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Silkwood Wines
MONNICH FAMILY WORLD CLASS WINES
Silkwood Wines, Monnich Family World Class Wines Brief Bio
Silkwood Wines began life in 1979 with a Chardonnay produced at Spring Mountain Winery in St. Helena. This Chardonnay won great reviews and was served frequently in the Reagan White House. President Reagan, Ed Meiss, Michael Dever and George Bush also served it and transported it aboard Air Force One to French, Canadian and Mexico Summits. My grandfather produced Alicante Bouschet until phyloxera wiped out the vines. He planted rice, which controlled the pest and made eight barrels a year from a few vines of AB and Muscat. My family continues to produce rice in Northern California.
We lost our winemaker in 1982 and the “prominent” replacement didn’t compare. Ultimately, we closed down the company. Along the way we farmed 540 acres in Modesto for the Jesuits of Novitiate Winery in Los Gatos, plus perennial crops of our own.
We restarted Silkwood in 1988 with small lots of Petite Sirah. This production continued at St. Helena in Rombauers Winery for a number of years until a catastrophic fire wiped out our complete inventory including the ’98 Petite Sirah bottled the previous day. Our 99’ Petite Sirah was awarded the Best Wine from the Napa Valley in 2002 by California State Fair. We restarted Silkwood for the third time with a business partner in the Modesto area. We had encouraged him to plant Petite Sirah, Syrah and Cabernet. Current production is approximately 10,000 cases per year. Currently we ship to 21 states and Japan.
We custom crush our grapes in Lodi after intensely farming vineyards on the Tuolumne River and Dry Creek. We take the time to produce and age fine wine. We don’t force maturity, but allow maximum “hang time” and brix development. We then hand harvest, hand sort and hand craft our wine. The Central Valley microclimate is outstanding at allowing the grapes to mature naturally without much concern about rain which prompts the coastal grape growers to “force” maturity which is not natural to a reproductive plant – all of which produces Silkwood, Monnich Family World Class Wines well-balanced and exceptional wine. Because of this, our grapes have consistently received numerous double gold and gold medals including Best in California for our Petite Sirah and two 98 points/Best in Region for our 04’ Syrah. Japan Airlines recognized our Syrah and we were the only US red wine to fly JAL First Class for 3 years!
The wine consultant to the White House said to me, “John - I have only one thing to say: Your wines are mature, your wines are mature, your wines are mature.” Our wines are made with attention, care and passion. Again, we take the time to produce fine wine. If we didn’t, maybe we couldn’t sell it and we may have to drink it all ourselves!
As the Past-President of PS I Love You (a Petite Sirah advocacy group), I am pleased to report we received 94 and 96 point scores in competition with our Petite Sirah from our peers. Silkwood Wines is an enthusiastic supporter of the Petite Sirah varietal. We hope you enjoy Silkwood as much as Judie and I do!
Cheers!
John R. Monnich
Owner/Winemaker Silkwood Wines, Monnich Family World Class Wines
CELEBRATE WITH SILKWOOD!