DVO is the coming together of two great wine producers - Napa Valley's Dalla Valle and Tuscany's Ornellaia.

This American-Italian project, which really started in 2015 (though only saw its first vintage in 2018), had been set in place when Maya Dalla Valle had run her first international harvest at Ornellaia in 2013 under mentor and (now former) then head winemaker Axel Heinz, who she had first studied under at Bordeaux Science Agro whilst pursuing her Master's degree.

But before we get on any further with DVO, we really should talk about the main characters behind the project.

Maya Dalla Valle.

Maya Dalla Valle is today the Wine Director and Winemaker of Dalla Valle Vineyards, one of the icons of Napa Valley. The vineyard, founded by the Italian Gustav Dalla Valle (who was also a prominent diver and had founded ScubaPro) and his Japanese wife Naoko, had shot to fame when wine critic Robert Parker at the height of influence had awarded its 1992 vintage Maya proprietary (Cab Sauv-Cab Franc) red blend a perfect 100 points - only the second American winery to clinch the achievement. No points for guessing that the wine was named after Maya Dalla Valle herself, who was born in 1987, with 1988 being the inaugural vintage for the Maya blend created to celebrate her birth!

Growing up in Napa Valley, Maya herself became inspired to eventually helm the family's vineyards, and thus pursued prestigious degrees in oenology, and would stage at various prominent vineyards from Bordeaux's Chateau Latour and Petrus, to of course Tuscany's Ornellaia, before eventually returning to Dalla Valle Vineyards to take on the role of Wine Director in 2021.

Maya with Axel Heinz.

On the other side of the collaboration is Ornellaia and Masseto's (former) Head Winemaker Axel Heinz, who had led the Super Tuscans for 17 years. Having tutored Maya Dalla Valle in her early training, it was eventually pitched the idea of a collaborative project, considering that whilst Napa Valley had already played host to numerous American-French projects, it had yet to see an American-Italian partnership, and also Ornellaia itself has had ties to Napa when it once counted Robert Mondavi as its owner. And thus this Old World-New World project was born!

“Our idea was never to make an atypical Napa wine, but one that combines the character of Napa with a slight Old World twist, with balance and a sense of proportion as main features.” says Axel Heinz.

And whilst Dalla Valle Vineyards finds itself in the Oakville appellation (or AVA), for this particular project, fruit was sourced from three vineyards across several AVAs - Oakville, Mt. Veeder and Coombsville. With Maya as the lead winemaker on this project and Heinz heading over to Napa three times a year to monitor its progress, as well as featuring a panel of highly regarded wine consultants in the form of Michel Rolland and Andy Erickson, the DVO which counts just 200-400 cases per vintage, is as Maya calls it "going to be highly collectable". Nevertheless with Heinz vacating the enviable role of Head Winemaker and Ornellaia just last year in 2023 (for an even bigger job as CEO of Bordeaux's Chateau Lascombes), it'll be interesting to see if the project will continue (there were even talks of purchasing an estate vineyard dedicated to the project).

Today we're really fortunate to catch the 2019 vintage DVO in action! This is an 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc blend. Let's go!

Wine Review: 2019 DVO Napa Valley Red

Tasting Notes

Colour: Dark Ruby

Aroma: Incredibly evocative and aromatic. It's filled with roses, violets, raspberries, dark cherries, as well as sports an earthiness of freshly tilled soil, and also a herbaceous character of dried rosemary and thyme. Some more confectionary vanilla tones bely the intensely aromatic bouquet. It's fresh and vibrant, yet also very cohesive.

Taste: Really good richness here. It's on to strawberry jams, little bit of licorice too. It's wrapped up in gentle notes of tobacco leaves and soil. Again, the vanilla carries the body. It's really well integrated and energetic, with a great firmness and concentration. Silky and plush almost unnoticeably fine yet firm tannins.

Finish: Clean and lengthy, also really plush and soft. Fresh, supple red tones of roses, raspberry jams and vanilla guide the finish as it recedes seamlessly.

My Thoughts

A really impressive red that whilst young already shows so much potential for ageing! True to its winemakers' ambitions, the 2019 DVO does balance intensity with restraint.

On the nose you immediately find this intense bouquet of florals, fresh red fruit, earth and herbs - it's complex yet elegant, with no one particular aspect overpowering, instead coming together remarkably harmoniously. The body here is then rich and supple, concentrated, yet again balanced and whole, with brighter tones of fruit jams that's contrasted with darker and more dry earthiness. It's again well integrated and in a very subtle and understated manner given this firm structure of super fine tannins that hold it in place without making itself known. The finish here is plush yet clean around the outline, precise and lengthy, with such seamlessness.

This has such great structure and concentration, rich yet intentional, generous yet without any excess - it'll be wonderful to revisit this some time down the road!