- Date: August 5-8, 2023
Dalla Valle Vineyards Wine Weekend
Brush Creek Ranch welcomes one of Napa Valley’s preeminent multigeneration family-run wineries. Located on the famed eastern hillsides of Oakville, Dalla Valle Vineyards has earned acclaim as one of the world’s most celebrated wine estates, yielding wines of extraordinary character and complexity, vintage after vintage. Join us for a weekend of wine with the Wine Director and founder’s daughter Maya Dalla Valle, as she guides you through the three unique wines produced each year from the estate: Collina Dalla Valle, a red blend created from younger vines, Dalla Valle Cabernet Sauvignon, the first wine created from the estate in 1986, and Maya, a special blend of Maya’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.
MEET MAYA DALLA VALLE
A second-generation winemaker and Dalla Valle Vineyard’s wine director, Maya’s great talent, impressive educational pedigree, and unique trails and ideas are heralding a new era for the iconic brand. Her passion for wine is ingrained in her DNA. In 1986, her parents, Naoko and Gustav, made their first vintage of estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon. The following year—the year she was born—they planted Maya’s Vineyard, a 5-acre block of Cabernet Sauvignon that has become one of the most revered winegrowing sites in America. In 1992, this remarkable vineyard yielded a wine that would go on to earn Dalla Valle’s first perfect 100-point score from legendary critic Robert Parker.
Growing up at Dalla Valle, Maya had the opportunity to spend time with and learn from celebrated winemakers like Heidi Barrett, Tony Soter, and Mia Klein. Before joining the family business, Maya was committed to earning her place with a master’s degree in viticulture and enology from Cornell University and a Master of Business and Science degree in vineyard and winery management from France’s prestigious Bordeaux Science Agro. Training with the best, Maya also gained invaluable hands-on winemaking experience at Ornellaia e Masseto, Bodegas Rolland, Pétrus, and Château Latour. Once she cultivated her skills to the caliber of Dalla Valle, Maya returned and joined the winery as director in 2017 – making the estate a true multigenerational winery. In January 2021, Maya was named the estate’s winemaker.
“Dalla Valle is my home. It is also my family’s legacy,” says Maya. “I am so excited to be working alongside my mom. Dalla Valle is her life’s work, and what she has created is remarkable. I also know that the greatest wineries are judged in terms of decades and generations, and that our story is still being written. I am honored to be carrying our family’s legacy into a second generation.”