White Rabbit Estate Merlot Atlas Peak 2023

Some vineyard stories are built on legacy, others on discovery, but the story of White Rabbit Vineyard is about friendship, humor, and a shared love of Napa’s mountains. Four longtime friends, bound by countless memories skiing together at Northstar, stumbled upon an opportunity too good to pass up: a vineyard perched high on Atlas Peak, with breathtaking views and equally compelling fruit. In January 2020, they made it theirs. As a nod to both their history on the slopes and the laughter that has always defined their friendship, they named it after the ski run they knew so well—the “White Rabbit.” Now, their adventure finds expression in the 2023 White Rabbit Vineyard Estate Merlot, the sophomore release from this extraordinary site.

Atlas Peak is one of Napa Valley’s most celebrated mountain AVAs, and for good reason. Rising over 2,000 feet, its vineyards seem to touch the sky, catching cool breezes and long hours of sunshine. The soils here are rocky, volcanic, and unforgiving—conditions that stress vines just enough to produce small, concentrated berries packed with character. Because of its altitude, Atlas Peak also benefits from cooler nights that preserve acidity, giving wines their balance and age-worthiness.

To steward their fruit, the White Rabbit team turned to a name that ACME fans already know and love: Grant Long Jr. His wines under the Aonair and Misc. labels are longtime favorites among the ACME ladies, known for their bold personality, purity of fruit, and polished craftsmanship. Grant has a knack for coaxing both power and finesse from Napa’s mountain fruit—a balance perfectly suited to the rugged terroir of Atlas Peak.

This is not your soft, easy-drinking Merlot of yesteryear. Instead, it’s a mountain Merlot: structured, deeply layered, and brimming with energy. From the first swirl, the wine is alive with aromatics—black cherry, plum, and wild blueberry, wrapped in subtle notes of graphite, cedar, and mountain herbs. On the palate, it is both generous and precise, with velvety tannins that frame a core of ripe dark fruit. Hints of cocoa and clove emerge as it opens, leading to a finish that is long, mineral-driven, and undeniably elegant.

What makes White Rabbit Vineyard truly special is that it embodies both place and people. It’s a vineyard rooted in one of Napa’s most storied AVAs, but also in the laughter and friendship of the four partners who saw possibility in a mountaintop vineyard. The name itself—borrowed from ski days gone by—reminds us that wine is as much about joy and connection as it is about terroir and technique.