March 11, 2025 • 31 mins
In episode thirty-six of the Napa Valley Insider podcast, Andrew sits down with Morgaen Hoxsey, fifth-generation proprietor and Sales & Marketing Director for Ghost Block Estate Wines. Morgaen shares her family's impressive Napa Valley heritage, dating back to her great-great-grandfather Joseph Pelissa's arrival from Italy in 1903, and their journey from grape growers to successful vintners. She explores how her family business evolved, including their pioneering move into custom crush operations with Napa Wine Company, and the challenges and innovations that continue to shape their brands today.
Episode Highlights:
- Generations of Grape Growing: Discover how the Pelissa family's farming roots began over 120 years ago in Calistoga, eventually growing into a 1,000-acre estate between Yountville and Oakville.
- From Growers to Vintners: The strategic decision in the 1990s that shifted the family's focus from solely grape growing to launching their own wine brands, including Ghost Block, Oakville Winery, and Elizabeth Rose.
- Napa Wine Company's Legacy: Morgaen discusses how their facility became an incubator for emerging Napa Valley winemakers and played a significant role in the valley's evolving wine landscape.
- Innovating Wine Hospitality: How Ghost Block Estate Wines transformed their Oakville tasting room experience to meet the changing expectations of Napa Valley visitors, emphasizing luxury and intimacy.
- Looking Ahead: Morgaen shares insights on industry trends, particularly the importance of packaging sustainability, maintaining approachable price points, and strategically evolving their wine portfolio for the future.
This episode is brought to you by Cuvée, the go-to app for planning your Napa Valley experience. Follow @NapaValleyInsiderPodcast for updates and behind-the-scenes content.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Napa Valley Insider podcast.
(00:04):
I'm your host, Andrew Allison, chief growth officer of Preferably, the leader in wine,
spirits and food recommendations.
This show is brought to you by Cuvée, the Napa winery guide app.
Download the Cuvée app today and start planning your wine country adventure.
All right, all right, all right.
Welcome back to another episode of Napa Valley Insider.
(00:25):
I'm Andrew Allison.
Let me introduce today's guest.
Who are you?
What do you do?
Hi, Andrew.
Thanks for having me.
I'm Morgan Hoxie and I am the sales and marketing director for Ghost Block Estate Wines, also
fifth generation proprietor.
I am so familiar with the Ghost Block brand.
I am a big consumer, but your family is a fifth generation Napa Valley family.
(00:51):
My family got here in the 80s.
We're third generation.
We planted Cab on Atlas Peak in the 80s.
Your family planted grapes a whole heck of a lot sooner than that.
Could you tell us a little bit of your family's origin story and where did you come along
in the story?
So 1903 is kind of the beginning of our story.
(01:11):
My great great grandfather, Joseph Polissa, came over from Northern Italy and he planted
a 12 acre vineyard up in Calistoga and harvested 45 tons of grapes off of that 12 acre vineyard
in 1903.
And that is the start of the family.
(01:31):
His son, Andrew Polissa, really kind of was the forefront of our family and took us to
where we are today.
He moved us further south in the valley.
So we no longer have that beautiful piece of property in Calistoga from 1903.
(01:52):
But today my family sits on a thousand acres between Yontville and Oakville, two very prestigious
AVA's within Napa Valley.
And 635 are planted to vine and the remainder of the acreage are the beautiful Yontville
Hills that the Longhorns roam.
And yeah, we're just super blessed to be celebrating 122 consecutive harvests here in Napa Valley
(02:17):
as a family.
The generational hardship must have been something that the family passes on as the lure of the
family.
What did your family do during the Prohibition?
Well that's a good question.
All of our acreage obviously was acquired over these decades.
(02:40):
And so during Prohibition, whatever we had might not have been planted to grapes.
We've always just been in agriculture.
So a lot of our acreage had been planted to nut trees, prunes, tomatoes, corn.
We also had a dairy off of Yontville Road with dairy cows in a trucking company.
(03:07):
And so while we've been grape growers for a very long time, that's not the only thing
that we were growing.
When you think about the family's turn towards making its own brands, what was the evolution?
And so it was a family of grape growers gone, vintners gone, building your own brands.
(03:30):
Exactly.
What are the differences of some of those names?
So obviously primarily grape growers up until the 90s.
And so this is the evolution of the family, which is maybe why the family isn't documented.
The original family name's Palissa.
And then of course my maiden name is Hoxie.
And it seems that the generations kind of have women and they don't keep their last
(03:55):
name.
And so we've never used a last name on a label or a brand or a winery.
But that being said, when we lost Andrew Palissa, my great grandfather in 1991, my father, Andrew
Hoxie took over the family business.
And we purchased Napa Wine Company, which is a large custom crush facility in Oakville,
(04:18):
where many, many different vintners and winemakers came through that facility in the 90s.
Our first harvest there was 1993.
And what a wonderful thing to bring the community together.
And you were a key part of their production process for so many brands.
So many.
(04:39):
Absolutely.
And ultimately, Napa Wine Company served as an incubator for those producers, those winemakers
to be successful and go out on their own.
And obviously back in, you know, 93, 95, all these wineries didn't exist.
All these brick and mortars didn't exist.
