Barrel Stop Winery 

                                                                                                                   Marie Schutz

             Jurgen Schutz

Dominari, www.dominari.com, was founded over eleven years ago by the husband and wife team of Jurgen and Marie Schutz.  Both as growers and winemakers their motto is “Quality not Quantity.”   They believe that over cropped vineyards don’t allow the ultimate nexus to be obtained from the fruit.  The fruit is then hand picked and sorted before the crush.  The majority of their grapes are sourced from Atlas Peak, which stands at 1700 feet elevation with rich rocky mountain soil, the vineyards produce less than two tons of fruit per acre, which leads to premium concentrated wines.  Their label is represented by the vibrant skies in the morning over the vineyards, nestled in the protected valley below Atlas Peak.  Dominari in Italian can mean a protected historical farmhouse, in Latin it means superior.

The Schultz, who are very passionate about the wine business, were very gracious in giving us a tour of their Barrel Stop Winery which was designed and built by them in the last two years.  The facility is located in the city of Napa, and consists of a full service wine making facility and a beautiful wine tasting room.  When the tasting room is in full operation by this summer, it will host fourteen small production wineries in addition to their Dominari brand.  The tasting room is very large and tastefully appointed, the room will be able to handle by appointment both small and large parties.

Their current wine releases consist of; 2002/2004/2005 Cabernet Sauvignon;  2005 Merlot, 2005 Syrah, 2007 Zinfandel, 2007 Petit Sirah and a 2007 Chardonnay.   We tried and enjoyed the Chardonnay, Merlot, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon, all were very good wines.  We were especially impressed with the Chardonnay, which was full bodied, rich and creamy with vanilla tones, the Petit Sirah was dark purple and delicious and the Cabernet Sauvignon was a big, smooth and built to last wine.  Many of their wines have received numerous awards from many different wine competitions, and wine rating magazines.