Who
Ed and Trish Snider, owners of
Beau Vigne, have three sons and a daughter. Ed was born and raised in
the Napa Valley. Ed was the head football coach for St. Helena High
School located in the heart of the Napa Valley, a small town of about
four thousand. He coached and mentored in the 90’s many young men who
now are very involved in the Napa Valley wine industry. Ed and Trish
think of many of their players as extended family.
Vineyard Manager, Victor and Juan Fuentes, farm the Stag's Ridge Ranch. Adrian Ruiz is the Ranch Manager. This is the backbone of the Beau Vigne Winery.
"A great Cabernet is grown, not built."
When
The Sniders bought the property in 2002 and named
the ranch Stags Ridge Vineyard, a vista overlooking Stags Leap. Stags
Ridge is now over eight acres of Cabernet, clone 337 and one acre of
Cabernet Franc and petite Verdot (Trish's Garden).
Stags Ridge Vineyard sits at about 1,350 feet
altitude in the Atlas Peak appellation on the eastern edge of Napa.
Stag’s Ridge has become known as a very unique vineyard recognized in
the valley as a very special place.
You know you have a great vineyard when The Top
Cabernet cult labels inquire about purchasing our little piece of
Heaven, and we have to keep telling them, "Not for sale." We know what
a special vineyard we have (and so do they!).
The wines are produced at Orin Swifts production facility.
Rebuilding the Family’s Winemaking Reputation
Winemaking goes way back in Ed's family, all the
way to 16th-century Italy, where an ancestor made wine for a Florentine
aristocrat. That didn't turn out so well when someone tried
(unsuccessfully) to poison the aristocrat, who banished Ed's ancestor
to Switzerland. "The story goes that [the aristocrat] liked my relative
and that's why he wasn’t killed," says Ed.
Taking the Long Route
Ed and Trish's interest in winemaking developed in
the 1990s, after they sold a medical-services company that supplied
temporary nurses to hospitals. They gave serious consideration to
buying a vineyard in New Zealand, but then started looking closer to
home at properties on Howell Mountain, Diamond Mountain and Mount
Veeder. At a friend's barbecue, they overheard mention of the Foss
Valley site and decided to check it out. After careful research the
decision was made to purchase this ranch and name it Stags Ridge.
It took a hard-nosed approach to plant the
additional 4 acres at the site, which is riddled with rocks and
boulders, some the size of cars. "I'm a real competitive person, and if
I do something I want to do it the best," says Ed. "We're very tight on
the farming and want to produce a great wine."
A Menu Match
Ed is a hunter, and recommends game such as
backstrap of elk or venison to complement his Cabernet. For those of us
who shop for our meat, he suggests a "big, thick, two-inch, center-cut
pork chop, or a Porterhouse steak topped with a wine reduction truffle
sauce with a slice of your favorite decadent double chocolate cake.
Delicious! | 
