"Frog's Leap...Ribbit!"

I have had the pleasure of meeting John Williams, the winemaker not the composer, on several occasions but, had never been to the winery.  A couple years ago I was invited to a special luncheon with this legendary winemaker and jumped at the opportunity to sit at a table with him...

We sampled his amazing wines as he shared stories about the history of the winery, his passion for dry farming and the future of bio-dynamic farming.  

*John was amazingly generous with his selections

At the end of the luncheon John invited us all to stop by the winery and see the Red Barn for ourselves...since Danny and I were going to be in the neighborhood we decided to stop in and take John up on his offer.

The story behind Frog's Leap is a fun tale of Napa legends and chance meetings.  In 1974, John leaves his beloved New York and sets his sights on Napa Valley.  He finds himself squatting on Larry Turley's property, a former frog raising farm.  Larry and John come to an agreement and so began a partnership to start a new winery together.  In addition, Larry introduces John to his friend Warren Winiarski, owner of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.  It is at this time that Warren and John bottle the '73 Stag's Leap Cabernet (the Taste of Paris award winning bordeaux).

In 1980, John becomes winemaker at Spring Mountain and renews his pledge to open a new winery with Larry Turley.  Since John's stint at Stag's Leap and Larry's frog farm property, they decide to call it Frog's Leap.  A year later they make their first wines, Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel, with grapes purchased from Spottswoode.

*Rutherford Estate Grown fruit

*The Estate is Bio-Dynamic and the beauty of it can be seen everywhere

*Bio-Dynamic means everything is working together

*How beautiful is this?

*The Red Barn needed some touch up

*John is not a total hippie...He does use state of the art equipment

*The view from the upper barn door was amazing

I absolutely adore this picture.  Danny and I sharing a wonderful cheese plate, sipping amazing wine and taking in breath-taking views...these are great memories!

The next time you are heading to Napa, make sure you stop by and sample some of Rutherford's finest...your table is waiting...

Cheers to John and his amazing staff!  The hospitality was truly memorable!

http://www.frogsleap.com/