Arrow&Branch

Arrow&Branch proprietors Steve and Seanne Contursi share a great love for the wines of Bordeaux, particularly those produced with a large quantity of Cabernet Franc, such as Château Cheval Blanc. The couple began their romance while traveling through Bordeaux in the mid 1980’s, and have since found their dreams come true in being able to live and make wine in Napa Valley. They sought out their Coombsville vineyard property with an eye to producing top-quality Bordeaux blend wines from Napa Valley.

The Contursi family lives in Laguna Beach & Napa and bought the Arrow&Branch Estate Vineyard in November 2007. Etude Wines founder Tony Soter, a renowned Napa Valley winemaker and prominent wine consultant, previously owned the organic vineyard property. The vineyard was the source of Soter’s renowned and highly rated “Little Creek” Cabernet Franc. The Contursi’s have maintained the organic farming and, through their work with the detail-oriented Viticulturalist Michael Wolf, are continually improving this wonderful vineyard site.

The couple constantly shares wines, tasting notes and insights with their highly regarded Winemaker Jennifer Williams and esteemed Viticulturist Michael Wolf. Collecting wine since the mid 1970’s, much of it purchased directly from the chateaux of Bordeaux, the Contursi’s collection has been featured in Wine Spectator magazine as well as on CNBC’s investing news.

Arrow&Branch was chosen as the name for the couple’s wine as a subtle reference to numismatics, the study and collection of coins. Steve Contursi became enamored with coins at seven years of age, when, as a paperboy, he was often paid in coins. He built his childhood pastime into one of America’s most respected and renowned dealerships and now owns Rare Coin Wholesalers and RCW Financial. A professional numismatist since 1975, and armed with a Cum Laude degree in physics, Contursi has bought and sold more than $1 billion worth of United States rare coins, and helps both collectors and other dealers acquire the finest quality, historically significant, museum quality coins. Found on the reverse of most United States coinage is an eagle holding an olive branch and arrows in its talons. The Arrow&Branch name is both a nod to Contursi’s success in the rare coin business, as well as paying homage to both US coinage and Americana. The olive branch signifies the United States as a peace-loving nation, while the arrow portrays the country’s ability to defend itself if that peace or freedom should ever be compromised.

Contursi made international headlines in March 2004 when he and the American Numismatic Association unveiled new evidence about “Uncle Sam’s first buck.” The Neil/Carter/Contursi specimen, 1794 Flowing Hair dollar, is believed by many experts to be the very first silver dollar struck by the U.S. A truly historic national treasure, this mint coin represented an economic declaration of independence for the young United States. Contursi has loaned the now famous coin to the ANA Money Museum in Colorado from 2004 through 2010 where tens of thousands of visitors have viewed it there and on exhibits around the country. In May 2010, Contursi again made the news by selling this coin for $7.85 million, setting the record price for a single coin.

Honored by Lehman College of the City University of New York in 1974 as the graduating physics student with the highest academic achievement, Contursi then attended the University of Minnesota graduate school while moonlighting at a coin shop. Deciding that his future should involve numismatics rather than Newton’s Laws, he opened his own coin shop in a Minneapolis suburb in 1975. Since then, he has held executive positions with several prominent rare coin and precious metals companies including Northwest Territories Gold and Silver Exchange; Miller-Contursi, Inc; James U. Blanchard and Company; and Monex Rare Coins. Contursi has served as President of Rare Coin Wholesalers since January 2001, combining his management skills and numismatic expertise to create one of the country’s foremost dealerships.

Seanne Contursi has worked alongside her husband in the numismatics business, and now with the development of Arrow&Branch, in the fine wine business. The couple enjoys spending time with their five children, ranging in ages from 21 to 37, which usually involves sitting around a table partaking of food and wine. Their eldest son served four years in the United States Air Force, of which they are very proud. Their family continues to grow, as their eldest daughter was wed at Arrow&Branch Vineyard during the summer of 2010 and their first grandchild, from their eldest son was born in the fall of 2010.

It is our commitment to produce only the finest quality of wine that goes into a bottle of Arrow&Branch. We source our fruit from unique and exquisite vineyards sites with exceptional Napa Valley terroir. Because of our relentless pursuit to constantly improve upon our wines each year, we work to perfect viticultural practices sometimes reducing yield to create distinctive, complex and exceptional wines.

Branch & Arrow vineyard

Arrow&Branch Estate Vineyard is nestled in the northwestern end of Coombsville, just northeast of the City of Napa. This distinctive appellation provides warmer days and cooler evenings, allowing the fruit an extended growing growing period in which to develop flavor and character. This vineyard’s soils, officially classified as Coombs Gravelly Loam, are well-drained, lightly-textured stony loams that are essentially weathered volcanic materials, which washed down the valley over millennia. The composite includes a small amount of gravel but virtually no clay. The Cabernet Franc is Clone 1, a California clone, which was planted in 1990, on low-vigor rootstocks. The newest one acre parcel was planted in June 2012 and is also Cabernet Franc, on root stock 3309.

