O L A B I S I
About
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
O L A B I S I
About
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
||||
|
|||||
|
||||
|
|
OLABISI WINES SINCE 2002, we have focused on crafting unique vineyard-designate wines using
traditional old world techniques. The name Olabisi comes from the African girls name meaning "joy multiplied"—a sentiment
that still resonates with us each time we pull the cork on one of our wines. It is wine, after all. Winemaker Ted Osborne's
style is one that promotes natural winemaking practices with minimal intervention in the pursuit of rich and exotic wines
that are both balanced and focused. We work with farmers who are passionate about their vineyards. And as these tend to be
expressive and sometimes idiosyncratic sites, we prefer to let each wine stand as a distinct and powerful record of each unique
growing year. You'll find that while these wines are wonderfully flavorful upon release, they do age quite well in the
cellar, continuing to evolve, and offering entirely new revelations of the more subtle and finessed qualities not readily
apparent in their youth. Our entire production is not more than 1,200 cases per year, and not more than 330 cases of
any one wine. Working in small lots, often from tiny 1-acre parcels, allows us intimate knowledge of each vineyard and barrel.
The wines are available through our mailing list, at fine restaurants across the U.S., and at our tasting room in downtown
Napa. WINEMAKER Ted Osborne started in the wine business back in
1995 with a harvest job at Cakebread Cellars. “I worked like a dog and loved
every minute of it,” says Ted of the experience. Having a ravenous appetite for
winemaking knowledge and experience, Osborne began traveling around the world, working in famed winemaking regions, while
gathering a body of knowledge and
experience that would guide him in making his own wines. While maintaining his
job at Cakebread in Napa, he worked harvests at Passing Clouds Winery in Australia and
Rupert & Rothschild in South Africa. He then left Cakebread to make wine at
Chateau du Seuil in Bordeaux, France. Returning from France in the winter of
2000, Osborne was brought on board at Storybook Mountain in Calistoga to help
with their burgeoning Cabernet program. After two years at Storybook, Ted and
his wife Kim began their Olabisi wine project. “Jerry Seps was nice enough to
let us make our wines in the Storybook caves that first vintage,” says Ted.
Once word got out of his success with the Olabisi wines, in 2004,
the Piņa brothers hired him to make their vineyard designate Napa Cabernet
Sauvignons. Soon after taking on the Piņa project, friends Suzanne and Shane
Pavitt hired him to make their own special Napa Cabernet project called Date Night.
Osborne now consults on that project as well as Blue Hall Vineyard's Howell Mountain Cabernet. Related Links:
"Is Wine Living" article in Appellation America
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
