“ Over the years I’ve made Mendocino Cabs, Napa Valley Cabs, “ This is the core flagship wine at Stewart Cellars and serves as CODE12868 I’m originally from New Zealand, and grew up outside of Christchurch in the town of Rangiora. I’m not from the wine industry at all, I was a beer drinking rugby boy. When I finished high school I studied graphic design, and worked as a designer. I’ve always been an artist and a creative person, but realized after a few years it was turning digital and I didn’t want to be stuck in front of a computer. My body wants to go 100 miles an hour all the time. Wondering what to do next, I was accepted into an oenology and viticulture course at Tairawhiti Polytechnic in Gisborne (now Eastern Institute of Technology). I originally thought I’ll be out in the vineyard, driving a tractor, but within the first couple of weeks I knew winemaking would be a platform for me to be creative and artistic. After completing the course I was immediately hired to work in South Australia, at a custom crush facility. It was an amazing opportunity to be part of the building out of an entire winery, the custom crush, working with consulting winemakers. It allowed me to explore different avenues and philosophies on winemaking ‒ I like to say I got 8 years of industry knowledge crammed into 3 years. During my time in Australia I came over to California to do an internship at Paul Hobbs Winery. That’s where I met Caroline, now my wife, who was also working as an intern. My visa ended, and I went back to my job in Australia. We were prepping for harvest, when one of our main workers pulled out at the last minute. So I called Caroline up and said, ‘do you want to come to Australia and work with me at a winery’. 6 weeks later she was in South Australia and we lived and worked together at BK Wines and the Adelaide Hills Winery in Adelaide. in 2011 we came back to the U.S. and got married. I worked for Paul Hobbs again briefly, then at Kunde Winery, a 5th generation winery in Sonoma. I was fresh to the What does the future of wine look like? Blair Guthrie, winemaker at Stewart Cellars and sister brand Guthrie Family Wines in Napa Valley, is busy shaping the answers. He tells a fast-moving story that weaves the traditions of making premium Napa Valley Cabernet with the championing of lesser-known varietals, the experience of working in custom crush wineries to the precision sculpting of fine wines, and the free form of an artist exploring the broader possibilities of the wine world. Origin: Napa Valley, CaliforniaVarietal: Cabernet Sauvignon Alc. 14.5%our business card. It is purely Napa Valley Cabernet from the north end and towards the south end of the Valley, a hotter drier climate, and a cooler more ocean influenced climate. So ripe flavours and plush tannins up north, and herbal notes and rocky tannins and more acidity down south ‒ so that’s where blending comes in.”RRP ￥19,500The grapes aren’t crushed, with whole grapes fermented in stainless steel tanks. Maceration for 26 days in total. Aged for 22 months in French oak (65% new).CODE12867U.S. and thinking how to learn as much about Californian winemaking and philosophy as quickly as possible. Kunde was a big operation, handling 3,000 tons. Besides Kunde wines, we made wines for Trader Joe’s and Costco, and private brands for other wineries covering many different varietals.Caroline was already working in Stewart Cellars, a small winery her father had founded in 2000. It was slowly growing, and around 2011 he was ready to turn into a full company, and she joined them. In 2012 I started helping out, and in 2014 came on full time as the winemaker, and at the same time started Guthrie Family Wines as a side business. Stewart Cellars is about making ‘the best of the best’ ‒ getting the best fruit, from the best vineyards, and making the best wines you can. We started with Napa Valley and Bordeaux varietals, and have since expanded to Chardonnay, Pinot and Rose from other areas, but really focusing on detailed, premium, high-end winemaking. In Napa Valley, you are making and competing against some of the best winemakers in the world and I love that.We always start with amazing ingredients, with the aim of expressing the vineyard and the vintage. We are fairly minimalist in the winery. My idea is to get everything I can out of the fruit ‒ with Stewart Cellars I’m a sculptor, I want to start with a full block of material then trim it back over time to what I want it to be. So heavier extractions for more colour and tannin, then we mould and sculpt through fermentation and aging to soften and build out the palette. For the longest time we have buying fruit for Stewart Cellars ‒ Napa Valley is very expensive, so buying a vineyard was out of our reach. We turned this to an advantage by finding the best variety, growing in the best area, on the best vineyard, so we aren’t limited to an estate. I can go to Sonoma Mountain to get Chardonnay, to St. Helena for Cabernet, and Charles Valley for Merlot, and not be proportions of the blend changes from year to year to reflect the vintage.”Origin: Mendocino County, Sonoma County, and Napa County, CaliforniaVarietal: Cabernet Sauvignon Alc. 14.5%Sonoma Cabs, so the idea was how can we piece together to make an amazing Cab which is just the same quality as our Napa Valley Cab at a more affordable price. Napa Valley is the workhorse with ripe Cabernet, Mendocino being a lot cooler has more red fruit and cherry notes, and Sonoma gives more earth tones and great acidity. Obviously the RRP ￥12,000Harvested in September. Destemmed and fermented in stainless steel tanks with whole grapes. Barrel aged for 10 months (40% new).Prices do not include Consumption Tax. RRP= Recommended Retail Price.Village Cellars Wine Catalogue 2025SpringHow did you get into winemaking ‒ and to Napa Valley?Working at a custom crushPutting down roots in Napa ValleyStewart Cellars Winemaker & Vineyard Manger, Guthrie Family Wines Owner & WinemakerStewart Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2021How do you approach winemaking for Stewart Cellars?Sourcing the best fruit－8－Stewart Tri-County Cabernet Sauvignon 2022Our feature story: Blair Guthrie (Napa Valley, California)Blair Guthrie Winemaking full of passion and creativity.―― Weaving together two brands at the opposite ends of the fine-wine spectrum()