Quixote Winery

Infobox Winery
winery_name = Quixote Winery
winery_
location_address= 6126 Silverado Trail
location_city = Napa, California
location_country = USA
appellation = Stags Leap District AVA
former_name =
other_labels= Panza
year_founded = 1996
first_vintage =
key_people = Carl Doumani and Family, Proprietor; Michael Wolf, Vineyard Manager
parent_company =
cases_per_year = 9,000
signature_wine = Quixote Petite Syrah, Panza Cabernet Sauvignon
varietal1 = Petite Sirah
varietal2 = Cabernet Sauvignon
varietal5 =
varietal6 =
varietal7 =
varietal8 =
varietal9 =
varietal10 =
other_product1=
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homepage= http://www.quixotewinery.com
distribution
tasting= By appointment

Quixote Winery is a boutique winery in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley, California. The winery is noted not only for ultra-premium organic red wine but for unique, eclectic architecture [cite news|title=Napa Valley Architecture: Napa's houses of wine|author=John King|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|date=August 24, 2007|accessdate=2007-08-26|url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/24/WIFTRA94F.DTL] and label design.

Production and facilities

Quixote Winery produces Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon varietal wines exclusively, under the "Quixote" and "Panza" labels. Fruit is sourced from the convert|27|acre|ha|0, organically-farmed Stags’ Leap Ranch estate vineyard that was planted in 1996 located between Stags' Leap Winery and Shafer Vineyards. The ultra-premium wine, which retails at $40 to $65 per bottle, [cite news|publisher=metroactive|accessdate=2007-11-12|title=Wine Tasting Room of the Week: Quixote Winery|author=Heather Irwin|date=November 23, 2005|url=http://www.metroactive.com/bohemian/11.23.05/swirl-0547.html] is bottled with screwcaps rather than corks for better quality and storage.cite news|url=http://www.azcentral.com/home/wine/articles/0113winecork13.html|accessdate=2007-12-10|title=Should the cork be saved?|author=Michael Dresser|publisher=The Baltimore Sun|date=January 13, 2005] The wines are highly rated and receive numerous awards. [cite news|publisher=Wine Spectator|accessdate=2007-12-10|date=January 31, 2005|title=Syrah's banner year:in 2002, Rhone Valley grapes star in California|author=James Laube] Food and Wine Magazine rated Quixote one of the twenty best new wineries in the world between 1999 and 2004. [cite news|publisher=Food and Wine Magazine|accessdate=2007-12-11|url=http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/20-best-new-wineries|date=2004|author=Richard Nalley|title=20 best new wineries]

The winery building, including grounds, is the only United States project built by Viennese populist/antimodernist architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser .(1928-2000). Among other unusual touches, the winery is designed in a whimsical, exotic way with fractured ceramic tiles, found objects, postmodern rounded columns, minarets, and deliberately uneven floors designed for their tactile effect on occupants' feetcite news|publisher=New York Times|accessdate=2007-12-10|date=February 11, 2007|title=Where the Winery Itself Is a Little Tipsy|author=Chris Colin|url=http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/arts/design/11coli.html] . There are no right angles, except in the basement. The design style has been called phantasmagoric [cite book|author=Matt Kramer|title=New California Wine|date=2004|publisher=Running Press Book Publishers] , psychedelic, and Dr. Seuss-like, cite news |url=http://www.winecountry.com/writers/w001/070707_savvy_quixote.html| author=Courtney Cochran | title=Dr. Seuss Comes to Napa | accessdate = 2007-08-09 | publisher = Winecountry.com] [cite news|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|title=Lovable rogue Carl Doumani has an uncanny knack for getting into just the right amount of trouble|author=Thom Elkjer|accessdate=2007-12-10|date= April 7, 2005|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/07/WIGOPC1NEI1.DTL] and also likened to "the creation of a beautifully demented child". The winery structure is dominated by an "onion dome" covered in German gold leafcite web|url=http://www.inwinecountry.com/?cat=7274242&subcat=5901916&video=39#videoplayer|publisher=In Wine Country|accessdate=2007-12-11|title=Now That's a Weird Winery] , as well as a living roof topped with grass, bushes, and trees.

History

In 1971, Carl Doumani purchased the historic Stags' Leap Winery. Over two decades he restored the vineyard, winery, and manor house. In 1996, Doumani decided to create a smaller organic and sustainable winery highlighting his much adored varietal, Petite Sirah. He formed a friendship with architect Hundertwasser, with whom he worked to design the winery, after growing impatient with his intended project architect and noticing Hundertwasser's sculptures in a calendar. Partly due to the unusual design process and construction methods, the winery took ten years to complete. Hundertwasser also designed some of the winery's unusual wine labels, and persuaded Doumani to produce the wine with organic grapes. [cite news|publisher=Napa Valley Register|title=Quixote Winery tilts at glory with Hundertwasser design|author=Louisa Hufstader|date=March 26, 2007|accessdate=2007-12-10|url=http://www.quixotewinery.com/press/naparegister2.html] Hundertwasser and Doumani agreed on a design approach that would emphasize that structures, and the people in them, need not be on "the grid", and could instead be close to nature.

Winemakers for Quixote have been Steve Galvan and Mario Monticelli. The Vineyard Manager is Michael Wolf.

References

ee also

* Organic wine

External links

* [http://www.quixotewinery.com Quixote Winery Website]
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/04/07/WIGOPC1NEI1.DTL Article discussing Carl Doumani and the Quixote Winery of Stags Leap Ranch]