Winemaker Notes
Girard Winery began in 1975 as a dream of a father-son duo. The two shared a passion for high quality wines, a respect for the Valley's rich history and a pioneering spirit. 25 years later, another vintner with the same passion for winemaking and roots deep in the Napa Valley is continuing the Girard legacy.
Our vintner Pat Roney and winemaking team, Marco DiGiulio and Glenn Hugo, have forged decades-long relationships with growers throughout the valley. We have cultivated friendships with these families whose ancestors were among the first to plant in Napa and whose vineyards we have fallen in love with.
Pride is at the heart of our relationships: these winegrowers are proud of their fruit and what we do with it. We acknowledge their efforts by respecting their name, their business and the grapes they grow by producing wine that can only be described as authentic and consistent.
Girard is an ambitious, artisan winery that expresses the character of premier vineyard locations through high-quality, handcrafted, and stylistically diverse wines that match grape varieties with their ideal terroirs.
Girard’s ‘ambitiously efficient’ state of the art winery, located in the Carneros district, was constructed in 2007 and employs cutting edge energy saving initiatives that result in a carbon neutral footprint.
As the son of Bruce Cohn, manager of the Doobie Brothers and founder of the famed Sonoma winery BR Cohn, founder Dan Cohn likes to say he was born into music and raised in wine. Following the sale of his family’s iconic winery in 2015, Dan set out to create a wine that could evoke the magic of a timeless song. His relentless commitment to creating a wine that brings people together has brought forth Bellacosa; it truly is a “beautiful thing.”
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.
