,
Florida, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles
and San Francisco. So why make a Reserve Tier? “Our
plan was offer a higher end line that
focused on the best restaurants in the
country, and to launch the Reserve
line with an incredible vintage; 2012
was certainly that. The St. Francis
Reserve concept being Sonoma’s best
appellations, best vineyards, best
winemaking. We had listened to a lot of
restauranteurs who told us there was a
sweet spot on lists between $80–120 per
bottle where St. Francis could make an
impact. From that, the Reserve Tier was
born: a high-quality example of the best
that Sonoma had to offer, offered with
a $99 on-the-list price in key markets
only.” And how is this translating to
sales? “On both price and packaging,
the Reserve Tier is being received
incredibly well,” says Robert DeRoose,
CEO of Kobrand Corporation, St.
Francis’ marketing partner, “and once
the corks are pulled, the gatekeepers
love the quality and value the wines
offer their clientele.”
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Left to right: St. Francis Winemaker Katie
Madigan, St. Francis Vineyard Manager Jake
Terrell, Flavor Bistro General Manager Greg
Thompson and St. Francis Winemaker Chris
Louton at Flavor Bistro in Santa Rosa, CA.
When it opened its doors to Sonoma County
in 2004, Santa Rosa–based Flavor Bistro had a
singular vision for its food and wine program: to
celebrate Sonoma’s bounty by showcasing local
wines in an affordable way, and pairing them with
locally-produced, organic foods.
Ten years later, little has changed. Flavor Bistro
still buys local and organic, and searches its
backyard wineries for unique offerings not found
farther afield, in many instances buying directly
to help maintain low list prices for its customers.
“We operate on much lower margins than a lot of
restaurants,” says Greg Thompson, Flavor Bistro’s
General Manager, “and the biggest movers on our
list are in the $40–60 per bottle range, with some
bottles as low as $26–30,” he adds.
Flavor Bistro also pours 60 wines by the glass,
so with that in mind, Thompson looks for wines
that offer good value along with great quality.
“St. Francis is a perfect fit for our criteria,” says
Thompson, “and we currently pour the Sonoma
Chardonnay, Merlot and Old Vines Zinfandel, with
the Zin being the top seller of the three.”
It may not be New York City’s oldest,
but Smith & Wollensky opened
on a midtown corner in 1977 by
restaurant impresario Allen Stillman,
who was arguably responsible for
revitalizing the entire genre of the
American steakhouse.
Stillman, whose first restaurant
venture was T.G.I. Fridays, created
Smith & Wollensky, (the names
were picked at random out of the
phone book), with one thing in
mind: to elevate the steakhouse
experience to the highest level by
offering not just delicious food, but
an unparalleled wine and beverage
experience. Many wine list and dinChristopher Sweet, Head
ing awards later, Smith & Wollensky Sommelier at New York
is still at the top of its game.
City’s Smith & Wollensky.
“The New York steak experience is a perfect fit for the bold profiles of California reds,” says
Christopher Sweet, Smith & Wollensky’s Head Sommelier, who
oversees both sides of the restaurant: the formal dining room and
the more relaxed Wollensky’s Grill concept. “St. Francis’ approachable wines are a great fit for us in both places,” he adds, “and with
the Reserve Tier and its $100 price point coming in at the low end
of our $100–120 sweet spot, it’s a perfect transitional wine, offering
both good value in our dining room, and a step up in our Grill.”
PHOTO: DOUG YOUNG
PHOTO: ALEXANDER RUBIN
Celebrating Sonoma’s Bounty:
Flavor Bistro, Santa Rosa, CA
NY Steak and CA Reds:
Smith & Wollensky, New York City
An SF Staple: Scoma’s, San Francisco
When Brothers Al & Joe Scoma took over a six-seat coffee
shop on the wharf in San Francisco in 1965, little did they
know that their tiny endeavor would 50 years later be one
of the top-grossing restaurants in the nation with seating
for over 300 guests, annual sales of over $15 million, and an
address which now reads Al Scoma Way.
Serving cuisine based on traditional Italian and Sicilian
seafood-based recipes, Scoma’s built a reputation among the
locals and tourists alike for having not just top-notch food,
but great local wine offerings too. “Being within spitting
distance of California’s wine country, selling our home state’s
wines has always been a big part of our program,” says Nick
McGreevy, Scoma’s General Manager. “And in my 19 years, I
can’t remember St. Francis not being on our list.”
2015 has seen a major renovation at Scoma’s, such as
increasing the bar area and installing a keg/ tap system for
its by-the-glass program, a nod, in part, to Scoma’s move
towards more sustainable practices, yet with obvious
economic benefits as well. “Kegs give us consistent pour
freshness, virtually eliminating waste,” says McGreevy, who
adds, “Our whole by-the-glass list will be served out of kegs,
with St. Francis as the house Chardonnay.”
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