Getting In on the Ground Floor of Arrow&Branch’s New Destination Winery

Those of you who’ve been poking around Heavy Pour Wine may have seen a blog post from July of 2023 detailing the cultivation trip my wife and I took. The final visit we made on that expedition was at the Arrow&Branch Vineyard.

Michael Ploetz is the Director of Sales & Hospitality for Arrow&Branch, and he gave us a tour of the vineyard grounds in Napa, and then a wine tasting in the home of the Contursi family, who own and run Arrow&Branch. During that tour, we learned the entire backstory on this heartfelt business venture. It seems the Contursi name is quite well known in the world of rare coin collecting. That’s where they first made their mark. People look to them for advice on investing in rare coins, and they are a dealer for those items as well.

In fact, it’s kind of cool to note that the vineyard’s logo is based on a specific design that can be found on some silver dollars and other coins: it’s an arrow and an oak branch. If you’ve seen them on U.S. coins before, you may have seen them clutched in opposing talons of an American Eagle. The combination is meant to evoke both power or strength (via an arrow symbolizing a weapon) and peace (via a branch, which is sometimes depicted as being from an olive tree). It’s a clever nod to their family’s long and storied history in a field which has nothing to do with grapes!

Like myself, Steve Contursi, the owner of the vineyard, is really into wines. And, like myself, he is a huge fan of wines from Bordeaux. It’s my understanding he has a huge cellar full of them. He started his own winery because it turned out there were already a good number of vines planted on his home’s property when they purchased it. Once they settled in, they began to try their hand at making wine.

Michael oversaw our tasting, and one wine we had there that day blew us away. It was the 2019 Arrow&Branch Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Cabernet Sauvignon, and it was hands-down the best we’d tried the entire trip. We had never even heard of this small producer before that day, but we were impressed with what they were creating. I wound up buying half a case of this particular wine right then and there, and happily added my name to their mailing list.

Now, fast-forward to October of last year, and we notice in their newsletter (which covers both their coin and wine businesses), a small mention of the fact that they are seeking strategic partners for expanding their winery, and that they only had room for a handful of new partners. I showed that to Dio and together we decided we’d like to learn more about such an opportunity. We reached out to inquire, and it turns out we did so just in the nick of time. Out of a total of right around 30 available slots, only four remained open, and they had already been approached by other interested parties.

We knew that if we wanted to get involved, we should probably move quickly to do so, and before long we were meeting with them on Zoom (as we’re literally almost on the opposite coastline from A&B). The final step in this process was a Zoom call with Steve Contursi (whom we’d not been able to meet up until then, despite hanging out in his house for that initial tasting!), and it was during that call that Dio and I decided to move forward with the investment.

The whole purpose of this fundraising is to allow A&B to finish constructing a brand-new, custom crush facility in Oak Knoll, which is just north of Napa. There are already vines planted on the property, and, when this winery is completed, it will also include a tasting room. The building is going to be massive, and it seems, awe-inspiring.

They are putting an extreme level of detail into the construction work, and that, coupled with a stunning 360-degree view of not only renowned vineyards but both the Mayacamas and Vaca Mountain ranges is all geared to afford visitors a feeling of great serenity while they learn about and enjoy A&B’s exemplary, single vineyard terroir driven wines.

It’s all very exciting.

During that call, Dio and I celebrated this joining of forces by opening a bottle of that phenomenal Dr. Crane, and the folks at A&B seemed to really appreciate that gesture. We even got props from them for having such a wonderful wine at lunch on a random Tuesday.

If anyone reading this knows anything at all about Beckstoffer or Dr. Crane, it’s essentially one of the very best vineyards in all of Napa. In Bordeaux terms, if Napa had a “first growth,” then any wines that came from there would be considered first growth. During that call, we decided that the next time Steve found himself in Atlanta, I would share some wine from my cellar with him, and the next time we were both in Napa, he’d share a Bordeaux from his fabled stash with me.

When I told him Dio and I were planning to spend my next birthday in L.A., he let us know the family’s business office was in Laguna Beach and invited us to come there for a tour and a visit, which we looked forward to. However, before all that could come to pass, in January of 2024 I get a call out of the blue from Michael Ploetz, letting us know that he and Steven (Steve’s youngest son) are both coming to Atlanta to take part in the High Museum Wine Auction. We’d spoken highly (see what I did there?) to folks about their wines and would like to think our impression of A&B led in some small way to them being a part of this very high profile (see, I did it again) annual event.

