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The Rest of the story of Fortunate Son… Chapter I by Jayson Woodbridge

February 16th 2023

Chapter One –
The Vineyards And Creation

This is the very reason I decided to bring Fortunate Son back from early retirement, the wine in its first iteration was very much loved, enjoyed and in many circles revered by collectors and fellow lovers of life like me!

However, in its new form it has more gravitas, it is far more serious and powerful a wine than I presented before. Gravitas is elemental to the wines I will be presenting, in a number of different forms, as time goes on…Confused? Let me explain.

In Napa Valley the vineyards you hear about are the most famous or the most overhyped ones owned by large landowners with press connections or budgets to promote.

At Hundred Acre I am definitely not a large landowner, nor someone with a budget to promote my wine or vineyards. I do not need to as the wine speaks for itself and is legend, so frankly I could give a flying shit what anyone in this Valley thinks about it.

But what most people pay very little attention to is the small family-farmed vineyards, (in some cases for 3-4 generations) by people of a similar ilk as I. These vineyards are often constrained by a farming budget (not in my case), and they sell their fruit into large company wine programs where the unique qualities of the vineyard disappear into a sea of dozens of other mediocre vineyards. For me this is sad and sickening.

These families farm with great care and attention, and I pay them so they may farm at their “dream” standard, and pick the way I do, and when I do, as my hand is never forced by weather or tank capacities. I only make very small amounts and combine blocks from vineyards where they make a perfect combination of power, complexity and layers that give the wine incredible character and elegance. I decided to bring these wines forward so they could shine as they deserve…more on that later.

The bottom line is these vineyards (some are 80+ years old) have been brought together, actually woven together, so the magical fruit could at last become Fortunate Son.

Fortunate Son is the culmination of my years-long search for these little jewel vineyards and the fruit from them, handcrafted the in the same way that I have meticulously created Hundred Acre. Note: this new 2018 Fortunate Son was made at Hundred Acre’s underground winery:
The RING.

In the future Fortunate Son will be crafted at our new winery:
The Fortunate Son Winery at the Historic David Fulton Vineyard Established in 1860

It was one of the first wineries in the western United States, one of the first Estate wineries built by a Napa Valley pioneer. Until this year the historic David Fulton home and winery (One of the first homes built in Saint Helena on sleepy Fulton Lane) and vineyard had been continuously owned by the same family since 1860. Now it has been purchased and it is being lovingly restored by Helen and me and our son Cameron.

We are humbled to have been entrusted with this piece of history and you will very much enjoy visiting our member’s tasting room, lounge and outdoor cigar smoking area with glorious glass in hand whilst ensconced in 1930’s leather smoking chairs.

Fortunate Son was aged in the same barrels from the same forests, the same cooperages, with the same barrel toasts (and you will find – for a similar length of time – as I am just now releasing the 2018 vintage). As you all know most wineries have already released this legendary vintage and those wines are gone. Not so with us, we give it the time it needs. But you know that already.

Make no mistake this wine is NOT Hundred Acre, but is created by me in the same spirit, and yet it is different in a wonderful way. This collection of unique, small vineyards is crafted together into a magical whole that is not one wine, but several…Let me further explain later in the letter. One thing…

“

You, Who Know Hundred Acre So Well And Love It, Will Know This Wine Was Made By Me, The Second You Taste It… Even Blind-Folded You Will Know…

“

The Rest of the story of Fortunate Son… Chapter II by Jayson Woodbridge

2023-02-16

To explain further, I needed to make these wines, I needed to express myself in a new and different way, I wanted to create something completely amazing and new that could be presented to you, a wine you would fall in love with and at a price point which would allow it to be enjoyed at more regular intervals…such as morning, noon and night on any day ending in a Y.

The Next Chapter

2023-02-01

Twenty-three years ago, when Jayson Woodbridge – who had no formal education in, or experience of, winemaking – declared that he was going to make the most uncompromising, highest-quality Cabernet the world has ever seen, it might have seemed to some like pure fiction or a vainglorious boast.