(04:59):
And so now the competition is stiff out there for custom crush.
But that being said, after we opened the custom crush doors, we still have, you know, 635
acres of vineyards.
And we had been selling 100% of our fruit to obviously people that made wine at Napa
Wine Company and others.
(05:21):
And we decided to use a portion of what we grow to make our own brands.
And so the first brand that was created was Napa Wine Company.
Very generic label.
From 1996 was our first vintage to 2004 was our label.
Several different varietals.
My family grows about 18 different varietals in the 635 acres.
(05:42):
We obviously have our own farming company, Yacht Mill Vineyards.
And so to have all 600 acres planted to Cabernet is not logistically feasible.
And so the idea behind our plantings and those varietals is that we can start with sparkling,
chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot mignon, in August or September, whenever those are ready for
(06:06):
the sparkling houses and move into whites and pinot and end with Cabernet.
And so it's a long harvest for our crew.
But it makes sense logistically.
Yeah, definitely.
With that many acreage.
That's the first time I've heard it said in such a way, but it makes sense on first flush
is this idea of not only this idea of like mono crop, but you wouldn't want to be mono
(06:32):
varietal.
It really condenses a lot of risk.
Yeah, that varietal all ripens at the same time to get it picked at the right bricks
and is just not something that's going to happen.
And so the evolution of harvest and how the grapes ripen and when they're ready is by
varietal.
(06:53):
So that's so great to hear about the family and how the business came to be.
How did you start in the family business?
So obviously I was born and raised here in Yachtville on one of our vineyards on Yachtville
Crossroads.
And obviously wine has just been a part of my life from the very beginning.
(07:14):
And we have such a legacy that I know my older sister and I knew that we would end up here.
And we wanted to.
How could you not?
But I studied hospitality at University of Denver and I went on to be a restaurant manager
and wine director for the Hillstone Restaurant Group on the East Coast.
(07:35):
No way.
Super interesting.
I did that for about five years.
I loved every minute of it.
You were probably like perfectly homegrown talent for them because they have such a big
Napa wine menu in all their properties.
Yeah, no exactly.
And that honestly made it easy for me to be wine director, if you will, at such a young
(07:57):
age.
That Napa Valley California centric wine list was great for me.
And so after I left Hillstone, I came home and I wasn't sure that I was going to dive
right back into our family business.
I was thinking, should I go work for somebody else?
(08:17):
Should I learn what other wineries do?
But at the time, our sales team was a one man show.
He had helped develop the brands and he was my mentor for a couple of years.
In 2020, I took over as our sales director.
So I came back in 2015.
(08:38):
So I had five years sort of to learn the ins and outs of mainly distribution.
Our wines were heavily distributed and they still are.
We're in about 42 states.
But we now have more of a DTC recognition.
And that being said, that was a huge project that I undertook when I came back.
(09:03):
While I was learning the wholesale world and the distribution world, which actually was
a great transition for me because I was a wine buyer.
So I had worked for...
You'd said...
Yeah, exactly.
I had conversations with distributors on the other side versus then being a supplier.
And so that was super helpful.
I think the experience of sitting on both sides of the table is something that in my
(09:28):
career has provided me a lot of value in the app ecosystem.
When you think about the turn that the family made into building a DTC brand, what were
some of those early trials and tribulations?
So the hardest thing that we had to do, that was a project I took on between 2016 and 2018,
(09:49):
was revamping our tasting room.
So...
And where is it located for those that don't know?
At Napa Wine Company on the corner of Oakville Crossroads and Highway 29, right across from
Oakville Grocery.
The tasting room has always been a collective room of all of the clients or alternating
proprietors that make their wine at Napa Wine Company, including our brands.
(10:10):
And so really at the end of the day, our brands were being hidden amongst the other brands
that were being made at Napa Wine Company.
And we didn't get to highlight our story.
The menu was sort of ever-changing.
We highlighted a different producer every Friday and the menu would change.
(10:31):
And it was very casual.
It was a stand-up tasting bar.
I mean, it really supported the custom crush facility, which is why it was probably there,
right?
Yeah.
But what I had found when I came home was that the hospitality world and what customers
were expecting when they came to Napa Valley was more of a luxurious experience.
(10:53):
And really, we needed tables.
We needed an outdoor space.
We needed a lot of things different if we were going to draw the consumer to our tasting
room.
Yeah.
World-class experiences have definitely been the sign of the times the last decade at Napa
Valley.
Absolutely.
So it was a hard undertaking, but we did flip the tasting room to be just Ghost Block Estate
(11:16):
wines.
We're representing our three brands.
Our three brands are Ghost Block, Oakville Winery, and Elizabeth Rose.
Three different winemakers and all representing our estate vineyards.
Three different price points and really just a nice across-the-board spread of a portfolio.
(11:38):
That highlights our grapes.
And that's the most important thing to us, obviously, starting out as grape growers,
moving into having our own facility, and then creating our own brands.
And that's ultimately the evolution of the family.
That is...
I think the way that the brand has naturally evolved is super interesting.
(12:03):
For somebody that doesn't know, like myself, what's the difference between a grape growing
family and a vintner family?
My definition, I feel like if you're a grape grower, you're growing grapes and you're not
making your own wine.
