Ric Forman is a Napa Valley legend.
Joy and I (along with friends) had a very interesting visit with Ric at his ‘eclectic’ Napa Valley winery at the base of Howell Mountain more than decade ago. We scheduled an appointment, and as directed we opened the unmarked front gate (carefully closing it behind us) and then traveled up a winding driveway to his house and winery. The note on the door indicated that he would join us shortly. The note also suggested we enjoy the view. Behind the house was a deck overlooking Napa Valley with an extraordinary view of the Forman Vineyards below.
Soon, Ric Forman roared up to the house on a dusty ATV, indicated that he needed gasoline for a crew that was drilling postholes for a new vineyard, collected the gasoline, and roared away. He eventually returned, and thus began one of the most interesting winery tours in our experience.
Uniquely, we were not offered a taste of wine. He makes very little and chooses to sell what he makes. However, we had previously tasted multiple vintages of Ric Forman’s icon extraordinary Cabernet and did not need to taste the wine to appreciate the quality. We knew the wine…we now wanted to know where it came from and how it came to be.
The wine, as it turned out, came from a winery located in a multi-car garage/large basement and aged in a wine cave carved by Ric Forman and his son Toby (and assistant winemaker) nearly 100 feet below the cellars. The cellar was carved in a semicircle and barrels are moved into position for filling by employing small gauge railroad tracks and human muscle. Barrels are aged in a single level. Ric Forman largely works alone (Toby joined the ‘family business in 2003) and a barrel of wine is heavy, and the cellar is too small for a forklift.
So, what prompts this memory recovery?
Joy and recently stumbled across a bottle of a Forman 2000 Napa Valley Cabernet in our ‘abbreviated South Carolina cellar’. It was outstanding. Stephen Tanzer awarded this bottling 90 points…impressive given that the overall Napa 2000 Cabernet vintage was rated an 85. The color was still excellent with a just a little brown around the edge. The dark red fruit and leather tones that are a trademark of Forman wines were still evident from the nose through the finish. Tannins were well integrated. The Wine Spectator review suggests that the wine needed a few years to soften, and that you should plan to consume your bottle by 2010. Nine years past the WS ‘drop dead’ date we determined that Forman wines certainly cellar well…
Some background on the man and the winery.
Forman wines reflect their creator. Ric Forman has been making excellent wine for nearly a half century. A late 1960s University of California at Davis enology graduate, he worked for the virtual Who’s Who of Napa Wine. His resume includes time with Justin Meyer of Silver Oak, Nils Venge at Groth, Robert Mondavi, and Peter Newton (before Newton Vineyards) for ten years as the winemaker at Sterling Vineyards. He has directly influenced winemaking at both Spottswoode (convincing them to focus on Cabernet – turned out to be excellent advice) and helping Duckhorn connect with the extraordinary Three-Palms Vineyard.
Forman’s success (especially his multiple 90 point wines) became a model for the UC Davis approach to teaching the production of California Cabernet.
Newton sent Forman to France to study ‘classic’ winemaking techniques. The trip informed the path of his career. He introduced barrel to barrel racking and was one of the first winemakers to vintage date Merlot (starting with the 1969 vintage). The Bordeaux experience clearly influenced his approach to vinification.
He purchased an 8.5 acre vineyard site in 1978 on a ridge at the base of Howell Mountain with a view of St. Helena. His house and his vineyard still occupy that site. He organized his winery in 1983 with the goal of producing “small quantities of classically made Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon”. He now owns nearly 90 acres in both St. Helena and the Rutherford Bench.
His vineyards produce the four ‘classic’ Bordeaux varietals – Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petite Verdot. The vineyard is defined by three soil types that inform the complexity of the grapes grown on them. The soils offer outstanding drainage. The trellis system is designed to expose the maximum leaf surface, and each vine is attended to no less than 16 times during the growing season.
Forman’s approach to winemaking is “traditional as opposed to technological”. His hillside vineyard grapes are handled gently (and hand harvested) and then placed in “small stainless-steel fermenters for white wines and new Burgundy barrels for red grapes”. Reds are aged in new French oak in that cave 10 stories below the winery. Limited fining of Forman wines is accomplished using egg whites.
Following the French model, Forman ‘assembles’ his wine early, and produces just 100 barrels each vintage (or 3000 total cases – 2,000 Cabernet and 1,000 Chardonnay). He stopped making Merlot as a separate varietal in 1998.
Despite the small production you can find recent vintages of Forman Cabernet nationwide at a price north of $75 for the most recent vintages. The wines are pricey, but they are worth it.
And, with every sip you are experiencing the best of Napa’s winemaking tradition.