Michael also told us about a fairly amazing auction lot they had put together, which included a couple of other noteworthy wineries. He also extended an offer to do a private winemaker dinner for us and a small group of our friends while they were in town. This was based on our existing business relationship. We were very pleasantly surprised with this unexpected opportunity, and quickly said yes. In working out the details over the next few weeks, we settled on Murphy’s restaurant for the location of the dinner, as the food there is hearty, and we knew it would go very well with the lineup of wines A&B had in mind. Also, the Sommelier Guild of Atlanta had held some events there previously, and it had become one of our favorite little local eateries.

The A&B guys made a point to say that they do well in “small dinner” settings, where there is the opportunity for intimate conversations with everyone in attendance. So, we only invited four couples to join us. This seemed like the perfect amount of people, and it helped that we would all fit into Murphy’s private events room which is full of windows and filled with natural light. Once the location was confirmed, Michael interfaced with both the restaurant’s chef and sommelier to carefully craft the pairing menu and pick the proper glassware. He chose several library wines (bottles of an older vintage that a winery holds back to sell later on or use for special tastings – in other words, stuff you can’t just find easily on your own) and some current releases that worked well together.

Now, to step back for a moment: during this period where I am planning my first-ever winemaker dinner, I did wind up going to Los Angeles and the Central Coast for my birthday to attend some — guess what? — wine tastings. I went to see the Talley Vineyards and hang out with some friends from the area. And while I was there, I took A&B up on their offer to visit their business office in Laguna Beach. That’s where I finally met Steve and his oldest son Michael Contursi, in person. They both greeted me with open arms and a tour of the building, which is an amazing spot with a truly wonderful view of the ocean.

I mean, seriously, I have no idea how they get any work done while being surrounded by that incredible view. But, clearly, they do.

They even showed me (and let me hold) some extremely rare and highly valuable coins. Michael runs the coin business, and we took a trail hike up through the nearby cliffs. The visit finished with us heading back down for tacos and beers and then we just went all the way down and hung out on the beach for a bit. That was my first time on that particular beach and it was a beautiful end to an amazing and very meaningful visit. Here’s some photos from that visit.

Now, a few weeks later in late March, we’re prepping for the private winemaker dinner, which was on a Wednesday night, the day before the official wine auction events began. Something happened that not only cracked me up, but taught me something important about the greater brotherhood, if you will, of West Coast wine producers. I really love this story and want to share it with all of you.

Earlier in the day, before our winemaker dinner, I attended an event at the home of one of the co-chairs of the auction. Lo and behold, who’s at this event, but an estate manager for another winery that I admire and had bought wine from in the past. I see her, we hug, and she volunteered an anecdote about an emergency detour she had to make just before boarding her flight to Atlanta.

Turns out the Arrow&Branch guys were using a VinGardeValise to pack and carry their wines for our Atlanta dinner on their own plane trip here. That’s quite common. It’s actually the fastest and perhaps the safest way to get wine across the country without damage of any sort, because the VinGardeValise protects the wine from the bumps and knocks that can result in broken bottles. However, in all of the rush and craziness surrounding leaving California, that wine suitcase (which contained every bit of the wine that was earmarked for our private dinner) was accidentally left at the A&B winery — and no one realized this until they were in the air!

They texted her frantically, asking if there was any way she could go to their winery, pick up the case and bring it with her when she came. You see, they knew she was heading to the auction as well, but that she was taking a much later flight than they had. So, luckily, she had just enough time to grab the forgotten wine on her way to the airport and get it to Georgia in time, averting what would have been a complete catastrophe.

Now, you may be wondering, what’s the big deal? Sure, it’s a hassle. But Atlanta is a MAJOR city. Why couldn’t the A&B guys just call ahead and have a high-quality wine shop in the area set aside a few bottles of what they’d planned to bring, and then pick them up in time for the dinner?

Good question. And here’s the answer: Because you can’t buy A&B wines in Atlanta. Like, at all.

If it had been some other winery that was generally available in our part of the country, then yeah, they could have probably made that happen with a minimum of fuss. But, at present, A&B only sells directly to consumers.

