You could make a case that James MacPhail and Jeff Gaffner are two of California’s most important winemakers. There is an equally strong argument that no one beyond a tight circle of dedicated wine geeks has ever heard of either.
Yet both men, on parallel paths, are living the dream. Their dream.
MacPhail is the owner/winemaker of MacPhail Family Wines; Gaffner the owner/winemaker of Saxon Brown Wines. Gaffner launched Saxon Brown in 1997; MacPhail his winery in 2002.
Early in his career, Gaffner worked under legendary winemaker Dick Arrowood at Chateau St. Jean; MacPhail spent his formative winemaking years as lieutenant to iconic winemaker Merry Edwards.
Both men specialize in small-batch, handcrafted wines that express characteristics unique to specific vineyard sites situated in the most coveted winegrowing appellations along the California Coast.
You may not have heard of either man because their wines are made in miniscule quantities — hundreds of cases produced instead of thousands — and sold almost exclusively in wine-savvy restaurants or by wine merchants who prize individuality.
"I started with enough money to buy fruit and a few barrels," said MacPhail, remembering the early years operating out of his garage on the edge of the northern Sonoma village of Healdsburg. "I barely scraped by. But I got some good press, and my wines turned up in a few of San Francisco’s top restaurants just as pinot noir started to become popular. I caught the wave."
Pinot noir is MacPhail’s specialty, though he poured a stunning Gap’s Crown Vineyard Chardonnay and a lovely rose the day we chatted. His arsenal of pinots is remarkably diverse, expressing the soil, climate and vintage conditions connected to each vineyard.
"I’m a non-interventionist," he explained. "I guide each wine; I don’t manipulate it."
The common thread throughout all of the MacPhail wines is consistency of quality and exquisite balance. None of the MacPhail wines will overwhelm the senses with alcohol or wood. MacPhail also cherishes the earthy nuances of pinot noir, such as forest floor and mushroom, and strives to bring out those complexities.
Bottom line, the MacPhail wines don’t taste manufactured.
Gaffner takes a similar approach with a much broader repertoire of wines. Gaffner could correctly be called a pinot noir specialist (his Black Kite Pinot Noir from Mendocino’s Anderson Valley is some of the finest made in California), but he is equally adept with cabernet sauvignon, syrah, zinfandel and his eclectic semillons — Cricket Creek and Bothers Cuvee.
His wines are notable not only for their quality and distinctiveness, but also their elegance and finesse. Gaffner has a knack with tannin, producing red wines that are supple and smooth without sacrificing flavor or resorting to the use of overripe grapes.
His recently released 2005 Saxon Brown Cabernet Sauvignon is a case in point.
"I call it my anti-Napa Valley cab," he said. "Many winemakers in Napa over-extract because they think that’s what people like, and it grabs the big scores. Then they leave (residual) sugar in the finished wine to mask the astringency of the tannin.
"I want something more seductive, more elegant. So for the Saxon Brown Cabernet, I make it the way a pinot noir guy would make cabernet. I age it three years in Burgundy barrels, then several years in bottle before we release it. I made 300 six-packs (150 cases total), and it retails for $75 a bottle. I don’t make a lot of it because it isn’t easy."
While Gaffner is critical of a popular Napa Valley winemaking technique, it should be noted that he also makes a brilliant cabernet-based red Bordeaux-style blend, Stephanie, for the Hestan family of Napa. While he doesn’t barrel down his Stephanie wines in Burgundy barrels, he does employ the same philosophy with respect to extraction and astringency.
"I like to get extraction early in the fementation, at lower levels of alcohol," he said. "The tannins you get at lower alcohol won’t take the enamel off your teeth. When you get enough extraction, you don’t need more. I stop. In California, I believe we need to learn when to stop."
You may not know MacPhail or Gaffner. Perhaps you haven’t even tried their wines. But you’ve felt their impact nonetheless.
For it is an undeniable fact that more wine enthusiasts are showing support for wines that exhibit the style and sensibilities you will find in the wines of James MacPhail and Jeff Gaffner. They are living the dream, and lucky you get to drink it in.
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