‘Not what you think of from California’

AXA Millésimes’ new coastal Sonoma property, located only six miles from the Pacific, offers distinctly cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir – and the company is keen to spread the word about the estate’s wines around the world. Richard Woodard reports.

It could be said that Platt Vineyard, the West Sonoma Coast estate acquired by AXA Millésimes in 2022, was hiding in plain sight. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the high-altitude property, planted in 2003, were much sought-after by California winemakers – and yet Platt had never released a wine under its own name.

Part of the gradual recalibration of AXA’s fine wine portfolio, Platt was acquired from vineyard investment firm Russian River Partners, which – in the words of AXA Millésimes MD Christian Seely – “had a business model that was not a terribly good business model, which was to grow very good grapes, but then sell them to about 20 different winemakers – so they weren’t making any wine of their own”.

One of those 20 was Thomas Rivers Brown, consultant winemaker at AXA’s Napa Valley winery, Outpost. Seely was impressed by the “absolutely extraordinary” Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that Brown was making from two small blocks. When the chance arose to acquire Platt, Seely didn’t hesitate.

Platt was established in 2003 by Lew Platt, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, who also had a brief stint running Kendall-Jackson between 2000 and 2001. With his wife Joan, Platt had painstakingly chosen and planted the vineyard, attracted by the site’s elevation, maritime influence (the Pacific is a mere six miles away, hidden by a range of low hills) and its Goldridge soils – fine-grained sandy loams with excellent drainage. However, Platt died in a road accident in 2005 without seeing his dream vineyard fulfil its potential.

The first thing Seely did after acquisition was to cancel Platt’s grape contracts – with the sole exception of Brown, now consultant winemaker at both Platt and Outpost, who will continue to make Platt wines under his Rivers-Marie label – so that the first Platt Vineyard wines could be made from the 2023 harvest. The previous owners, Seely says, were “not putting much resource” into vineyard management. “Let’s say it was necessary to give the vineyard a lot of love and attention in 2023 and 2024.”

This isn’t a large vineyard, with 6.5 hectares of Pinot Noir, and just under 6ha of Chardonnay – plus another 8ha either planted two years ago or about to be planted. Add in 2023’s cool, long growing season, when Pinot Noir yields were roughly 2.5t/ha and Chardonnay about 6t/ha, and the volumes for Platt Vineyard’s first releases are pretty small: less than 1,000 cases for the Estate Chardonnay, less than 900 for the Estate Reserve Chardonnay, just over 600 for the Estate Pinot Noir and scarcely more than 300 cases for the Estate Reserve Pinot Noir. The 2024 release will be considerably larger.

The 2023 Pinot Noir harvest only began on 4 October, with the last of the Chardonnay coming in on 26 October. “We were very fortunate to have a rather lovely autumn period with good sun,” says Seely. “Had it started raining at the end of September, we would not have had this quality. These are cool-climate Pinots and Chardonnays, and it’s not necessarily what you think of from California.”

For the moment, winemaking takes place in custom crush facility Grand Cru, about 20 minutes from Platt, with long-term plans for an on-site facility. “We’re going through the rather arcane and lengthy procedures of getting the various permissions to build a winery,” says Seely dryly. “We’ve made huge progress – which probably means we’ve still got about two years to go.”

While the Chardonnay undergoes whole-cluster fermentation in barrel, there’s no whole cluster for the Pinot Noir – a conscious decision from Platt winemaker Derek Flegal. “His view is that anything that you might be looking for by keeping the stems in, you’re getting from the vineyard anyway,” says Seely. “I have said to him exactly what I said to our winemaker at Domaine de l’Arlot [in Nuits-Saint-Georges]: there’s no need to follow a religion of either leaving all the stems in – as at Domaine de l’Arlot – or removing them as here.”

Platt’s 2023 release may be small, but it’s keenly priced: £90 for the Estate wines; £185 for the Estate Reserves. Is Seely concerned about that, given the current state of the fine wine sector? “It’s not a secret that the current market is a bit difficult, but we just keep buggering on – and in fact we’re doing ok,” he replies. “It’s just that everyone is having to work a little bit harder to do the same as before, and that’s true of all of us in the world right now. It’s a difficult time.”

That said, Seely is open to expanding Platt’s vineyard in the future. “I would be delighted if we could find something of this quality. I absolutely love this area – but we have enough to be going on with.”

In some ways, the challenge for Platt and Howell Mountain property Outpost is the same: to raise their profiles both in the US and around the world. In Platt’s case, that’s because the first wines are only now being released, but for Outpost, the historic business model requires a tweak – previously, it was strongly weighted towards direct-to-consumer sales to private clients.

“It’s in some ways an attractive model for a winery, because you’ve got a loyal band of followers and you’re selling effectively at retail prices,” Seely admits. “So it’s good for profitability. The catch is that you become incredibly well-known to a lot of private clients, and not known at all by anyone else.”

So AXA will aim to have distribution across the US and around the world (Thorman Hunt is now both properties’ UK importer), and Seely reckons that, in five years’ time, sales will be roughly split one-third US private clients, one-third general distribution in the US, and one-third the rest of the world.

“If you’ve got something that’s really rather good, it’s good to share it all over the world,” he adds. “We want to get people talking about these wines. Sommeliers don’t talk much about wines if they’re not serving them in their restaurants, and wine writers don’t talk much about wines if they’re not available in their markets.”

Platt Vineyards’ inaugural 2023 release will be available in the UK from Thorman Hunt, including the following wines:

Platt Vineyard Estate Chardonnay 2023 (West Sonoma Coast); 988 cases (total production); 14.1% ABV; RRP £90/75cl
Platt Vineyard Estate Reserve Chardonnay 2023 (West Sonoma Coast); 879 cases; 14.3% ABV; RRP £185/75cl
Platt Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir 2023 (West Sonoma Coast); 616 cases; 13.7% ABV; RRP £90/75cl

Platt Vineyard Estate Reserve Pinot Noir 2023 (West Sonoma Coast); 327 cases;

‘Not what you think of from California’

Tags: