When the Joseph Phelps Vineyards family is honored as chairs of Auction Napa Valley this weekend, Sonoma County should take notice of the long list of civic contributions the Phelps family has made over the years, because Sonoma County may soon become the beneficiary of the same generosity after the new Phelps winery, Freestone, is completed. 

Ever since Joseph Phelps founded the winery in 1972, he and his team — his son Bill, chairman; Tom Shelton, president and CEO; and Craig Williams, senior vice president and director of winemaking — have been actively involved in numerous community-related activities, in addition to being responsible for several winemaking milestones.

The donation of eight acres of prime land in St. Helena for farmworker housing was the most recent, and possibly the most visible of these efforts. Some years before, an easement was granted for conservation purposes on 480 acres under the protection of the Napa County Land Trust, 120 acres of which will be left wild forever. Phelps is a steward of the land and has practiced sustainable farming for most of the time the family has grown grapes, and about 10 years ago started farming its vineyards biodynamically.

The Wine Services Co-op, the JPV Health Resource Library at St. Helena Hospital, the movement to bring the Culinary Institute of America to Napa Valley all bear the Phelps imprint.

On the wine side, Joseph Phelps Vineyard was the first to create a proprietary red wine from Bordeaux varietals, which was called Insignia and remains one of the valley’s top wines. Phelps was the first winery to label Rhone varietals and the first to make a blended wine from Rhone grapes.

Career capstone

Bill Phelps said that when Napa Valley Vintners approached the team about chairing the 2007 auction, “We all felt it was a good opportunity, especially for my dad. It’s like a capstone to his career in recognition of his pioneering status,” he said. “He is considered one of (the valley’s) senior statesmen. It’s a fitting tribute. He’s been involved in just about every important development in the valley in the last 35 years, and this is an opportunity to celebrate that.”

Phelps emphasized that when referring to the Phelps family as chairing the auction, “it means the extended family — not only the immediate family but the key people who are our extended family.”

Handling the duties of auction chairs may have taken some attention away from the Sonoma County project for a while. But it’s on track, and soon, very quietly, a new winery will open in Freestone, in the western part of the county, to make pinot noir and chardonnay.

The project started when Joe Phelps and Williams decided to look for a source for chardonnay. In recent years JPV has concentrated primarily on red wines, and although some chardonnay was made, it was limited in quantity.

“We began to realize that exciting things were happening in the far west (part of) Sonoma County with chardonnay and pinot noir, and our thoughts expanded to include pinot noir,” Bill Phelps said. After a lengthy search, “We found a ranch just outside Freestone that would be perfect. Just as Napa Valley’s greatest strength is in the Bordeaux varietals, that area’s strength is in the Burgundian varietals.”

JPV had not made pinot noir since 1980, “but we’ve always loved pinot and we made some good ones in the 1970s,” Phelps said. “We thought this was a good opportunity to make some high quality wines. We have a great (winemaking) team, and felt that the team could grow and take on additional challenges.”

JPV bought a piece of land in 1999, started planting it that year, then bought another parcel a year later and planting was finished in 2001. Planted acres on the property total about 100, with about 85 percent pinot noir and 15 percent chardonnay, Phelps said.

The property is in a generally hilly area, with elevation ranging between 500 and 700 feet, on Gold Ridge soil, “which is one of the things that attracted us to the area,” Phelps said.

Biodynamic farming

Currently about half of the vineyard is biodynamically farmed (the goal is to make it 100 percent), a practice that JPV started incorporating in its estate vineyards in the late 1990s, about the time that Phillippe Pessereau became director of vineyard operations. “Phillippe is a champion of biodynamics, and he has the support of the entire team,” Phelps said. Biodynamic farming has since been applied to JPV’s Backus Vineyard.

He described biodynamics as “rather than putting emphasis on the care and feeding of plants, it’s the care and feeding of the soil.”

But this concern for the soil isn’t new. “We’ve been practicing sustainable farming for a long time,” Phelps added.

A winery is under construction at Freestone and Phelps hopes it will be completed in time for the 2007 crush, but it will not be open to the public for tours or tasting. Instead, an old building at Highway 12 and Bohemian Highway was purchased and after it is renovated will be turned into a retail sales and tasting room.

Asked how much wine will be made at Freestone, Phelps replied, “We’ll let the vineyard dictate the capacity.”

The wines will be made under the Freestone brand, and the first release will be the 2005 pinot noir, about 500 cases, which will retail at “more than $50,” Phelps said. Release date is this fall.

Fogdog label

Another label will be made there called Fogdog, which, he explained, is the name for a bright or clear spot in a fog bank, because “the fog clears (at Freestone) earlier than in the surrounding area.” The 2004 vintage of Fogdog pinot noir and chardonnay were sold only at the Phelps winery in St. Helena and “were well received,” Phelps said. The 2005 chardonnay is on sale at the winery, retailing for $35.

Sales will be handled initially by the JPV team, but eventually “we want Freestone to have its own identity and become a free-standing domaine,” Phelps said.

Williams oversees the winemaking, but the day-to-day duties are handled by Theresa Heredia, who has been a member of the JPV winemaking team for five years. Greg Cannon, who started at JPV, will be the vineyard manager and “has been with the project since day one,” Phelps said.

“We’ve learned how to interpret the region,” Williams said. “It’s been very exciting getting to here, but also nerve wracking.”

“The neighbors are curious and we want to show it to them and we want them to see what we are doing,” Phelps said. “We’ve worked hard to get to know our neighbors and let them know what it’s all about. We were among the early ones to establish vineyards and make wine in that area, and they seem to like our approach to grape growing. They know of our reputation here (in Napa Valley).”

Because the winery is in a remote location, Phelps doesn’t think the team will plan a huge grand opening. “We’ll do something, though.”

But before planning anything for Freestone, the Phelps team has to get past Auction Napa Valley. “The theme, ‘The American Classic,’ is a great way to highlight what the auction has meant to the broader wine community in the country,” Phelps said. “It has become the model for wine auctions everywhere and has become a benchmark and standard for wine auctions. What makes it so special is that people come from all over the country to help us raise money for these Napa County needs.”

Besides, he added, “it’s a fun event year after year.”