Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All Vintages
Textbook was inspired by the Pey Family's travels in France and Italy, where they learned about wine and its place at the table. While abroad, they fell in love with European craftsmanship – wines made with structure, restraint, and revealing a 'sense of place.' For nearly two decades, they've fulfilled that vision – crafting exceptional, while approachable wines that truly represents the best a region has to offer.
Their high-caliber grower and producer partners provide them with superior lots, allowing them to consistently deliver complexity and quality vintage to vintage.
Winemaker Abigail "Abi" Horstman Estrada sources small lots from a range of climates and soils, providing a diverse palette of flavors and aromatics. She honed her winemaking chops in Italy, New Zealand, and Israel and worked for prestige brands like Markham, Domaine Chandon, and Robert Mondavi in Napa Valley. She crafts Textbook wines by keeping the lots separate, tasting them throughout the year, and then integrating the components to create balanced, complex wines that can be enjoyed independently or with various cuisines.
One of the world's most highly regarded regions for wine production as well as tourism, the Napa Valley was responsible for bringing worldwide recognition to California winemaking. In the 1960s, a few key wine families settled the area and hedged their bets on the valley's world-class winemaking potential—and they were right.
The Napa wine industry really took off in the 1980s, when producers scooped up vineyard lands and planted vines throughout the county. A number of wineries emerged, and today Napa is home to hundreds of producers ranging from boutique to corporate. Cabernet Sauvignon is definitely the grape of choice here, with many winemakers also focusing on Bordeaux blends. White wines from Napa Valley are usually Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that claim specific wine characteristics based on situation, slope and soil. Farthest south and coolest from the influence of the San Pablo Bay is Carneros, followed by Coombsville to its northeast and then Yountville, Oakville and Rutherford. Above those are the warm St. Helena and the valley's newest and hottest AVA, Calistoga. These areas follow the valley floor and are known generally for creating rich, dense, complex and smooth red wines with good aging potential. The mountain sub appellations, nestled on the slopes overlooking the valley AVAs, include Stags Leap District, Atlas Peak, Chiles Valley (farther east), Howell Mountain, Mt. Veeder, Spring Mountain District and Diamond Mountain District. Napa Valley wines from the mountain regions are often more structured and firm, benefiting from a lot of time in the bottle to evolve and soften.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.