You're just a grape grower.
(12:23):
A vintner to me is someone who's making wine with their grapes.
Growing their fruit too.
But also, I think you can consider a vintner someone that purchases grapes and makes their
own wine.
I think at the end of the day, a vintner is producing a bottle of wine.
(12:59):
From a forward looking point of view, what are some of the things that you are seeing
in the industry as trends you're going to pay attention to?
So there's a couple of different ones.
I think there's a big trend in packaging sustainability.
(13:24):
We as an industry are seeing the cost of packaging go up and up and up, just like everything's
going up and up and up.
But being very cautious of your packaging materials.
What I mean by packaging sustainability is do we need capsules?
(13:48):
You're seeing a lot of... I think it looks good on white wine, no capsule.
You just see the cork.
Does it maybe look a little unfinished?
Sure.
But you're either doing it to save money or to be more sustainable.
In some cases, it's usually both.
Yeah, exactly.
(14:11):
I also feel like we have, in the past, bottled our wine into 12 pack cases and then changed
them into six pack cases.
I changed our packaging last year to just be stand up six pack boxes that the bottling
line is able to put into.
(14:31):
That's so interesting.
You generally only see six pack cases in spirits.
Yeah.
And so Ghost Block and Oakville Winery are two brands that we only sell by the six pack.
I mean, of course, out of the tasting room, we sell it by the bottles, but out in distribution
in our wholesale world, they're sold in six packs.
So you sell a grocery retailers a six pack and then they break it down and sell by the
(14:52):
bottle.
Yeah.
Got it.
Understood.
Where can you find major national retailers, the Ghost Block or the Oakville brand?
So Elizabeth Rose is actually kind of our big retail chain brand.
Elizabeth Rose is named after my older sister and her husband, Jeff, is our winemaker.
Amazing.
(15:12):
And they have a daughter named Elizabeth.
My sister's middle name is Elizabeth.
She's actually Kendall.
OK.
But because of Kendall Jackson, we weren't really going to put Kendall anywhere on the
label.
Same spelling and everything.
But Elizabeth Rose is found nationwide.
We have a national placement with Whole Foods.
(15:33):
OK.
You will find Elizabeth Rose.
We make a Chardonnay, a Pinot Noir and a beautiful red blend that's mainly Cabernet.
OK.
And so those are our three wines that you will find in chains across the nation.
As far as Ghost Block, we have several chains in Texas that support us.
(15:55):
HEB, Central Market.
Texas has obviously always been a great wine, Cabernet market in general.
Texas consumes so much of Napa's Cabernet.
Yeah.
Total Wine is also a great producer or a great partner with us.
Amazing.
And they carry all three wines.
When you think about some of the challenges that a business of your size is experiencing,
(16:20):
what are some of the headwinds you anticipate to experience in 2025?
Well, speaking from the brand's perspective, we have very comfortable price points and
we've always done quite well.
Is that relative to other Napa cabs?
(16:41):
Yes.
OK.
Napa cabs are very expensive.
While they're very good, they're very expensive.
And so we create three Napa cabs.
One's under Oakville Winery, two are under Ghost Block, and two of them are under $100
and one of them is over $100, $125 to $135.
(17:04):
But still incredibly affordable for single vineyard estate grown Cabernet out of Yonville
and Oakville.
The weights punch way above their price point.
There's zero doubt about that.
And so I think some of those challenges that Napa Valley is going to see has to do with
(17:25):
the affordability of your bottle of wine.
And I think we're lucky because we haven't aggressively raised our price over the years.
Have we raised our price?
Of course.
And I think you have to just naturally just the way some things have changed in the supply
chain or other components.
Exactly.
But to hold steady at those price points is really important to continue moving product
(17:51):
and moving volume.
Aspirationally, what do you hope to work on this year?
I think I want to look at the three brands.
We have one of our winemakers retiring.
She's made Oakville Winery since the very beginning.
2006 was the first vintage and she's retiring.
And I really want to look at what that brand is going to be in the future.
(18:13):
Do we keep it alive?
It's both in distribution and our wine club in DTC.
Do we scale it back and make it a coveted wine club only brand?
Do I look for a new winemaker?
I mean, overall, all three brands really produce a little over 20,000 cases.
(18:36):
Elizabeth Rose and Ghost Block being the meat of that quantity.
So Oakville Winery has always remained small, but I definitely want to take a step back
and look at what the brands look like and the future of them.
That's interesting.
So just based on the volume of wine that you're producing, you must still sell a ton of fruit
(18:57):
to other folks either through Custom Crush or other locations.
Correct.
Yeah.
My older sister Kendall, who I mentioned, is our president of Yacht Mill Vineyards and she
handles all of our grape contracts and we sell anywhere from 60 to 70% of our fruit.
So for our own brands, we're under 50% of what we grow.
(19:19):
So we're still a major grape grower selling fruit.
You're just your first customer.
Yes.
Exactly.
Most important customer.
From being very central to Oakville Grocery and as somebody who frequents Oakville Grocery
all the time, how do you think about running a tasting room at that location in the heart
(19:43):
of Napa Valley?
How has that changed over the years?
So I do think that our location is so coveted.
People want exposure on Highway 29.
