Strictly Business : No Snow White Wines From Disney Family’s Silverado Vineyards

THE STUFF of fairy tales infuses Disney fantasy worlds in Anaheim, and in Orlando, Fla. But at the Disney family winery in the Napa Valley, the mind-set is focused on reality, and it’s strictly business.

Since the first Silverado Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc of 1981 to the current Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay of 1987, the wines have been pace-setting winners.

Assistant wine maker Jon Engelskirger said at a Los Angeles wine seminar recently, “We don’t make a Snow White red or white wine, just these standard varietals,” referring to Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. But they’re far from standard in their excellence.

The vines, planted in 1969, are in full-bearing maturity. Most of them are trained and pruned to grow in two directions rather than one, thus opening the vines to more light and air, with more fruit-bearing wood giving better quality clusters. Silverado wine maker John Stuart is experimenting, too, with taking four spurs to make four fruit-bearing branches. This is of particular significance with Sauvignon Blanc because the extra exposure to sunlight takes away some of the “savage” grassy taste. The bouquet of the 1987 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($8) has an almost melonlike scent, leading to an equally ingratiating fruitiness. The wine is a blend of 5% Semillon and 95% Sauvignon Blanc. As a chilled aperitif, it’s wonderful.

The Silverado Vineyards 1987 Napa Valley Chardonnay ($12.50) comes from what Stuart describes as “a superb vintage of graceful wines.” In the fruitiness of the bouquet, you detect its varietal breed. Partial malolactic fermentation gives the wine a buttery richness and produces a wine of finesse.

In the Napa Valley, 1985 was a very good year for Chardonnay and Cabernet. “It’s hard to explain,” Stuart told me. “It was a long growing season, but with nothing particularly exceptional . . . except the wines.” The Silverado 1985 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($12.50) is very drinkable, but it will become finer with cellar aging. The wine is a blend of 96% Cabernet and 4% Merlot, with the grapes coming from the Disney vineyards in the Napa Valley’s renowned Stag’s Leap appellation.

In 1976, Walt Disney’s widow, Lillian, bought the 200-acre Napa Valley vineyard ranch of famed candy maker Charles See; it was already planted with 65 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 14 acres of Merlot. In 1979, the purchase of a second property, now known as the Miller Ranch, added 60 acres of Chardonnay, 25 acres of Sauvignon Blanc and about 2 acres of Semillon to the family’s holdings in the Napa Valley. Locals watched with interest as the Disney winery was built on a knoll west of the Silverado Trail.

Stuart, 42, was named Wine Maker of the Year in 1987 by judges at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London for his Silverado Vineyards 1985 Sauvignon Blanc, 1985 Chardonnay and 1983 Cabernet Sauvignon. Stuart was the first American to receive The Robert Mondavi Trophy, the top prize.

Neither the name Disney nor any reference to Disneyland appears on the labels of these wines. Nothing Mickey Mouse here.