Screaming Eagle

And what ended up happening is that you had, say, Harlan Estate in 1984 when they were looking to essentially take kind of the Burgundian model and look for some of the very best sites within Oakville.

And then you had Screaming Eagle with the 92 vintage.

And from my understanding too, when Jean Phillips started Screaming Eagle, basically she got Heidi Barrett to help her out.

And it was kind of, I think Heidi Barrett was working for Delaval.

And it was kind of, at least before I heard what I was reading in one article.

It was like, oh, you know, they need some help down the road.

And so it was like a pay by the hour kind of thing.

And The intent of Screaming Eagles, they were going to sell it at Don Giovanni and Oakville Grocery.

... which is world famous.

Nick Gjeresen, who's currently still the wine maker at Screaming Eagle.

I got to meet with a lot of, like, really influential people, Martha McClanahan, and just really wonderful people.

What really triggered a lot for me was you went over there with a very preconceived idea of how the top end of America would look like, and it was the complete opposite.

His enology studies led him first to Rustenburg where he learnt his craft as part of a golden generation of winemakers.

Spells at Bordeaux's Château Angélus and Napa's Screaming Eagle were followed by the top job at Glenelly before he was coaxed to Vergelegen Estate at the end of 2022 to take on and evolve their prestige portfolio.

I caught up with him at the majestic estate, and he explained why he decided to move on from Glenelly.

Glenelly was [laughs] as you say, was a- A truly phenomenal job and you're working, I was working for such a fantastic, uh, character in the wine industry and I learned so much from working with, uh, Made Lonkasa.

And I was just like, you know, kind of got into that experience.

And like, I remember one day, um, a guy had a bottle of screaming Eagle at the pool terrace cafe, and then he had a glass and then he left the rest for me and my friends.

And we were just like, well, hello, uh, went out next to the Lake Hennessey and just polished that off.

And I was like, those little experiences we had growing up, you know, it was wild and weird.

Like that's pretty cool.

Um, You know, I try it was just kind of the context of it at that point.

I tried, you know, great wines kind of similar to yourself in that bottle of Screaming Eagle.

Like, you know, all of a sudden just out here, you kind of stumble across some of these things kind of better lucky than good at times.

I want to make sure it's good.

And so the top wineries... don't talk about it but it's a known thing that the impact on wine quality and so when you start getting that when i say the top wineries are organic from a just from a market standpoint right harlan is organic screaming eagle is organic i mean that screaming eagle is the most expensive wine in the country it's like five thousand dollars a bottle if you go buy a bottle totally organic

Welcome everybody back to the Brails and Roots podcast.

I am your host, Sean Trace, and I have an awesome guest with me today.

Don't talk about it, but it's a known thing that the impact on wine quality.

And so when you start getting that, when I say the top wineries are organic from a, just from a market standpoint, right? Harlan is organic.

Screaming Eagle is organic.

I mean, that Screaming Eagle is the most expensive wine in the country.

We have five.

This is saying nothing negative about, and there's a lot of validity to what the Screaming Eagle, the Harlins, the Bonds, Colgan, Bryant, and what those wineries have all done.

Because they have elevated the Napa Valley from another level very substantially and put... you know, really helped the world stage.

So you talk about your comment that you made a little while ago, all ships rise with the tide.

Yeah.

Um, however, I had been talking to Nick at screaming Eagle since I was in Australia.

Um, and he said, Hey, why don't you come work harvest with us? We can do, we can give you the extended harvest internship.

And I'd been reading about Nick for a while.

Um, Summerston was a full-time job as a knowledgeist.

So I was in the lab, but I also did some work in the cellar.

Um, but then left to go work with Nick at screaming Eagle.

And you were probably doing everything.