What a dream.
We don't have the signage that most people do.
(20:05):
And so you would have no idea how many locals had no idea where Napa Wine Company was or
where Ghost Block was and they drive by it five times a day.
So it's interesting.
And you know, I mean, the county presents some challenges when it comes to signage and
size and where it can be applied and things like that.
(20:29):
And so have we looked at doing more signage?
Absolutely.
But at the same time, sometimes you like to be a little little discreet or indiscreet.
But yeah, we love Oakville Grocery.
Obviously it has changed ownership over the years, but they've always been good to us
and they get a lot of business from our employees throughout the day.
(20:53):
And so I mean, Oakville Grocery has a great wine shop and they sell our wine in their
store and so it's kind of funny because it's like, well, you can buy it here or there.
I think the I mean, as far as an anchor tenant, they are such a destination that it probably
is super helpful.
(21:13):
Absolutely.
And it's like, you know, I do think that if someone were to go in and buy a bottle of
Ghost Block, I know that their staff would be like, oh, they're right across the street
if you want to go taste more of their wines.
You know, I think that's really cool.
Maybe one from a cultural perspective, it'd be interesting to hear your point of view,
but so many Italian families made Napa Valley wine what it is.
(21:39):
Is there something that you feel like all of them share or are they just truly different
in its the coincidence?
Is there a cultural tenant across many of these multi-generational Italian families?
Obviously the Mondavis are the most famous, but there's so many others.
Yeah.
I know.
That's a great question.
(21:59):
I don't know.
I mean, we've all changed so much generationally.
So to find a common denominator and not knowing these men personally that came over here from
Italy, you don't know what they shared in common.
They probably did.
I mean, maybe the love of wine because it was, it's been such a cultural thing for them.
I mean, still in Italy, they have house wine, you know, in jugs and crafts and it's delicious.
(22:26):
And we don't, that's not something that has come about here in Napa Valley.
Do you believe the saying that hard generations make soft generations?
And have you seen, outside of the wine industry, you see other families that have found success
(22:48):
truly get squandered in the second or the third generation, the fact that you guys are
in the fifth generation of the wine industry and striving is really something that is impressive.
How do you think about the generational transitions?
Yeah, I think there's a lot of challenges.
I do think hard generations can make soft generations, whether that's a good or bad thing.
(23:15):
But I think it comes back, it comes full circle if you can withstand maybe some of the hardships.
I mean, prohibition must have been one, but as you think of these COVID as another.
Oh, sure.
Yeah.
I mean, Andrew Polissa taught his grandson, my father, Andrew Hoxie, you know, what he
(23:35):
knows.
He was only 30.
My dad was only 30 when he lost his grandfather, but he proved to be ready.
And I think the rest of my family who, you know, my dad's the managing partner of the
family business and the board that, you know, he reports to is his mother and his aunt and
his cousin and his brother and his daughters.
(23:58):
So what does a board meeting look like?
Is it like Sunday at the kitchen table?
Yeah, right.
I think it used to be.
No, we just we meet once a year and it's just called the family meeting.
Normally happens in the spring.
It's in our conference room.
No, it's I mean, I just I really.
(24:19):
My family has shown a lot of trust in my father and I think that they have let him lead us
and show us the way and he's been very successful.
And I know that's coming down on me and my sister eventually.
But we are so passionate about who we are and how we got here and we care so much that
(24:46):
we're going to do everything we can to continue the success.
We both have children, so the sixth generation is here.
And what my great grandfather and my father did for us, we want to give to our children.
And I mean, to be six generations is something so special that you don't want to just throw
it away.
When you think of cultural moments like in popular culture, I should say, when you think
(25:13):
of popular culture moments like TV shows like Yellowstone, the best and obviously they have
a significant sum of land.
Yeah.
Does some of it rhyme poetic to the family?
I mean, I don't think you're I mean, it's pretty funny.
I mean, Yellowstone, my husband and I love the show, but if that's entertainment, I mean,
(25:41):
yes, owning a huge chunk of land in a very desirable place presents its challenges.
You know, we are so exposed.
I mean, a public road runs right through the middle of our ranch, Yonk Mill Road and Cook
(26:04):
Road right in the middle of our ranch.
And so there's a lot of exposure and there's a lot of people that poke and pry and want
to know what's going on.
And it's private property.
There's a lot of trespassers.
And, you know, we've also been a family that don't put up fences.
(26:24):
And I mean, the fences are really for the cows.
But as far as, you know, our vineyards, there's it's always been very like open access and
friendly and, you know, the biggest I should say motto that we live by that my great grandfather
(26:45):
instilled in his grandson and my father has instilled in us is that no one actually owns
the land.
It's just stewards here to take care of it and leave it in better condition than we found
it.
And that's ultimately and what we're doing.
My father moved all of our vineyard practices to organic in 1986 before that was even a
(27:09):
trend or anyone knew what organic meant.
And we were certified by the CCOF all 600 acres, not just 10 acres or 20 acres in 1991.
Wow.
I knew that you were certified organic.
Yeah.
Land owner.
I didn't realize it was all of your land.
(27:30):
All of it.
That is so singing.