Farming for the very best wine from Arrow&Branch’s unique vineyard site made this project very special to noted Napa Valley Viticulturist Michael Wolf. As a long-standing proponent of organic farming methods, Wolf controls weeds through hand hoeing. Important to the health of the vineyard as well as the surrounding area, he employs no herbicides or synthetic fungicides, utilizing only certified organic materials.

Michael understands that under-ripe Cabernet Franc produces uninteresting wine, but when the varietal achieves full ripeness and maturity in a cooler grape-growing region, such as Tulocay, the resulting wines are sublime. Therefore, Wolf concentrates on canopy work. It is a delicate balancing act; pulling specific leaves on each vine to allow sunlight to ripen each individual bunch of grapes, while not exposing too much light, which burns the fruit on hotter days. Michael’s years of vineyard experience allow him the knowledge to manage grape crop load; green harvesting fruit when necessary to achieve maximum ripeness for the remaining clusters. As a devotee of dry farming, Wolf works to minimize the need for irrigation, while still giving the vines enough support to prosper and produce through the long grape-growing season.

Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard:

In 1858 Napa pioneer Dr. George Belden Crane planted what is now the Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard. This famous vineyard property is located west of Route 29 in the city of St. Helena. It was acquired by Beckstoffer Vineyards in 1997. In 1998 the vineyard’s gravelly loam soils were replanted to multiple clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. 2012 was our first vintage from this site, the Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is produced with grapes from this historic and extraordinary vineyard. We created a very special wine with fruit from this vineyard for the annual trade event, Premiere Napa Valley. The flavor profile from this site produces beautiful dark luscious fruits. These should prove to be some of the most important and exciting wines produced in Napa.

Stagecoach Vineyard:

Located on Prichard Hill that is characterized by its unique soil and elevation. This region is composed of a red, volcanic soil made up of a boulder-strewn clay loam with a few solid rock outcroppings that have been dynamited to create a more uniform soil base. This region is located at the very mouth of Foss Valley, overlooking Napa Valley, with a southerly view of the San Francisco Bay. There is typically a steady breeze coming up from the valley, providing more marine influence than the rest of the vineyards. Ripe, bold, and extremely concentrated describes the fruit from this region, which is destined for ultra-premium wines. As a result, Arrow&Branch uses “Prichard Hill” Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in our finest blends. We also produce our limited Sauvignon Blanc from this special site.

Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard:

Located in Oakville, this famous vineyard is tucked along the wooded hills of the Mayacama Mountain Range. This premier site has been in a family for several generations and is farmed with precision by Vineyard Manager Mike Wolf. Napa Valley growers—Hopper, Whitton, Hahn, Taddei—have farmed Vine Hill Ranch since 1884, documenting their annual plantings of grapevines, plums, pears and other crops. Following the footsteps of those pioneering families, Bruce Kelham purchased the land in 1959. He was a dedicated preservationist who moved to Napa to cultivate wine grapes after playing a role in establishing the Point Reyes National Seashore. Kelham’s descendants, the Phillips family, began cultivating fine wine grapes here in 1959 and, with the founding of Phillips Family Farming. The vineyard is on a sloping grade and our site, with its deep, loamy soils and mature vines, yield expressive dark and rich fruit flavors with beautiful energy for our single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, with the first vintage from 2017.

Lewelling Vineyard:

The vineyards of the historic Lewelling Estate were established in 1864 near the western foothills in St. Helena by pioneer winegrower and horticulturalist John Lewelling. The vineyard has been farmed by the Lewelling family for four generations. It is all Cabernet Sauvignon and the Arrow&Branch block of Cabernet is on an alluvial fan, thus making it a premium spot for perfect growing conditions. The Cabernet grown at this site provides generous and plush tannins with overall essence of plum and black cherry thus making it a perfect component to our “Black Label” Cabernet Sauvignon.

Criscione Vineyard:

Planted by Tony Soter in the early 2000s; Eisele, Araujo, Etude, Harlan also purchase these grapes from this site.

Farming for the very best wine from Arrow&Branch’s unique vineyard site made this project very special to noted Napa Valley Viticulturist Michael Wolf. As a long-standing proponent of organic farming methods, Wolf controls weeds through hand hoeing. Important to the health of the vineyard as well as the surrounding area, he employs no herbicides or synthetic fungicides, utilizing only certified organic materials.

Michael understands that under-ripe Cabernet Franc produces uninteresting wine, but when the varietal achieves full ripeness and maturity in a cooler grape-growing region, such as Tulocay, the resulting wines are sublime. Therefore, Wolf concentrates on canopy work. It is a delicate balancing act; pulling specific leaves on each vine to allow sunlight to ripen each individual bunch of grapes, while not exposing too much light, which burns the fruit on hotter days. Michael’s years of vineyard experience allow him the knowledge to manage grape crop load; green harvesting fruit when necessary to achieve maximum ripeness for the remaining clusters. As a devotee of dry farming, Wolf works to minimize the need for irrigation, while still giving the vines enough support to prosper and produce through the long grape-growing season.

Arrow&Branch vinifies wines in one of Napa’s newest state-of-the-art wineries, Wheeler Farms.