The Evolution of Dominus

How vintner Christian Moueix molded a benchmark Napa estate

- JAMES MOLESWORTH

"When I arrived, there was really nothing here," says Christian Moueix, describing his first days at the helm of Dominus Estate. "There was one shed and one tractor. That first harvest, I remember driving exactly 20 miles in the tractor with a double hopper in tow to take the grapes to Rombauer to be crushed, because we didn't have our own facility. And when I got there, there was a line of growers waiting to drop off their grapes. So I had to wait for a few hours with the fruit sitting in the hot sun. Looking back, it's a fond memory now." Moueix admits that he can see things fondly now because so much has changed since that time. Dominus was very much a barebones operation in the beginning. For example, in those early days there was still Chardonnay planted in the vineyard, which Moueix would sell to provide cash flow to the winery. Today, all of the Chardonnay is gone, and the fruit harvested from Moueix's Dominus Estate doesn't sit out in the sun waiting to be processed it goes straight into the sleek and modern Herzog & de Meuron-designed winery facility that was built in time for the 1997 harvest.

Dominus' success is evidenced in the steady progression of quality the wine demonstrated in a recent vertical tasting, covering 14 vintages between the debut 1983 and still-in-barrel 2021. The wines were tasted non-blind with Moueix and current winemaker Tod Mostero at Dominus in August.

It's this success that makes the early days such a fascinating story. It even took Moueix two years before he got a vintage into bottle.