Ovid Vineyards

Ovid Plays Mad Scientist with a Trio of Experimental Wines

The winemaker turns out exquisite, one-off bottles every year to make sure his flagship wines are the best they can be.

In the Wine Advocate, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Master of Wine and editor in chief of that publication, comments that Ovid Napa Valley’s 2015 Proprietary Red “comes charging out of the gate with gregarious crushed black cherries, chocolate mint, and crème de cassis scents plus suggestions of red roses, Christmas cake, sandalwood, cloves, and unsmoked cigars with a waft of shaved pencils.” Whether or not you think black cherry aromas in a wine can be gregarious (or crushed, for that matter), you’ll have to admit the line conjures a memorable wine. And, indeed, the signature Cabernet Sauvignon blend from this jewel of a winery and vineyard on rocky Pritchard Hill (recently acquired, in large part, by the Duncan family of Silver Oak and Twomey Cellars)—as well as its Cabernet Franc–dominated sister, “Hexameter”—are complex, earthy, and, well, memorable.

Few know, though, that behind these serious wines are bottles that contain ever-changing grape varieties, simply labeled “Experiment.” Clearly, no one ever told Ovid winemaker Austin Peterson (who works with French consultant Michel Rolland) not to play with his wine. From the producer’s first vintage, 2005, along with the flagship red, Peterson has bottled small quantities of these “Experiments” each year as, he says, “a chance for those on our mailing list to join in our journey of exploration of this estate.”

The “exploration,” as Peterson calls it, is obviously not just for giggles. There was both rhyme and reason to the program. “My father, who was also a winemaker, told me early on that great winemaking is constant experimentation. Every vineyard and cellar have their own needs and protocols to maximize the potential of the wines. But there wasn’t any history at Ovid to draw on, so we needed to try things in a variety of ways, to understand how to make the very best wines possible.”

The experiments (with a small “e”) evolve with the team’s curiosity, and no two wines are alike. “The blends revolve around ideas we’re thinking about as we’re making the wines,” explains Peterson, ranging, he continues in stream-of-consciousness style, “from alternative closures, to the effects of fermentation vessels—concrete or oak—to how barrel size affects the aging of wines, to selections of rootstock and clones in the vineyard.”

Far more than idle curiosities, these wines inform the mother ship in major ways. The first Experiment, for instance, was a blend of Cabernet Franc with Petit Verdot (Cab Franc claims significant territory in Ovid’s vineyards). “We loved that wine so much,” says Peterson, “that it gave us the confidence to use more Cab Franc in the Ovid blend. Then in 2009 we finally decided that we needed to make a Cab Franc–dominant wine on the same level as Ovid, and that was the beginnings of our Hexameter wines.”

While the Experiment wines (three this year—two reds and a white) are available to mailing-list members, they’re always a fleeting, last-chance proposition, since the next vintage will be entirely different. There’s never guesswork, though, on the blend in any given bottle: The varieties are listed on the labels, down to two decimal points. This week, we got the first taste of the 2019 releases.

OVID (Publius Ovidius Naso) was a roman poet who lived from 43 bc–17 ad. His mo. famous work, Metamorphoses, + poetic narrative of the Greek myths, celebrating the themes of transformation  and change. Since winemaking . about transformation from grapes to something more sublime, that forms one connection. Our admiration for the art & culture of the romans, who had so much figured out so long ago, forms another.

The works of OVID, rich and timely, yet steeped in tradition, continue to speak to for our label , we chose a quotation from OVID’S Metamorphoses that expresses what we hope to achieve with our wine.

We produce four distinct red wine bottlings from our 15-acre estate vineyard: our flagship OVID. Napa Valley wine (Cabernet Sauvignon), Hexameter (Cabernet Franc), Loc. Cit. (produced from two adjacent blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon) and our estate Syrah. In addition, we also craft our “Experiment” wines each year – always different in their origins, blends, varietals and winemaking practices.

At OVID, we are committed to the idea and practice of experimentation in many facets of grapegrowing and winemaking, to learn more about our land and what will make the most memorable wines. We conduct formal experiments in order to investigate specific topics, and we participate in a number of applied studies as well. And we sometimes just indulge our curiosity by trying things several ways, in order to push what we know to be possible in both the vineyard and the winery. 

Our Experiment wines are the result of this process. Each vintage we offer small amounts of different wines that are of special interest to us, allowing you to taste and experience new aspects of OVID’s vineyard and winemaking.

From the beginning, David Abreu has worked with Ovid Napa Valley as Consulting Vineyard Manager. In the year 2000, he supervised preparation of our rocky mountain soil for planting and also selected, laid out, and planted our 15 acres of Bordeaux varietal vines. He and Vineyard Manager Jesus Pena continue to meticulously farm the vineyard at Ovid.

Our organically farmed, 15-acre vineyard is perched on a secluded mountaintop at 1,400 ft. elevation in the western reaches of the Pritchard Hill geography of Napa Valley. Here, we farm rocky red, volcanic soils to capture a true sense of place and craft longlived wines composed of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. We ferment only with native yeasts and bottle our wines without fining or filtering. Our Winemaker since 2006, Austin Peterson, combines his site-specific experience with a sense of experimentation, embracing a tension between classical and cutting-edge winemaking methods.

Our name was inspired by the Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso [Ovid], whose METAMORPHOSES, a poetic retelling of the Greek myths, celebrates themes of transformation and change.

Austin Peterson grew up immersed in the wine industry in Santa Rosa where his father is a winemaker. He made his first wine at age 15 and subsidized his college education making and selling his own wine. Before coming to Ovid, Austin worked at a number of wineries in Napa and Sonoma, and also worked at Chateau Le Bon Pasteur in Pomerol. He began working at Ovid in 2006 as Assistant Winemaker. He continued to travel to gain experience during the off seasons and has worked at wineries in Australia, South Africa, Argentina and New Zealand. Now he’s back to stay year ‘round at Ovid as Ovid’s Winemaker. Austin is particularly interested and active in the science of winemaking and loves to experiment in order to learn more about our particular piece of land and push the winemaking to new heights.

Austin has a B.S. in Enology from UC Davis and enjoys traveling, soccer, flyfishing, and anything outdoors. He enjoys reading the works of Jack Kerouac.

Our gravity flow winemaking process uses traditional and modern methods, including built-in-place concrete and pre-cast concrete fermenters, all with state-of-the-art controls. Designed by Architect Howard Backen, the winery is classically proportioned and built of timeless materials — wood, stone and concrete, interleaved with modern windows, hatches and skylights – and powered by solar energy.

To take the best possible care of our beautiful little piece of Pritchard Hill, we are committed to environmental stewardship. We farm the vineyards organically, keep bees, use cover crops, create and use compost, and encourage beneficial animals and insects through the use of owl boxes, bluebird boxes and an insectary garden. To increase biodiversity, we also farm an assorted fruit and nut orchard, including, cherries, plums, pluots, peaches, pomegranates and persimmons, which we allocate to select local restaurants, including The French Laundry and The Restaurant at Meadowood.