![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Platt-Vineyard-block-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAXA Mill\u00e9simes\u2019 new coastal Sonoma property, located only six miles from the Pacific, offers distinctly cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir \u2013 and the company is keen to spread the word about the estate\u2019s wines around the world. Richard Woodard reports.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It could be said that Platt Vineyard, the West Sonoma Coast estate acquired by AXA Mill\u00e9simes in 2022<\/a>, was hiding in plain sight. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the high-altitude property, planted in 2003, were much sought-after by California winemakers \u2013 and yet Platt had never released a wine under its own name.<\/p>\n Part of the gradual recalibration of AXA\u2019s fine wine portfolio<\/a>, Platt was acquired from vineyard investment firm Russian River Partners, which \u2013 in the words of AXA Mill\u00e9simes MD Christian Seely \u2013 \u201chad 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 \u2013 so they weren\u2019t making any wine of their own\u201d.<\/p>\n One of those 20 was Thomas Rivers Brown, consultant winemaker at AXA\u2019s Napa Valley winery, Outpost. Seely was impressed by the \u201cabsolutely extraordinary\u201d Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that Brown was making from two small blocks. When the chance arose to acquire Platt, Seely didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019s elevation, maritime influence (the Pacific is a mere six miles away, hidden by a range of low hills) and its Goldridge soils \u2013 fine-grained sandy loams with excellent drainage. However, Platt died in a road accident in 2005 without seeing his dream vineyard fulfil its potential.<\/p>\n The first thing Seely did after acquisition was to cancel Platt\u2019s grape contracts \u2013 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 \u2013 so that the first Platt Vineyard wines could be made from the 2023 harvest. The\u00a0\u00a0previous owners, Seely says, were \u201cnot putting much resource\u201d into vineyard management. \u201cLet\u2019s say it was necessary to give the vineyard a lot of love and attention in 2023 and 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t a large vineyard, with 6.5 hectares of Pinot Noir, and just under 6ha of Chardonnay \u2013 plus another 8ha either planted two years ago or about to be planted. Add in 2023\u2019s cool, long growing season, when Pinot Noir yields were roughly 2.5t\/ha and Chardonnay about 6t\/ha, and the volumes for Platt Vineyard\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n The 2023 Pinot Noir harvest only began on 4 October, with the last of the Chardonnay coming in on 26 October. \u201cWe were very fortunate to have a rather lovely autumn period with good sun,\u201d says Seely. \u201cHad it started raining at the end of September, we would not have had this quality. These are cool-climate Pinots and Chardonnays, and it\u2019s not necessarily what you think of from California.\u201d<\/p>\n 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. \u201cWe\u2019re going through the rather arcane and lengthy procedures of getting the various permissions to build a winery,\u201d says Seely dryly. \u201cWe\u2019ve made huge progress \u2013 which probably means we\u2019ve still got about two years to go.\u201d<\/p>\n While the Chardonnay undergoes whole-cluster fermentation in barrel, there\u2019s no whole cluster for the Pinot Noir \u2013 a conscious decision from Platt winemaker Derek Flegal. \u201cHis view is that anything that you might be looking for by keeping the stems in, you\u2019re getting from the vineyard anyway,\u201d says Seely. \u201cI have said to him exactly what I said to our winemaker at Domaine de l\u2019Arlot [in Nuits-Saint-Georges]: there\u2019s no need to follow a religion of either leaving all the stems in \u2013 as at Domaine de l\u2019Arlot \u2013 or removing them as here.\u201d<\/p>\n Platt\u2019s 2023 release may be small, but it\u2019s keenly priced: \u00a390 for the Estate wines; \u00a3185 for the Estate Reserves. Is Seely concerned about that, given the current state of the fine wine sector? \u201cIt\u2019s not a secret that the current market is a bit difficult, but we just keep buggering on \u2013 and in fact we\u2019re doing ok,\u201d he replies. \u201cIt\u2019s just that everyone is having to work a little bit harder to do the same as before, and that\u2019s true of all of us in the world right now. It\u2019s a difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n That said, Seely is open to expanding Platt\u2019s vineyard in the future. \u201cI would be delighted if we could find something of this quality. I absolutely love this area \u2013 but we have enough to be going on with.\u201d<\/p>\n In some ways, the challenge for Platt and Howell Mountain property Outpost<\/a> \u00a0is the same: to raise their profiles both in the US and around the world. In Platt\u2019s case, that\u2019s because the first wines are only now being released, but for Outpost, the historic business model requires a tweak \u2013 previously, it was strongly weighted towards direct-to-consumer sales to private clients.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s in some ways an attractive model for a winery, because you\u2019ve got a loyal band of followers and you\u2019re selling effectively at retail prices,\u201d Seely admits. \u201cSo it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n So AXA will aim to have distribution across the US and around the world (Thorman Hunt is now both properties\u2019 UK importer), and Seely reckons that, in five years\u2019 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve got something that\u2019s really rather good, it\u2019s good to share it all over the world,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe want to get people talking about these wines. Sommeliers don\u2019t talk much about wines if they\u2019re not serving them in their restaurants, and wine writers don\u2019t talk much about wines if they\u2019re not available in their markets.\u201d<\/p>\n Platt Vineyards\u2019 inaugural 2023 release will be available in the UK from Thorman Hunt, including the following wines:<\/p>\n Platt Vineyard Estate Chardonnay 2023 (West Sonoma Coast); 988 cases (total production); 14.1% ABV; RRP \u00a390\/75cl Platt Vineyard Estate Reserve Pinot Noir 2023 (West Sonoma Coast); 327 cases; <\/p>\n Related news<\/p>\n \n \n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Platt-Vineyard-sunset-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Christian-Seely_AXA-Millesimes-Managing-Director_-photo-c-Leif-Carlsson-512x640.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Platt-Vineyard-Reserve-Chardonnay-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nPlatt Vineyard Estate Reserve Chardonnay 2023 (West Sonoma Coast); 879 cases; 14.3% ABV; RRP \u00a3185\/75cl
\nPlatt Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir 2023 (West Sonoma Coast); 616 cases; 13.7% ABV; RRP \u00a390\/75cl<\/p>\n
\n Soju Day becomes official in California
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n
\n A major trade organisation is disbanding in California
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n