Off the main highway that runs through Napa Valley and specifically through Saint Helena, one can make a hard left turn after passing the cute gas station that doubles as a coffee shop (yes, new meaning to the question "leaded?". Make the next right and travel a block or two and you will find a hidden gem of a tasting room. Understated and doubling as an office, Chris Phelps and his son Josh hole up here to create their wine magic.

Chris's path to this quaint tasting room/office has taken him all over the world to make wine, not the least of which at Chateau Petrus (perhaps the most expensive wine at release that Bordeaux has to offer). If you add in various other wineries not to mention Inglenook, where he crafted wine for Francis Ford Coppola at the historical Inglenook winery, you have a pedigreed career.

Ad Vivum is his brand and he sources grapes from the finest vineyards in the Napa Valley. What is astounding about his wines...he cares not for the trend of over-extracted, fruit-forward clichéd wines of the Napa Valley...he actually gets acid out of grapes grown in this special wine region of the world. Meet the non-conformist, Chris Phelps.

 

Sometimes an interviewer and an interviewee just sync up...have a listen.