Goosecross Cellars Renews its Storied Wine Traditions in Napa Valley

Our friends Jan and Art are already seated at a high-top table and sipping citrusy Sauvignon Blanc in the modern barn-style tasting room of Goosecross Cellars when my husband, Bill, and I enter. We’re in Yountville, tucked away on State Lane off the main Highway 29 wine strip of California’s famed Napa Valley.

Neil Bason, director of hospitality and our guide for a tasting and tour, greets us, his distinctive British accent and cheeky humor on full display.

“Welcome to Goosecross,” he enthuses. “You need wine. Sit your ass down.”

Neil pours two more glasses. The crisp white wine is a refreshing counterpoint to the high 80s temperature we abandoned outdoors. I ask if he’s joining us.

“I wouldn’t drink this s**t,” he deadpans. “I’ll have a beer.” Neil skips a beat with the deft timing of a skilled raconteur. “No, it’s great,” he continues. “You’ll love it.”

Jan and Art are longtime patrons of Goosecross and familiar with Neil’s rascally charm. Not anticipating his freewheeling personality, Bill and I burst out laughing. Sufficiently forewarned, we buckle up our proverbial seat belts, for our inaugural visit to this acclaimed, family-owned-and-operated estate winery already is proving to be a rollicking and delectable ride.

The revived Goosecross

Upending expectations is a hallmark of Goosecross. Steeped in Napa Valley’s fabled history since its founding in 1985, the winery is writing its story anew.

Its take-the-road-less-traveled mindset derives from the winery’s CEO and owner, Christi Coors Ficeli. Yes, that Coors family. For a great, great granddaughter of pioneering Coors Brewing Co. founder Adolph Coors to buck the family’s 145-year tradition of brewing beer and stake her claim in the wine industry attests to her own entrepreneurial mission and maverick outlook.

During her professional journey in a host of cities, she had sold copiers at Xerox, worked at and served on the board of Coors, and marketed Gallo wines. A return to Napa Valley was always in the cards, though, both for wine and to plant family roots.

In 2013, she bought Goosecross, a somewhat tired brand after 30 years with vineyards twice that age.

Coors Ficeli felt an emotional pull and passion toward Goosecross, with its legacy and spirit of intimate and friendly hospitality, farming, and fine wines. She developed a business plan to protect its tenets and nurture its potential. When she presented the plan for investment consideration by the Coors’ family fund, the vote was a unanimous yes.

Unchanged with Coors Ficeli’s assumption is the Goosecross moniker. Ironically, the previous owner was named Gorsuch, an Old English term for goose crossing. More avian lore abounds, for two geese nest along State Lane. Neil jokes the birds are staked to the ground to ensure they don’t vacate the premises. I think it quaint that a winery pays tribute to a bird my neighborhood in Charlotte considers a nuisance, yet it also is a nod to the breed’s power of resilience.

Perhaps the most visible symbol of reinvention is the airy, high-ceiling tasting room, where we’re now sipping 2014 Goosecross Chardonnay, our noses beguiled by subtle wisps of orange blossom and lime as foretold in the tasting notes.

I sense an ode to famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s design ideology of blurring boundaries between interior and exterior spaces. A grand, open window perfectly frames dramatic views of their estate vineyards and the Mayacamas Mountains.

Formerly, Goosecross had two buildings with an eclectic appeal. One was a house. The expansive deck off the tasting room is where the garden once stood. The other was a small production facility, crowded with barrels, a small tasting room, an office, and a lab. That whole space could have fit in the entirety of the new tasting room.

“We used to lean on the tanks while tasting,” Jan recalls.

Neil pours 2014 Goosecross State Lane Merlot, explaining the evolution included hiring veteran Napa Valley winemaker Bill Nancarrow to lead the winemaking team. The winery annually produces about 6,500 cases, all sold consumer-direct. Previously the executive winemaker with Duckhorn Vineyards, one of the valley’s leading producers, Nancarrow “didn’t do well over there,” wisecracks Neil.

Growing wine at Goosecross

With the conversation turned to wine making, Neil escorts Bill and me outdoors to the State Lane vineyard. Amid briskly warm breezes, we clutch glasses of 2014 Goosecross State Lane Cabernet Sauvignon to quench our thirsts during the tour. Before us are orderly rows of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc vines raised through sustainable farming. The land dips slightly, then rises again as it approaches the line of swaying white oaks along the Napa River. Soil composition differs throughout; we’re standing on a mostly alluvial soil column.

“We grow wine,” Neil asserts. “Growing wine is three things: what’s underground, what’s above ground, and the most important thing is what the winemaker does with it. Ninety-five percent of what ends up in your glass happens in the vineyard, and the winemaker works his magic — the sex, sizzle, and mojo — to bring it all together.”

The Goosecross of old harvested blocks of vines all in one go, essentially mushing together different maturities and flavors. Those wines were good, Neil notes, but Nancarrow introduced an out-of-the box philosophy to enhance their character and interest.

Now, they harvest every block at least three different times, for vines at the front, middle, and back mature at slightly different rates and have different flavor profiles, acidity, and mouthfeels. In addition, they use a variety of clones and rootstocks to moderate vine density to produce smaller berries and clusters. Higher ratios of skin-to-juice equal greater flavor concentration. They also do many small fermentations; the 2017 harvest had 67 co-fermentations underway simultaneously.

Passing through the cellar and barrel room, Neil explains that Nancarrow constantly trials wines against different barrels, coopers, oak regimes, and ages. New to me is the concept of employing concrete egg-shaped vessels for fermentation. Goosecross boasts four hefty concrete eggs, one for each of its white programs. Where conventional fermenters mechanically create movement of the juice, the egg shape fosters a constant, slow movement automatically. The result? A softer, rounder, richer, more stone-fruit-prominent flavor profile.

Neil is part of the winery’s four-person blending team. He likens the transformative process of blending to artistry, specifically a symphony, with Nancarrow serving as composer and conductor. Neil’s zeal in helping craft wines with harmony, structure, character, depth, and subtlety is infectious.

“It’s a thrill, a buzz,” he declares. “I love playing a small part in what our guests get to enjoy in two years,” as he returns us to Jan and Art in the tasting room.

Neil surprises us by opening a bottle of 2014 Goosecross Aeros, their premier label.

“It’s the top of the line, the best of the best,” he claims, “a classic Bordeaux style. The cool thing about wine enjoyment is its subjectivity, but if you don’t like this, you’re just wrong.”

No argument from us. Velvety smooth, sublime fruit, and intensely elegant, Aeros is the grand finale of the afternoon’s many pinch-me moments.

“Goosecross is all about the experience,” Neil says. “I want our guests to think they’ve found one of their feel-good places in Napa Valley, and to feel as much a part of what they fell in love with here as when they drink our wines at home.”

Having placed an order (Aeros included) to ship back to Charlotte, Bill and I depart. At the end of the long driveway, we pause for a look back at the tasting room, its mountain backdrop now hazy in the late afternoon sun. A rustic sign on State Lane “gooses” us with a “Thonk You” for visiting.

Neil can rest assured we’ll soon toast our memories of friends, the view, the vineyards, the deck, and the laughter, one glass after the other.