Chardonnay and Pinot Noir stalwart Patz & Hall shared some surprising news in March: Eight years after Ste. Michelle Wine Estates had acquired the celebrated Sonoma winery, it would return to its independent roots. Along with a few investors, Patz & Hall’s founding winemaker James Hall had decided to buy the winery back, and were ready to take it to new heights—while betting big on their inaugural product: Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.
Such a bold move is certainly unusual in an era where acquisitions and consolidations are becoming increasingly commonplace, but it’s also an exciting indication of what the future may hold for American winemakers. Whether the winery’s return to independence is an anomaly or the start of a trend in the industry is yet to be seen, but one thing is certain: James Hall has always been ahead of the curve.
James Hall’s Journey with Wine
Hall’s interest in wine was piqued when he was young, thanks to early exposure to wine on family trips to Europe and while working an after-school job as a waiter. “The craft of winemaking was extremely interesting to me…the fact that I could learn things every single day,” he says. “That the nuance and the complexity of winemaking was so vast that I was never going to complete the knowledge.”
What started as a hobby soon transformed into a passion, and by the age of 20, Hall had transferred to UC Davis’s enology, fermentation, and viticulture program. In 1981, Hall took his first job at Felton Empire (now Hallcrest Vineyards), which launched him into a long and fruitful career built on creating and sharing wine. In 1988, he joined forces with Donald and Heather Patz and Anne Moses to create Patz & Hall, which quickly joined the ranks of some of California’s most celebrated wineries. As a founding partner and winemaker, Hall was instrumental in helping propel Patz & Hall to the forefront. Over the decades that followed, its wines earned over 650 90+ scores from major wine outlets and became a benchmark for their intensity, elegance and complexity. And although he’s now an established veteran, Hall has never let go of the strong sense of curiosity and enthusiasm that led him to wine in the first place.
Coming Full Circle
Patz & Hall’s excellent wines and reputation made them an attractive proposition to Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, who was, at the time, eager to acquire a Sonoma-based winery. In 2016, the Washington wine company purchased Patz & Hall, but Hall remained heavily involved. “It was great working with them,” he says. “They streamlined a lot of our processes, and I was very fortunate that I had total creative control over the winemaking and vineyard sourcing. I was highly motivated to stay on.”
After Ste. Michelle decided it was time to release Patz & Hall from their portfolio, it just made sense for Hall to buy back the winery earlier this year. “We made a final binding offer, and they accepted it,” he recounts. “I felt like a dog who caught the car,” he adds, laughing.
On March 18, James Hall became the owner of Patz & Hall once again.
Forging Relationships
Some of Patz & Hall’s success is attributed to their deep commitment to building relationships, both with area growers and their loyal customers. Since the winery’s conception, Hall has put a great emphasis on establishing and nurturing partnerships and friendships with small-scale, family-owned Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vineyards, not just in Sonoma, but also in the Napa Valley and Santa Lucia Highlands (Patz & Hall only has a single estate vineyard of its own). “I think we have some advantages being a small winery; we can make relationships with people in a way that large companies can’t,” he says.
This emphasis on relationships makes a lot of sense in the wine industry. After all, wine is more than just a beverage. It’s an experience in a bottle. “The best wines are meant to be shared,” Hall says. “I’ve always thought [that] when I share a great bottle of wine with somebody — particularly if they pull it out of a cellar — that it’s a really special moment, a way to have a shared life experience together.”
The Future of Patz & Hall
With Hall back at the head of his winery, good things are sure to come. After the repurchase was official, Hall got to work, building a small team to support the winery’s reincarnation as an independent entity, adding some new growers to the portfolio. He also plans to focus heavily on spotlighting Patz & Hall’s roots as a Chardonnay star. “We want to emphasize our Sonoma Coast Chardonnay,” he says. “In 1988, when I founded the winery, we started with Chardonnay, and we didn’t add Pinot Noir until 1995, so it’s our longest-made wine, and we think that there’s an opportunity to spread Sonoma Coast Chardonnay to many more restaurants, wine shops and homes, nationally and internationally.”
Visitors to Sonoma County will also have plenty to look forward to. The winery is revitalizing its tasting room and offerings, with new visitor-facing experiences in the works that will start rolling out this autumn. While there are certainly some surprises around the corner for those wishing to pay a visit to the winery, there is one thing you can expect: delicious, sustainably produced, vegan-friendly wines with a strong sense of place, using traditional Burgundian techniques that honor the expressions of each vineyard.
This article is sponsored by Patz & Hall.
