Roussanne

Food pairings: Herb-roasted chicken, Dungeness crab with butter, creamy pasta or risotto, and aged Comté or Gruyère.

Winemaking: All of the fruit was whole-cluster pressed and fermented in French oak barrels, 20% of them new. The wine then rested in barrel on its lees (sur lie) for six months. A partial malolactic fermentation (30%) keeps the natural acidity, while regular stirring of the lees (bâtonnage) adds complexity and richness. The wine was bottled in April 2026. 2025 was very similar to the 2023 vintage: ideal spring conditions set an above-average crop, and extremely mild temperatures all season led to one of the latest harvests in Napa Valley history before intermittent October rains forced a quick finish. The wines show bright acidity, intensity and balance.

Vineyards and terroir: Roussanne is traditionally a grape of the Northern Rhône, where it is blended with Marsanne for white Hermitage. Truchard planted it in 1998 on the southern end of the family's estate vineyard in Carneros, at the northeastern edge of the appellation. The vines grow in soils of volcanic rock and ash on gently sloped terrain, and they benefit from the cooler Carneros temperatures, with fog rolling in off San Pablo Bay in the morning. Roussanne is a challenging grape in both vineyard and winery, but when done right it gives an aromatic, delicate wine with the structure and finesse to age. Every grape is estate grown.

Family and history: Tony and Jo Ann Truchard began farming in Carneros more than 50 years ago, when they bought an abandoned prune orchard and planted it to vines. They were early adopters of drip irrigation and Carneros pioneers, and for 15 years they sold their grapes to other wineries before founding Truchard Vineyards in 1989 to make wines only from their own estate fruit. A wine cave was added in 1998. Today their son Anthony Truchard II runs the family winery as general manager, working alongside his parents, and Sal De Ianni is the winemaker.

In the pictures: Winemaker Sal De Ianni in the barrel cave and Anthony Truchard II (photos courtesy of Truchard Vineyards); vineyard rows on the Truchard estate in autumn (photo: Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0).