There was a study, my dad loves to tell this story, but there was a study done by one of
the environmental groups or I can't I can't tell you which one, but the healthiest place
to live was between Oakville and Yontville because of the way that we farm.
(27:50):
There was some, you know, air quality exposure, something like that.
And it's very interesting.
I think the last question I want to ask and it's a very relevant topic with all of the
fires in LA.
How does somebody with as much land as the you steward, how do you prepare for fire seasons?
(28:14):
A couple of years ago, we purchased our own fire truck.
So we literally have a fire truck parked up on our shop on Yontville Road.
That's just a fun fact.
But really, the cows are a huge part of fire protection.
Their grazing is what keeps the Yontville Hill under control.
(28:34):
Obviously, of course, there's trees covering the hill, but we have done a lot of work,
especially around any structures, farm worker housing.
Just making sure that there's a very clean and clear boundary.
Yes.
Yeah, it's something incredibly scary that has obviously happened on the hill surrounding
(28:58):
the valley.
And my family's land, thankfully, is strictly valley floor.
But then we have this Yontville Hill in the middle of our property where, you know, the
thing that's so scary about the LA fires is they didn't have vineyards to stop the fire.
I mean, vineyards are the greatest firebreak and fire prevention.
(29:21):
And so, you know, thankfully, there's vineyards all around that would slow it down.
You know, obviously, there would be damage and it would be devastating regardless.
But that is what we have to be thankful for, I guess.
Yeah.
I've spent quite a bit of time on Yontville Road, but I knew you had had a fire truck
(29:46):
on the property and I was dying to ask about it.
So my dad grew up in Northern California on a cattle ranch.
And there's a little town on your way, you know, between here and Alturas, Modoc County,
called Likely.
And they found a Likely fire truck that was for sale.
(30:08):
That's amazing.
You're pretty awesome.
I really hope that Napa Valley has taken the steps to be more prepared for the next eventual
fire.
I mean, it's not an if, it's a when.
And when people aren't talking about it or thinking about it, I think it's the people
that have...
Yeah, I think it's something that's like very serious.
And again, our vineyard manager, Jim Del Bondio, has been with us.
(30:33):
His father was our vineyard manager for my great grandfather, so he's also generational.
And he and his father are stewards of the land and they care just as much as we do.
And they are true, true, true farmers.
And so protecting the land and knowing all of this information that we have to know is
(30:55):
at the forefront of their mind.
And I know that we're prepared and it feels good, obviously.
Thank you so very much for jumping on today's episode of Napa Valley Insider.
It's fantastic to learn a little bit about you.
Where can people get a hold of you or where can they check out your product?
We can obviously leave anything in the show notes.
(31:15):
Please do.
We have a wonderful Instagram, GhostBlockWine.
I have an Instagram, Morgan Lee.
And all of my information is on our website, email, office number, ghostblockwine.com.
Awesome.
Morgan, thank you so much for jumping on today's episode.
(31:36):
Thank you, Andrew.
Napa Valley Insider.
Cheers.
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Cheers.
Welcome to the Napa Valley Insider podcast.
(00:04):
I'm your host, Andrew Allison, chief growth officer of Preferably, the leader in wine,
spirits and food recommendations.
This show is brought to you by Cuvée, the Napa winery guide app.
Download the Cuvée app today and start planning your wine country adventure.
All right, all right, all right.
Welcome back to another episode of Napa Valley Insider.
(00:25):
I'm Andrew Allison.
Let me introduce today's guest.
Who are you?
What do you do?
Hi, Andrew.
Thanks for having me.
I'm Morgan Hoxie and I am the sales and marketing director for Ghost Block Estate Wines, also
fifth generation proprietor.
I am so familiar with the Ghost Block brand.
I am a big consumer, but your family is a fifth generation Napa Valley family.
(00:51):
My family got here in the 80s.
We're third generation.
We planted Cab on Atlas Peak in the 80s.
Your family planted grapes a whole heck of a lot sooner than that.
Could you tell us a little bit of your family's origin story and where did you come along
in the story?
So 1903 is kind of the beginning of our story.
(01:11):
My great great grandfather, Joseph Polissa, came over from Northern Italy and he planted
a 12 acre vineyard up in Calistoga and harvested 45 tons of grapes off of that 12 acre vineyard
in 1903.
And that is the start of the family.
(01:31):
His son, Andrew Polissa, really kind of was the forefront of our family and took us to
where we are today.
He moved us further south in the valley.
So we no longer have that beautiful piece of property in Calistoga from 1903.
(01:52):
But today my family sits on a thousand acres between Yontville and Oakville, two very prestigious
AVA's within Napa Valley.
And 635 are planted to vine and the remainder of the acreage are the beautiful Yontville
Hills that the Longhorns roam.
And yeah, we're just super blessed to be celebrating 122 consecutive harvests here in Napa Valley
(02:17):
as a family.
The generational hardship must have been something that the family passes on as the lure of the
family.
What did your family do during the Prohibition?
Well that's a good question.
All of our acreage obviously was acquired over these decades.
(02:40):
And so during Prohibition, whatever we had might not have been planted to grapes.
We've always just been in agriculture.
So a lot of our acreage had been planted to nut trees, prunes, tomatoes, corn.
We also had a dairy off of Yontville Road with dairy cows in a trucking company.
