Pott’s Pursuit
Seven Stones Winery and 51 East team up for an evening of sips and stories led by one of Napa’s most renowned winemakers.
When Aaron Pott was 9, he asked for milk at a Paris restaurant but was given a glass of wine.
He didn’t hesitate to take a sip. “I remember thinking that it was super bitter and it dried out my mouth. I felt as if I had little knit sweaters on each of my teeth,” recalls Pott, who more than four decades later was named one of Food & Wine magazine’s Winemakers of the Year for 2012.
The founder of Pott Wine and exclusive winemaker for Seven Stones Winery, both in Napa Valley, will host a wine dinner for Members at 51 East this month. INTOUCH spoke with Pott about his journey from milk mix-up to master vintner.
Did the milk incident really lead you to become a winemaker?
What stuck with me was that wine was a drink for an adult, not a baby. I desperately wanted to be an adult at age 9, and I thought this might be the ticket. I learned everything I could about wine from that point.
Tell us about your winemaking journey.
Every day, I felt I was learning, and I was able to work with some of the best winemakers in the business. I was lucky to start with John Kongsgaard at Newton, where I encountered Dominique Lafon and Michel Rolland. I would later work with Jean-Louis Mandrau, the winemaker at Château Latour from 1970 to 1986, and André Porcheret, the winemaker for the Hospices de Beaune.
My experience in France especially put me into two very legendary properties: Château Troplong Mondot and Château Latour Figeac. I learned so much technique in the time that I was in Saint-Émilion. I was working with Michel Rolland, who was perhaps the best technical winemaker ever. But most importantly, I learned that the best way to make great wine is to grow great grapes. Most good winemaking is done in the vineyard.
Why is an organic, hands-on approach so important to you?
In my experience, wines that are produced from organic vineyards as naturally as possible show their pedigree and quality more than wines produced using chemical agriculture and additives. It is about purity and not about artifice. It is about elegance and not about overwhelming.
What is special about the Pott Wines Viognier?
Pott Viognier, which we’ll serve at the 51 East dinner, is made from a half-acre vineyard on the lowest section of the Pott Art Vineyard on my estate, at an altitude of 1,450 feet. Below the block is an old-growth redwood forest that was too steep to log after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, when California’s redwood forests were ravaged to rebuild the great city.
Redwoods create their own weather and make this block—the only north-facing parcel in my vineyard—slightly more humid than the others. There is always a little fog in the morning. The grapes ripen slowly in this cool climate and retain a bright acidity.
The Viognier clone comes from Yves Gangloff, directly from Condrieu. We harvest the grapes in early September and press them in the early hours of the morning. The press is whole-cluster and a light, Champagne style. I move the juice into two clay amphora for fermentation, starting in our 65-degree Fahrenheit warm room. When spontaneous fermentation begins with indigenous yeast, we move them into the 52 F cold room. The process lasts about two months. We stir the leaves, and the wines are left in clay for 10 months before bottling. The result is a wine with a freshness and crispness that is surprising for people who have never tasted these characteristics in Viognier. I make fewer than 1,200 bottles.
What is the secret to a great Cabernet Sauvignon?
Great Cabernet Sauvignon comes from great sites. For Cabernet Sauvignon to really be great, it needs to be in very well-drained, nutrient-poor soil. It needs to be grown right on the edge of where it can get perfectly ripe, but not overripe. Clonal material is important in Cabernet Sauvignon. Not all clones are the same. Maceration post fermentation creates Cabernet Sauvignon that is big and rich, but without being pruny. Great Cabernet Sauvignon must be fresh and fruity with lively acid and generous texture. It should be balanced with oak but not dominated by oak.
What sets Seven Stones Cabernet Sauvignon apart from other Napa Cabernets?
Seven Stones is a small, organically grown vineyard in a unique part of the Napa Valley. The site is composed of volcanic ash that cooled very quickly. This gray powdery ash is broken down from white spongy rock that contains a great deal of iron. These give Seven Stones a unique structure that is both rich and dense but fresh and lively at the same time. The wine is infinitely complex and ages forever but is always good as a young wine. We’ll be tasting three such Cabernets at this dinner.
What can Members look forward to at this dinner?
I have worked with Seven Stones for 20 years and made wine professionally for over 35. There will be a lot of stories and some magic!
Seven Stones Wine Dinner
June 26 | 6:30–9pm
Words: C Bryan Jones
Images of Seven Stone (1999) by Richard Deutsch in the winery’s sculpture garden and Aaron Pott: Seven Stones Estate
June 2025
