dupuis
Wells Guthrie
Anderson Valley - california
story…
Wells Guthrie has had one of the most successful and meteoric rises to acclaim in the California winescape. Before jumping into the production side of the world he spent time as a tasting coordinator for the Wine Spectator. It was during this time he was inspired to get into the production side of things, so he took off to France to get his hands dirty. He worked for two years under Michel Chapoutier in the northern Rhône, then found his way to Burgundy to work some shorter stints with legendary producers Frederic Mugnier and Domaine Dujac. Returning stateside in 1999 where he founded Copain wines in California. For two decades Wells grew and expanded his Copain wines achieving excellent success. But with the success he found himself a bit lost and dreaming of his time in France working with the small vignerons who tended their family plots. In 2016 Wells sold Copain to the Jackson Family.
Shortly after the sale of Copain, Wells set his sights on achieving that French vigneron lifestyle he had fallen in love with two decades earlier. Anderson Valley had always been one of Wells’ favorites areas for sourcing Pinot Noir, and in 2019 he purchased a 40 acre mountain estate high up in the Anderson Valley above the town of Boonville. He, his wife Kate and their children have since relocated to live on this estate where they have converted what was a dilapidated barn on the property into a winemaking facility and have planted seven acres of Pinot Noir. This project for Wells is everything he has ever dreamed of for himself and his family. The estate is called DuPuis (of Wells), he had picked up the nickname “Puis” while working in France which translates to “well” or “wells”.
Their estate vineyard is the heart and soul of DuPuis. It is where Wells and his family spend all of their time and energy. Wells & Kate, along with Wells’ right hand man Cesar Maldonado who Wells brought with him from Copain, farm every inch of the property themselves. The estate is planted to Pinot Noir vineyards, as well as a small grove of olive trees.
philosophy…
The focus here is to truly highlight the diversity and uniqueness of the Anderson Valley as a whole. All of the wines are and will be produced from sites located exclusively in the Anderson Valley, many of which are places Wells has either worked with previously or has long admired the wines that have been produced from their fruit. All of the vineyards that they source from, as well as their estate vineyard, are farmed with organic practices, however none are certified.
In the cellar Wells’ work is more restrained and stripped back than some of his previous work with as little invasiveness as possible. All fermentations take place on native yeasts and are done in neutral oak barrels. His Chardonnay is foot tread and left on the skins for 2-4 hours before being pressed to barrel for fermentation. Starting with the 2020 vintage he will be fermenting his Chardonnay in cement eggs. The reds receive once a day pump overs during fermentation followed by 1-2 punch downs toward the end of fermentation to mix the cap. All of the wines are aged in neutral French oak barrels for around 20 months, which is quite a bit longer than he has done in the past. He is finding this helps round out the tannins a bit more, making the wines slightly more approachable upon release, thus making them more enjoyable without extended decanting or bottle age. This longer elevage is not an intentional method, more of an observation he has made while giving the wines that extended time in barrel. The methodology here will continue to evolve and change over time based on what he feels guides the wine to its best version. The use of SO2 is very limited, his Syrah sees about 10ppm just before bottling only. The Chardonnay & Pinots get around 20-30ppm over the course of aging with about 10ppm before bottling.
Vineyards…
Although Anderson Valley is a relatively small AVA, it hosts a wonderful diversity of soils and micro climates. The highlight of Dupuis is their estate vineyard, but wanting to truly champion the entirety of the Anderson Valley region they also source fruit from some excellent sites in the area where they bottle both single site bottlings and a really special cuvée bottling of Pinot.
The cuvée Pinot, labeled “Le Benedict”, is special wine to Wells as well as holding a special place for us at Kellogg Selections. Named in honor of a good friend of Wells’, Ned Benedict, who sadly passed away in 2019. The bottling pays homage to the great village bottlings of Burgundy that Wells & Ned shared a deep affection for. The fruit comes from four sites in the Deep End of Anderson Valley: Abel, Wendling, Romani, and Klindt Vineyards.
Estate Vineyard
sits on Squawrock and Greywacke soils of quartz, feldspar and clay high up in the Western Highlands above the town of Boonville | planted in 2002 with Pinot Noir | farmed by Wells & Kate Guthrie and Cesar Maldonado
Wendling Vineyard
located in the Deep End of the valley and planted in 2009 with massal selection clones in weathered shale and sandstone soils | farmed by Paul Ardzrooni | Pinot Noir from this site is used for a single vineyard bottling, as well as being part of the “Le Benedict” cuvée
Abel Vineyard
located just south of Wendling Vineyard in the Deep End of the valley | planted in 1997 to massale selection clones in sandy soils over weathered shale with veins of rich clay | farmed by Paul Ardzrooni | Pinot Noir from this site is used for a single vineyard bottling, as well as being part of the “Le Benedict” cuvée
Baker Ranch
located on the western side of the Navarro River in the valley in shallow slate based soils | planted in 2000 | farmed by Sam & Muggs Baker | Syrah from this vineyard is used to make a single vineyard, norther Rhône inspired bottling
Ferrington Vineyard
located at the southern end of the valley in deep well draining alluvial soils of igneous, metamorphic & sedimentary rocks | planted in 1998 | farmed by Kurt Shoeneman | Chardonnay from this site is used to produce a single vineyard bottling
