How a Legendary Napa Valley Winery Is Returning to Its Former Glory

This story is from an installment of The Oeno Files, our weekly insider newsletter to the world of fine wine. Sign up here.

One of the wines that helped to put Napa Valley on the map with its appearance at the famed 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting, Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon has been a steady presence in the valley for more than 50 years. Taking first place in the 1986 rematch cemented its legacy as one of Napa’s finest producers, but as flashier names began to dominate the California landscape, the French-founded Napa winery settled into the position of supplying reliable, solid bottles of a broad range of varieties without achieving any of the acclaim or garnering the inflated prices of its valley neighbors. All that has changed with the introduction of Yettalil, a $200 Bordeaux-style blend from their Stags Leap District estate vineyards. The third and latest iteration of Yettalil—a product of the challenging 2022 vintage—proves that owner Olav Goelet and winemaker Carmel Greenberg are returning Clos du Val to its former greatness.

Established in 1972 by John and Henrietta Goelet and business partner Bernard Portet—whom the Goelets challenged with finding a spot outside of France that was perfect for growing Cabernet Sauvignon—Clos du Val veered off its founding principal of making top-tier Bordeaux-style wine with the 1976 purchase of a Carneros vineyard, from which they produced Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. CEO Olav Goelet began working at the family winery in 2019, overseeing winemaking and viticulture; after learning more about the overall operation, he moved into his current position in 2023. “Initially my role was to assess the business and decide whether it made sense to keep the winery or to sell it,” Goelet tells Robb Report. “We needed a family member to be on-site to really dig in and learn so we could make an informed decision.” Alongside his siblings and cousins, all third-generation family members, he realized that Clos du Val’s stellar reputation as a founding winery of Napa Valley’s modern era “had disappeared from the conversation in more recent times.” 

With an eye toward the future and maintaining the family legacy, Goelet says that “we just needed to focus on what made us great in the first place.” To that end, they sold the Carneros vineyard in 2021 and stopped making Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to bring the spotlight back onto Bordeaux varieties, especially Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Sauvignon Blanc. Goelet brought in viticulturist Ryan Decker and winemaker Greenberg (who was the assistant winemaker at Dominus before joining Clos du Val) with the aim of improving quality potential while remaining consistent with the house style. “Our job is to steward to the best of our abilities as a team and constantly push ourselves to set the standard even higher,” Goelet says. 

While Clos du Val continues to make Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and a few other wines available to club members, the introduction of Yettalil with the 2019 vintage best upholds the winery’s prestige and showcases its potential. Named for Goelet’s grandmother Henrietta, whose nickname is Yetta but whose husband called her Yettalil, it is from their Hirondelle Vineyard, which is just in front of the winery. The 120-acre estate is situated in the Stags Leap District on the southeastern side of Napa Valley, which receives cooling evening breezes from nearby San Pablo Bay. It boasts a complex volcanic soil structure that Portet correctly identified as being ideal for the cultivation of Cabernet and other Bordeaux varieties. “This site allows us to harness the freshness of the fruit, maintaining good acidity to carry the fruit flavors while also allowing for generous smooth tannin structure and development,” Goelet says. “The cooler nights produce balanced, age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon with higher acid, lower alcohol, and delicate tannins.” Under Goelet’s leadership, the estate is transitioning to organic certification, and he has implemented sustainability initiatives such as the move to lighter weight glass and the removal of foil caps from most bottles. 

“The vision was always anchored around expressing this unique terroir and making world-class Bordeaux varietal blended wines from the property,” Goelet says, but knowing that the brand had strayed from the core of what made it so special in the first place, he wants to rekindle what brought his grandparents and Portet here. “Yettalil, to us, is reconnecting our past through a wine of purpose and sense of place, that will guide our philosophy and style for generations to come,” he says. A blend of 70 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 8 percent Cabernet Franc, 8 percent Petit Verdot, 6 percent Malbec, 5 percent Carménère, and 3 percent Merlot, the just-released 2022 vintage spent 20 months in 40 percent new French oak before bottling. 

Although a mild spring and early summer heralded a promising vintage in 2022, an extremely warm summer and heat spikes in September created conditions that without careful attention could have yielded an overripe style of wine lacking in acidity and freshness. Fortunately, a cool autumn brought about a slow, gradual ripening, so that while the 2022 Yettalil is fruit-driven and generous on the palate, it still maintains balance. “Overall, this vintage of Yettalil offers an elegant and concentrated wine with soft tannins and wonderful acidity,” Goelet says. Clos du Val 2022 Yettalil is deep purple to the eye and offers a bouquet of black cherry, dried Mediterranean herbs, and clove. Cassis and blackberry flavors are wrapped in a sheath of elegant tannins that slowly dissolve to reveal dazzling acidity and a soft touch of sage in the lingering finish. Goelet believes Clos du Val lost its way as it began chasing trends, but his aim to bring back the glory days with this legendary wine is right on track. 

Do you want access to rare and outstanding reds from Napa Valley? Join the Robb Report 672 Wine Club today.