(03:07):
And so while we've been grape growers for a very long time, that's not the only thing
that we were growing.
When you think about the family's turn towards making its own brands, what was the evolution?
And so it was a family of grape growers gone, vintners gone, building your own brands.
(03:30):
Exactly.
What are the differences of some of those names?
So obviously primarily grape growers up until the 90s.
And so this is the evolution of the family, which is maybe why the family isn't documented.
The original family name's Palissa.
And then of course my maiden name is Hoxie.
And it seems that the generations kind of have women and they don't keep their last
(03:55):
name.
And so we've never used a last name on a label or a brand or a winery.
But that being said, when we lost Andrew Palissa, my great grandfather in 1991, my father, Andrew
Hoxie took over the family business.
And we purchased Napa Wine Company, which is a large custom crush facility in Oakville,
(04:18):
where many, many different vintners and winemakers came through that facility in the 90s.
Our first harvest there was 1993.
And what a wonderful thing to bring the community together.
And you were a key part of their production process for so many brands.
So many.
(04:39):
Absolutely.
And ultimately, Napa Wine Company served as an incubator for those producers, those winemakers
to be successful and go out on their own.
And obviously back in, you know, 93, 95, all these wineries didn't exist.
All these brick and mortars didn't exist.
(04:59):
And so now the competition is stiff out there for custom crush.
But that being said, after we opened the custom crush doors, we still have, you know, 635
acres of vineyards.
And we had been selling 100% of our fruit to obviously people that made wine at Napa
Wine Company and others.
(05:21):
And we decided to use a portion of what we grow to make our own brands.
And so the first brand that was created was Napa Wine Company.
Very generic label.
From 1996 was our first vintage to 2004 was our label.
Several different varietals.
My family grows about 18 different varietals in the 635 acres.
(05:42):
We obviously have our own farming company, Yacht Mill Vineyards.
And so to have all 600 acres planted to Cabernet is not logistically feasible.
And so the idea behind our plantings and those varietals is that we can start with sparkling,
chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot mignon, in August or September, whenever those are ready for
(06:06):
the sparkling houses and move into whites and pinot and end with Cabernet.
And so it's a long harvest for our crew.
But it makes sense logistically.
Yeah, definitely.
With that many acreage.
That's the first time I've heard it said in such a way, but it makes sense on first flush
is this idea of not only this idea of like mono crop, but you wouldn't want to be mono
(06:32):
varietal.
It really condenses a lot of risk.
Yeah, that varietal all ripens at the same time to get it picked at the right bricks
and is just not something that's going to happen.
And so the evolution of harvest and how the grapes ripen and when they're ready is by
varietal.
(06:53):
So that's so great to hear about the family and how the business came to be.
How did you start in the family business?
So obviously I was born and raised here in Yachtville on one of our vineyards on Yachtville
Crossroads.
And obviously wine has just been a part of my life from the very beginning.
(07:14):
And we have such a legacy that I know my older sister and I knew that we would end up here.
And we wanted to.
How could you not?
But I studied hospitality at University of Denver and I went on to be a restaurant manager
and wine director for the Hillstone Restaurant Group on the East Coast.
(07:35):
No way.
Super interesting.
I did that for about five years.
I loved every minute of it.
You were probably like perfectly homegrown talent for them because they have such a big
Napa wine menu in all their properties.
Yeah, no exactly.
And that honestly made it easy for me to be wine director, if you will, at such a young
(07:57):
age.
That Napa Valley California centric wine list was great for me.
And so after I left Hillstone, I came home and I wasn't sure that I was going to dive
right back into our family business.
I was thinking, should I go work for somebody else?
(08:17):
Should I learn what other wineries do?
But at the time, our sales team was a one man show.
He had helped develop the brands and he was my mentor for a couple of years.
In 2020, I took over as our sales director.
So I came back in 2015.
(08:38):
So I had five years sort of to learn the ins and outs of mainly distribution.
Our wines were heavily distributed and they still are.
We're in about 42 states.
But we now have more of a DTC recognition.
And that being said, that was a huge project that I undertook when I came back.
(09:03):
While I was learning the wholesale world and the distribution world, which actually was
a great transition for me because I was a wine buyer.
So I had worked for...
You'd said...
Yeah, exactly.
I had conversations with distributors on the other side versus then being a supplier.
And so that was super helpful.
I think the experience of sitting on both sides of the table is something that in my
(09:28):
career has provided me a lot of value in the app ecosystem.
When you think about the turn that the family made into building a DTC brand, what were
some of those early trials and tribulations?
So the hardest thing that we had to do, that was a project I took on between 2016 and 2018,
(09:49):
was revamping our tasting room.
So...
And where is it located for those that don't know?
At Napa Wine Company on the corner of Oakville Crossroads and Highway 29, right across from
Oakville Grocery.
The tasting room has always been a collective room of all of the clients or alternating
proprietors that make their wine at Napa Wine Company, including our brands.
(10:10):
And so really at the end of the day, our brands were being hidden amongst the other brands
that were being made at Napa Wine Company.
And we didn't get to highlight our story.
The menu was sort of ever-changing.
We highlighted a different producer every Friday and the menu would change.
