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The Atlas fires that burned much of Napa Valley in October 2017 did not damage the recently constructed Ashes and Diamonds, a new winery in the area. But the fires did delay its grand opening, which had been scheduled for that same month. October is a busy month for Napa—overlapping with the harvest season—and for some wineries, losing the business October promises can be damaging.
But Ashes and Diamonds has opened and is thriving. Yet its brand of success doesn’t look like that of neighboring wineries. Most visibly, its premises, designed by Los Angeles-based architect Barbara Bestor, is mid-century modern in style. Bestor is known for colorful, linear spaces, and true to form, Ashes and Diamonds’ tasting room has a zigzag roof, a large yellow door, and hanging spherical lanterns. Its vineyards, planted in the 1970s, stretch out beyond this room.
“I think that it is fair to say that people now think of Napa as one specific style,” says Lauren Feldman, director of sales and marketing for Ashes and Diamonds. “A big Napa Cab.”
She is referring to the cabernet sauvignons Napa is famous for, which are generally high in alcohol and served at their peaks. These iconic wines are the antithesis of the ones we drink now in the spacious, mid-century modern tasting room of Ashes and Diamonds. The extended tasting menu consists of six wines, each bright, savory and subtle.
Feldman and Carlisle Williams Engelhardt, the winery’s marketing and communications manager tell us that Ashes and Diamonds opened to the public in February 2018 with to the goal of shedding light on a moment in Napa history that Feldman believes was “swept under the rug”: the 60s and 70s era now referred to as “classic Napa” during which the region’s vineyards were resurrected after restrictions brought about by Prohibition caused them to close, or operate clandestinely.
Like the ones we are tasting, wines of the classic period were admirably restrained. “They were impressive, they were powerful,” Feldman says, “but they were much lower in alcohol, and they were more savory and more age-worthy.” These are the qualities Ashes and Diamonds strives to emulate.
In this sense and others, Ashes and Diamonds is reinterpreting Napa’s style. The winery’s founder, Kashy Khalidi, has an unorthodox background for an influential winemaker. He was an advertising and record executive in Los Angeles at companies like Capitol Records, MTV and Google. He has no winemaking experience, but he was able to build a network of skilled people who collaborated on Ashes and Diamonds, as well as a novel set of influences.
“Kashi’s doing with winemaking what he did with music, which is getting the right people in the room together, seeing talent, and knowing that they can do it better than him,” Feldman said.
Khalidi bonded with winemakers Steve Matthiasson and Diana Snowden Seysses over their shared love of punk rock. He enlisted graphic designer Brian Roettinger, whom he knew from his work in advertising, to design the sparse, tasteful labels of the winery’s bottles.
A Napa veteran, Feldman initially thought that this untraditional cast of characters would present a challenge. “I’ve been in the industry for 10 years, and I have this gut reaction to say no, that’s not how we do it in the wine industry, he said. ”But then I always check myself and say, why is that? Is there a good reason for that? And why not be a little different?”
Here, the difference is indeed refreshing. Ashes and Diamond’s thoughtful attention to Napa’s history and subsequent creative revitalization of classic Napa wines have created this bright and creative space where others “can’t help but feel optimistic.” This feeling will surely be doubled after sampling these buoyant varietals.
Make it a point to stop in during your next visit to Napa.
For more information visit: ashesdiamonds.com.
Annapolis Home Magazine
Vol. 10, No. 1 2019