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Ask Scott Pruett what will be his most indelible memory of 2010—his record-setting year in motorsports or releasing the first vintage of his own label, Pruett Vineyard—and this veteran member of the Chip Ganassi racing team’s answer just might surprise you.| “There is absolutely no question that winning nine races in 2010 and my fourth GRAND-AM Championship is a career-defining accomplishment,” he said. “But bottling the first vintage of Pruett Vineyard as a bonded winery with my wife, Judy, is as personally satisfying as any of my greatest moments in racing.” |
Pruett, who has been racing since he first negotiated a go-kart track when he was just eight, is in the midst of a highlight-studded career: he was the Indianapolis 500 1989 Co-Rookie of the Year and tested at virtually every level of racing, from CART to NASCAR to SCCA Trans-AM to the GRAND-AM Rolex Series. He has scored innumerable pole positions and podium appearances, including winning the 24 Hours at Daytona an incredible four times.
Yet borne from a family dedicated to farming for five generations, Pruett has a natural affinity for agriculture that first surfaced with his interest in landscape design and was ultimately fulfilled with the planting of his own vineyard on the family’s estate overlooking the American River near Auburn, CA. The Pruetts planted three acres of mostly Syrah vines, with a small block reserved for cabernet sauvignon. Grenache grapes are sourced from a neighbor’s vineyard, and cabernet sauvignon fruit is purchased from Darm’s Lane Vineyard in the Napa Valley.
Pruett has not simply lent his name to this winemaking project; he is hands-on at virtually every level, despite a hectic racing and travel schedule to accommodate such off-track gigs as working with Lexus to help launch its new LFA “super” car, a high-performance, street legal sports car powered by a 552 hp V-10 and priced at about $400,000 per copy (production is limited to 500 cars).
Scott is proficient at every level of racing—from mechanics to engineering to driving—and he adapted this all-encompassing approach to his winemaking. He not only operated the heavy equipment to prepare his vineyards, he planted the vines and installed the trellising. When it comes to winemaking, Scott crushed the grapes and made the ultimate blending decisions. He and his family even bottled the juice and adhered the labels.
Racing is a team sport and Scott has applied a similar philosophy in his winemaking. . .he has sought guidance from some of Napa’s elite winemakers, including former race driver Randy Lewis of Lewis Cellars and Fred Schrader, whose winery bearing his name was the focus of a recent 12-page profile in Wine Spectator magazine. Brian Mox, winemaker for Lewis Cellars, is the Pruett’s consulting winemaker.
The first vintage of Pruett Vineyard is comprised of five wines, totaling less than 140 cases:
-2008 Pruett Vineyard Championship Cuvee (Napa), 400 bottles, numbered and signed by Scott Pruett, $100
-2008 Pruett Vineyard Folie (Syrah), 20 cases, $38
-2009 Pruett Vineyard Grenache (Sierra Foothills), 34 cases, $38
-2008 Section 8 “Lucky Lauren”, 42 cases, $25
-SOLD OUT 2008 Section 8 “Commando Cab”, 8 cases, $28
Estate Wines |
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$100/bottle |
$38/bottle |
$38/bottle |
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Section 8 Wines |
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$28/bottle |
$25/bottle |
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