That means you can’t find it in wine stores. You can’t find it in restaurants. You can’t get it wholesale from a distributor. If you don’t get it straight from the Contursi family, then you don’t get it. As a result of that situation, I am pretty sure that until they were able to confirm that she had been able to make a special trip to their facility, retrieve the wine suitcase and get it onto her own flight, they were sweating bullets. Now, in the end, this all worked out. But remember, I am only aware of this whole snafu (and the ensuing stress it caused) by complete coincidence. Had I not A) already known this person and had a friendly relationship with her, and B) run into her unexpectedly a few hours before our winemaker dinner, I would never have known about all of this.

Armed with that understanding, I decided to have a bit of good-natured fun. I resisted the urge to reach out to the A&B guys and let them know I was aware of their situation and that I was glad it was resolved. I decided to mess with them a bit.

So, later that evening, Dio and I arrive at Murphy’s for the dinner, and of course, their wine is sitting on the table, beautifully presented, opened and ready to be poured.

I walk over and take a long and obvious look at the wine, and then I look over at Michael Ploetz, and I say to him, “I see the wine made it here ok…” And then I gave him just a little smirk, letting him know without saying anything out loud that I knew exactly what they’d just gone through to make that happen.

And he’s just staring at me with this look on HIS face like, “How on earth did you know?” He’s totally confused. So, I said something like, “Hey, I know people. I have my ear to the ground in the wine biz. I know EVERYBODY.” I’m just playing this up. And finally, after avoiding his question for a bit, I explain that I’d run into my friend who served as their emergency courier, and that she’d told me the story. Once he understood, he relaxed, and then he volunteered the rest of the story, from the perspective of he and Steven, as they are stuck on this plane to Atlanta without any of the wine they need for this fairly elaborate dinner. It seems they were really starting to panic, and they weren’t at all sure they’d be able to find anyone they knew and trusted from their part of the country who was not only coming to Atlanta for this auction, but who also had not left California yet. So, they were frantically trying to formulate any kind of a backup plan to save the dinner.

And because of that lack of wine store distribution that I mentioned above, that only left them with one clever, but very unlikely option. They started drilling down through their existing direct customer list, searching the entire Southeast for the closest customer to Atlanta whom they might be able to cajole into letting them buy (or borrow) as many bottles from their private collections as they had yet to open, in hopes of saving this 12-person dinner.

Their dedication to making this event happen no matter what was really touching to both Dio and me. Because they were bound and determined that under no circumstances could they let this dinner be derailed by this incident. I feel like that says a lot about them not only as businessmen, but as gentlemen. Luckily, they never had to find out if such a scheme could or would have worked, because the wine made it on the later plane and arrived in time for our dinner.

This whole situation taught me something about the folks who make wine in Napa. And it’s something that I suppose I could have learned over time, but this situation made it crystal clear in one simple moment. That is that the Napa wine community is — in some respects — kind of like one big family.

This woman did not work for A&B. And technically, since she worked for another winery, I guess both businesses might technically be considered competition for one another. But, at the same time, they’re all in this world together. And, when you really think about it, this is a fairly small, tight-knit world. I’m sure they may be outliers, as there are in any field of industry or the arts. But, generally speaking, if someone’s in a jam, they all help each other out. Because that’s what family members do. And family and trust and sharing is a big part of the ethos of the wine business.

Folks who read this blog regularly will see me refer to those attributes on a fairly regular basis. And that’s because that feeling of community and shared experience and friendship is a large part of what had drawn me to the world of wine.

That, and the wine, of course!

Now, let’s talk about the dinner itself.

The guests included two couples who are also in the Guild with us, plus another couple that are fellow benefactors in the wine auction, and another couple who are simply dear friends of ours that we’ve known for ages. It was a good mix of folks, in that some of them were unfamiliar with each other, but had similar interests. That always makes for great conversation.

Dio and I were seated next to Steven Contursi, who runs the winery, and that was the first time we had met in person. Michael decided to seat us together so we could get to know him better, which we appreciated. We made sure to seat our friends from the Guild next to Michael, since he’s the estate manager. We figured they could all nerd out together on the minutiae of the five different excellent library wine selections A&B provided (which included a Sauvignon Blanc Heritage Reserve from 2019, a Right Bank Blend from 2016, a Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane from 2017, a Cabernet Sauvignon Vine Hill Ranch from 2019 and a Cabernet Sauvignon Black Label from 2015).

