At the heart of Kanpai Wines is our estate vineyard and home, Meadowbrook Farm. In addition to our estate vineyard, winemaker Steve Matthiasson works to source fruit from some of the best vineyard sites across Napa and Sonoma counties.
A PIECE OF NAPA VALLEY HISTORY
Built by silent film actress Lenore Stearns in the early 20th century, Meadowbrook Farm has been supplying grapes for over 30 years to prestigious wineries such as Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Robert Mondavi, Joseph Phelps, and Opus One. We continue to provide grapes to esteemed wineries to this day.
UNIQUE TERROIR
Meadowbrook Farm Estate Vineyard lies in the mouth of the Dry Creek canyon, in the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley. The cool air rolls down from Mount Veeder, shielding the grapes from the intense afternoon sun. Harbored by the coolness of the vineyard, the fruit develops a uniquely strong backbone of acidity and tannin. Deposited by Dry Creek over hundreds of years, the soil is composed of thin layers of clay interspersed with coarse sand, underlain with dry cobbles and silt. This confluence of geography and weather gives our wine structure, firm acidity, and complex savory flavors of olive, tea leaf, and tobacco.
Meadowbrook Farm is also planted with fruit trees including fig, olive, persimmon, apple, pear, loquat, and more. Our herb garden is tended year-round so there’s always something fresh to look forward to. Many of our wine pairing menus feature local ingredients harvested fresh from the farm.
STEWARDS OF THE EARTH
Nurtured by its cool, moderate microclimate, the Oak Knoll AVA is renowned for producing elegant wines with balance and restraint.
DOÑA MARGARITA VINEYARD
Azumi loves Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, so winemaker Steve Matthiasson wanted to make a quintessential example for her. He talked to highly respected friends who make Pinot Noir on the Sonoma Coast, and several people suggested the Doña Margarita Vineyard in the Marimar estate. Up on a hill, surrounded by redwood trees, with the scent of the ocean in the air, it defines West Sonoma Coast. The soils are old sandy beaches lifted up over thousands and thousands of years by the San Andreas Fault. Fog is common most mornings, and sea breezes most afternoons. The middle of the day is warm and sunny, giving the grapes that characteristic Sonoma Coast balance between fruity and savory.
BERRY LANE VINEYARD
For the Kanpai Chardonnay we tasked Steve with making a wine that would pair with sushi. That means clean, bright, with a saline umami. For that character Steve looked for a vineyard with older vines growing on clay soil, with warm days but cool nights and mornings. The Berry Lane vineyard located in the Coombsville AVA fit that bill perfectly. The clay soils were formed in a large prehistoric lake that sat in an ancient volcanic caldera. Coombsville is in the mouth of the Napa Valley, and though it warms up during the day, each night it is cooled off by breezes from the San Francisco Bay. Steve knows this vineyard well because he consulted for the owner 10-15 years ago.
