This beautiful new winery was 25 years in the making. Can it help an underrated region compete with Napa?
Open air views of the vineyards as seen from the new tasting space at Skipstone in Geyserville. (Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle)
A fancy new winery with unparalleled views could finally bring prestige to a California Cabernet Sauvignon region that has long toiled in Napa's shadow.
The unveiling of Skipstone's new winery and tasting room in Sonoma County's Alexander Valley region on Feb. 21 is 25 years in the making. Beginning in 1999, Fahri Diner, a telecom tycoon from Cyprus, searched California for a vineyard. Finally, after two years of hunting, he found himself at a somewhat remote 200-acre estate featuring an amphitheater of vineyards terraced up steep mountains. Within hours of arriving, Diner made an offer on what would become Skipstone.
"He's someone who likes to start a wave, not ride someone else's," Brian Ball, the winery's longtime general manager, said. "Alexander Valley is kind of like the scrappy startup. That resonated with him."
More than two decades later, and despite winemaking roots dating back to the 1800s, Alexander Valley is still arguably in start-up mode. It's best known for its larger-scale wineries, such as Silver Oak and Jordan, and Cabernets sold at a more affordable price point than Napa.
Tastings at Skipstone cost $125 per person and include four wines and a charcuterie board. (Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle)
While the glitzy transformation of downtown Healdsburg, roughly 10 miles from Skipstone, has helped put Alexander Valley on the radar of more high-end wine lovers, it's struggled to catch up with the elite Cabernets of Napa Valley. But Skipstone - one of Alexander Valley's few ultra-premium wineries, with bottles priced between $75-$400 - may offer the best opportunity yet for the region to prove it can grow top-tier Bordeaux-inspired wines that rival Napa.
"The general feeling has been that this is a Napa drinkers' winery in Sonoma County," Ball said, nodding to Skipstone's approach to winemaking and hospitality, and price point. The new winery certainly puts off vibes similar to Napa's multi-million dollar estates. Perched 500 ft. up in a mountain nook, Skipstone blends into the surrounding environment and appears as if it were carved into the rockface. Two terraces of vineyards were removed to make room for the two-story, 15,000-square-foot structure, constructed mostly from thousands of stones repurposed from the property, and anchored into the hillside by 50-foot-long nails.
Rows of vegetable gardens line the edges of the second-floor terrace at Skipstone. (Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle)
The winery is located in what a group of local winery owners believes to be the most premium wine growing section of Alexander Valley. Known as Pocket Peak, this slice of the region's eastern highlands is slated to become the valley's first sub-AVA (American Viticultural Area); sub-regions help differentiate between a region's diverse micro-climates and soils, and typically denote high quality to consumers when printed on wine labels. Alexander Valley is roughly 25 miles long - more than half the size of Napa Valley - yet it has no sub-regions. By comparison, Napa Valley has 16 sub-AVAs. "Alexander Valley is pretty misunderstood," Ball said.
Pocket Peak intends to showcase the pinnacle of Alexander Valley terroir: mountain vineyards that Ball said are "better for high-end grape growing" and produce wines with "extra density and concentration." The AVA proposal, submitted to the federal government in 2022, is still under review.
Diner, who lives with his family in Switzerland, named the estate Skipstone after a ritual he frequently uses to make decisions, even major ones, including his move out west from Florida, where he co-founded the fiber-optic company Qtera. He eventually sold the company for $3.25 billion. "When he couldn't make up his mind, he'd go out to the water and skip a stone," Ball said. "He said, ‘If I skip this stone three times, I'm moving to California.'"
Skipstone bottles within a glass-walled wine room inside the new tasting space. (Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle)
It turned out to be a fitting name, as the property is full of stone. The land, an ancient cold water seabed, is a geological anomaly, so much so that it once attracted a group of geologists from the Smithsonian to study it, among other properties in the area, according to Ball. The soil is a mix of red-, green- and blue-hued rocks, the remnants of a volcanic lava flow. The geologists "said it's unique to have all (the colors) in one area," he said. There's also a fault line that runs right through the vineyard. (In tribute, one of the Skipstone wines, a Cabernet Franc-based blend, is named Faultline.)
The evolution of Skipstone was slow. Diner began with a major replanting of the estate, making it one of the first organic-certified vineyards in the region. He produced the winery's first vintage in 2005, hiring famed Napa winemaking consultant Philippe Melka to make the winter the next year. In the 2010s, Diner worked his way through the complicated permitting process to build a winery, but just before they started construction, the 2019 Kindcaid Fire ripped through the region, causing significant damage to the estate.
Skipstone's new winery is surrounded by an amphitheater-like arrangement of vineyards. (Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle)
The next several years were spent "getting re-put together," Ball said. During that time, Diner reevaluated his plans for the winery and shifted his focus to sustainability. "We had a whole different thought on where and what it would look like, and how we make sure (a fire) doesn't happen again."
In 2021, Skipstone broke ground on the new winery, which Ball said generates more power than it uses with its solar array. In addition to the salvaged stone, the building's ceilings are made from redwood trees that burned down in the fire. Ball said Skipstone is expected to earn LEED Platinum Certification, the highest level of certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. It will be one of just a handful of wineries in the world to do so. (Silver Oak's Alexander Valley and Napa Valley wineries both have it).
The tasting room at Skipstone was designed to resemble a posh living room. (Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle)
After a vineyard stroll, visitors will enter through the winery on the first floor, then move upstairs to a luxe tasting room designed like a modern living room, featuring a fireplace, kitchen and wine cellar. An expansive outdoor terrace, flanked by garden beds, floats high above the vines. Tastings, $125 per person, include a flight of four wines and a charcuterie board. Skipstone is focused on red Bordeaux wines, but also produces a Champagne (in partnership with a Champagne house) and a Viognier. Melka remains a consultant at Skipstone, but the winery hired its first full-time winemaker, Laura Jones, formerly of Napa Valley's Aubert Wines and Cliff Lede Vineyards, in 2022.
Most of Skipstone's wines are sold to its mailing list, but the new space is designed to attract new customers, especially via casual, free-flow events, which are still pricey, starting at $150 per person. The winery also rents out a five-bedroom, six-and-a-half bath residence designed like a castle. Rates start at $3,900 a night.