Michael Ploetz making sure everything is just right for our dinner!

You can get full details on the entire, excellent dinner menu, as well as my tasting notes here at CellarTracker,

and I hope that you do, as I feel they are very informative. Especially for others who care deeply about how wine and food interact and are on a learning journey of their own.

It turned out that our Executive Chef at Murphy’s that night was Matt McCarthy. He grew up in Atlanta, where his father ran the kitchen at this iconic eatery, before leaving for more than two decades to pursue his own education and career. A graduate of the famed Culinary Institute of America, he worked under famed restaurateurs and chefs in NYC before being named the Chef de Cuisine for Washington DC’s fine dining establishment Tail Up Goat (which was awarded a Michelin Star). He’s now returned to step into his father’s role, bringing with him a love of seasonal local produce and Southern flavors.

We were unaware there was a new person at the helm of Murphy’s, and boy, were we in for a pleasant surprise. Murphy’s is something of an Atlanta institution. It’s been there for almost 45 years, and while it’s known as a solid neighborhood place to go for a very nice meal — and a place Dio and I have come to routinely enjoy — it’s not really known for what you might describe as “elevated cuisine.” Well, consider us shocked at the “new” Murphy’s.

This menu, and its presentation were definitely elevated. The grilled Waygu shortrib was by far the best thing we ate that night, and the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane from A&B’s vault which was paired with the shortrib was out of this world good. I believe Chef Matt has only been on site for less than a year, and everything we had that night was exponentially better than meals I have enjoyed there in the past. So, if you think you know Murphy’s, but you haven’t been there lately, take it from me: Go back soon and you’ll likely be very surprised, in a positive way.

I believe the dinner was deemed a huge success by all involved. The food was amazing and the wines were spectacular (and arrived on time!) So, mission accomplished. For the first-ever winemaker dinner that I have organized myself, I feel it went off quite smoothly. I’m sure I’ll get better at this sort of thing as time goes on.

We saw Michael and Steven again on both Friday and Saturday for the wine auction events, and here’s a picture of us with Steven at one of those meetings.

They had put together a very impressive auction lot of wines, and even though it would normally be in my nature to bid on something like that in hopes of taking it home with us, we opted not to bid on that particular lot, We wanted someone else to get turned on to A&B wines instead. We’re now partners in business with them. We know them and have the ability to visit with them regularly, and we already own a bunch of their wines! So, it was important to us that we let someone else have that opportunity.

A few days later, I receive an email from the Contursi family, announcing that they had just received their first 100-point perfect score. It was for their 2021 Arrow&Branch Estate "Heritage" Cabernet Franc. As you might imagine, in this industry, such a score is a really, really big deal.

Only 34 cases of this wine were produced, and in giving it that highly sought-after 100-point score, noted wine critic Jeb Dunnuck wrote of it, “One of the finest expressions of the variety I've ever tasted, the 2021 Cabernet Franc Heritage pretty much stopped me in my tracks. Reminding me of the 2015 Figeac with its incredibly pure yet complex bouquet of red and black fruits, espresso, spring flowers, graphite, and tobacco leaf, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a seamless, layered, multi-dimensional mouthfeel, flawless tannins, and a great, great finish. It's a big, ripe wine, yet the more pure, focused style of the vintage gives this an incredible extra dimension, and it glides across the palate with no sensation of weight or heaviness. Hide bottles for 2-4 years if you can, and I suspect it's going to evolve for 15-20 years with ease. This is a sensational bottle of wine.”

When Michael P. called me to confirm the order I’d made at the winemaker dinner, he asked if I wanted to try any of that perfect score Cab Franc. I think that might have counted as a silly question! So, I have some of that in my cellar now. And even though I always say, “drink the good stuff,” according to Jeb Dunnuck that needs to sit for a few years to realize its full potential. So it will stay in my cellar until it’s good and ready.

I am looking very forward to, in a few short years, opening a 100-point bottle of wine from our partners. By then, with a little luck, Arrow&Branch will be significantly better known and even more widely respected even than they are today.

Until next time! ~ Brad