Dominus Estate, the Napa Valley winery owned by Bordeaux's Christian Moueix has acquired the 86-acre Yountville Ranch Vineyard from Markham Vineyards, located right next to Dominus' own 114 acre Napanook vineyard.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

The vineyard is made up of two parcels situated just north of the Napanook vineyard. Dominus plans to begin farming the land after the 2025 harvest is finished, and Moueix anticipates they will replant the vineyard.

Founded in 1983, Dominus Estate produces three wines from its Yountville property. The Napanook vineyard currently has 103 acres of vines. In 2008, Moueix also acquired a 40-acre Oakville property from Clark Swanson and renamed it Ulysses.

With the acquisition of Yountville Ranch Vineyard, Dominus now controls over 200 acres of vines. The new property, which lies between Napanook and Ulysses, gives the winery a single stretch of land spanning the western sides of Yountville and Oakville. 

The Napanook vineyard is primarily planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, which makes up 90% of its vines. The remaining 10% is evenly split between Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Dominus currently produces between 5,000 and 7,000 cases of wine annually.

The newly acquired property is mostly planted with Merlot, but Moueix has expressed interest in expanding his Cabernet Franc plantings, though no final decisions have been made.

Moueix told Wine Spectator: “Slowly but surely we have gotten rid of [our] Merlot.

“We are inheriting Merlots from [Markham]. We would like to plant Cabernet Franc because we see more and more that Cabernet Franc brings a finesse.”

Kanpai!

88 Bamboo Editorial Team