(10:31):
And it was very casual.
It was a stand-up tasting bar.
I mean, it really supported the custom crush facility, which is why it was probably there,
right?
Yeah.
But what I had found when I came home was that the hospitality world and what customers
were expecting when they came to Napa Valley was more of a luxurious experience.
(10:53):
And really, we needed tables.
We needed an outdoor space.
We needed a lot of things different if we were going to draw the consumer to our tasting
room.
Yeah.
World-class experiences have definitely been the sign of the times the last decade at Napa
Valley.
Absolutely.
So it was a hard undertaking, but we did flip the tasting room to be just Ghost Block Estate
(11:16):
wines.
We're representing our three brands.
Our three brands are Ghost Block, Oakville Winery, and Elizabeth Rose.
Three different winemakers and all representing our estate vineyards.
Three different price points and really just a nice across-the-board spread of a portfolio.
(11:38):
That highlights our grapes.
And that's the most important thing to us, obviously, starting out as grape growers,
moving into having our own facility, and then creating our own brands.
And that's ultimately the evolution of the family.
That is...
I think the way that the brand has naturally evolved is super interesting.
(12:03):
For somebody that doesn't know, like myself, what's the difference between a grape growing
family and a vintner family?
My definition, I feel like if you're a grape grower, you're growing grapes and you're not
making your own wine.
You're just a grape grower.
(12:23):
A vintner to me is someone who's making wine with their grapes.
Growing their fruit too.
But also, I think you can consider a vintner someone that purchases grapes and makes their
own wine.
I think at the end of the day, a vintner is producing a bottle of wine.
(12:59):
From a forward looking point of view, what are some of the things that you are seeing
in the industry as trends you're going to pay attention to?
So there's a couple of different ones.
I think there's a big trend in packaging sustainability.
(13:24):
We as an industry are seeing the cost of packaging go up and up and up, just like everything's
going up and up and up.
But being very cautious of your packaging materials.
What I mean by packaging sustainability is do we need capsules?
(13:48):
You're seeing a lot of... I think it looks good on white wine, no capsule.
You just see the cork.
Does it maybe look a little unfinished?
Sure.
But you're either doing it to save money or to be more sustainable.
In some cases, it's usually both.
Yeah, exactly.
(14:11):
I also feel like we have, in the past, bottled our wine into 12 pack cases and then changed
them into six pack cases.
I changed our packaging last year to just be stand up six pack boxes that the bottling
line is able to put into.
(14:31):
That's so interesting.
You generally only see six pack cases in spirits.
Yeah.
And so Ghost Block and Oakville Winery are two brands that we only sell by the six pack.
I mean, of course, out of the tasting room, we sell it by the bottles, but out in distribution
in our wholesale world, they're sold in six packs.
So you sell a grocery retailers a six pack and then they break it down and sell by the
(14:52):
bottle.
Yeah.
Got it.
Understood.
Where can you find major national retailers, the Ghost Block or the Oakville brand?
So Elizabeth Rose is actually kind of our big retail chain brand.
Elizabeth Rose is named after my older sister and her husband, Jeff, is our winemaker.
Amazing.
(15:12):
And they have a daughter named Elizabeth.
My sister's middle name is Elizabeth.
She's actually Kendall.
OK.
But because of Kendall Jackson, we weren't really going to put Kendall anywhere on the
label.
Same spelling and everything.
But Elizabeth Rose is found nationwide.
We have a national placement with Whole Foods.
(15:33):
OK.
You will find Elizabeth Rose.
We make a Chardonnay, a Pinot Noir and a beautiful red blend that's mainly Cabernet.
OK.
And so those are our three wines that you will find in chains across the nation.
As far as Ghost Block, we have several chains in Texas that support us.
(15:55):
HEB, Central Market.
Texas has obviously always been a great wine, Cabernet market in general.
Texas consumes so much of Napa's Cabernet.
Yeah.
Total Wine is also a great producer or a great partner with us.
Amazing.
And they carry all three wines.
When you think about some of the challenges that a business of your size is experiencing,
(16:20):
what are some of the headwinds you anticipate to experience in 2025?
Well, speaking from the brand's perspective, we have very comfortable price points and
we've always done quite well.
Is that relative to other Napa cabs?
(16:41):
Yes.
OK.
Napa cabs are very expensive.
While they're very good, they're very expensive.
And so we create three Napa cabs.
One's under Oakville Winery, two are under Ghost Block, and two of them are under $100
and one of them is over $100, $125 to $135.
(17:04):
But still incredibly affordable for single vineyard estate grown Cabernet out of Yonville
and Oakville.
The weights punch way above their price point.
There's zero doubt about that.
And so I think some of those challenges that Napa Valley is going to see has to do with
(17:25):
the affordability of your bottle of wine.
And I think we're lucky because we haven't aggressively raised our price over the years.
Have we raised our price?
Of course.
And I think you have to just naturally just the way some things have changed in the supply
chain or other components.
Exactly.
But to hold steady at those price points is really important to continue moving product
(17:51):
and moving volume.
Aspirationally, what do you hope to work on this year?
I think I want to look at the three brands.
We have one of our winemakers retiring.
She's made Oakville Winery since the very beginning.
2006 was the first vintage and she's retiring.
And I really want to look at what that brand is going to be in the future.
(18:13):
Do we keep it alive?
It's both in distribution and our wine club in DTC.
Do we scale it back and make it a coveted wine club only brand?
Do I look for a new winemaker?
I mean, overall, all three brands really produce a little over 20,000 cases.
(18:36):
Elizabeth Rose and Ghost Block being the meat of that quantity.
So Oakville Winery has always remained small, but I definitely want to take a step back
and look at what the brands look like and the future of them.
That's interesting.
So just based on the volume of wine that you're producing, you must still sell a ton of fruit
(18:57):
to other folks either through Custom Crush or other locations.
Correct.
Yeah.
My older sister Kendall, who I mentioned, is our president of Yacht Mill Vineyards and she
handles all of our grape contracts and we sell anywhere from 60 to 70% of our fruit.
So for our own brands, we're under 50% of what we grow.
(19:19):
So we're still a major grape grower selling fruit.
You're just your first customer.
Yes.
Exactly.
Most important customer.
From being very central to Oakville Grocery and as somebody who frequents Oakville Grocery
all the time, how do you think about running a tasting room at that location in the heart
(19:43):
of Napa Valley?
How has that changed over the years?
So I do think that our location is so coveted.
People want exposure on Highway 29.
What a dream.
We don't have the signage that most people do.
(20:05):
And so you would have no idea how many locals had no idea where Napa Wine Company was or
where Ghost Block was and they drive by it five times a day.
So it's interesting.
And you know, I mean, the county presents some challenges when it comes to signage and
size and where it can be applied and things like that.
(20:29):
And so have we looked at doing more signage?
Absolutely.
But at the same time, sometimes you like to be a little little discreet or indiscreet.
But yeah, we love Oakville Grocery.
Obviously it has changed ownership over the years, but they've always been good to us
and they get a lot of business from our employees throughout the day.
(20:53):
And so I mean, Oakville Grocery has a great wine shop and they sell our wine in their
store and so it's kind of funny because it's like, well, you can buy it here or there.
I think the I mean, as far as an anchor tenant, they are such a destination that it probably
is super helpful.
(21:13):
Absolutely.
And it's like, you know, I do think that if someone were to go in and buy a bottle of
Ghost Block, I know that their staff would be like, oh, they're right across the street
if you want to go taste more of their wines.
You know, I think that's really cool.
Maybe one from a cultural perspective, it'd be interesting to hear your point of view,
but so many Italian families made Napa Valley wine what it is.
(21:39):
Is there something that you feel like all of them share or are they just truly different
in its the coincidence?
Is there a cultural tenant across many of these multi-generational Italian families?
Obviously the Mondavis are the most famous, but there's so many others.
Yeah.
I know.
That's a great question.
(21:59):
I don't know.
I mean, we've all changed so much generationally.
So to find a common denominator and not knowing these men personally that came over here from
Italy, you don't know what they shared in common.
They probably did.
I mean, maybe the love of wine because it was, it's been such a cultural thing for them.
I mean, still in Italy, they have house wine, you know, in jugs and crafts and it's delicious.
(22:26):
And we don't, that's not something that has come about here in Napa Valley.
Do you believe the saying that hard generations make soft generations?
And have you seen, outside of the wine industry, you see other families that have found success
(22:48):
truly get squandered in the second or the third generation, the fact that you guys are
in the fifth generation of the wine industry and striving is really something that is impressive.
How do you think about the generational transitions?
Yeah, I think there's a lot of challenges.
I do think hard generations can make soft generations, whether that's a good or bad thing.
(23:15):
But I think it comes back, it comes full circle if you can withstand maybe some of the hardships.
I mean, prohibition must have been one, but as you think of these COVID as another.
Oh, sure.
Yeah.
I mean, Andrew Polissa taught his grandson, my father, Andrew Hoxie, you know, what he
(23:35):
knows.
He was only 30.
My dad was only 30 when he lost his grandfather, but he proved to be ready.
And I think the rest of my family who, you know, my dad's the managing partner of the
family business and the board that, you know, he reports to is his mother and his aunt and
his cousin and his brother and his daughters.
(23:58):
So what does a board meeting look like?
Is it like Sunday at the kitchen table?
Yeah, right.
I think it used to be.
No, we just we meet once a year and it's just called the family meeting.
Normally happens in the spring.
It's in our conference room.
No, it's I mean, I just I really.
(24:19):
My family has shown a lot of trust in my father and I think that they have let him lead us
and show us the way and he's been very successful.
And I know that's coming down on me and my sister eventually.
But we are so passionate about who we are and how we got here and we care so much that
(24:46):
we're going to do everything we can to continue the success.
We both have children, so the sixth generation is here.
And what my great grandfather and my father did for us, we want to give to our children.
And I mean, to be six generations is something so special that you don't want to just throw
it away.
When you think of cultural moments like in popular culture, I should say, when you think
(25:13):
of popular culture moments like TV shows like Yellowstone, the best and obviously they have
a significant sum of land.
Yeah.
Does some of it rhyme poetic to the family?
I mean, I don't think you're I mean, it's pretty funny.
I mean, Yellowstone, my husband and I love the show, but if that's entertainment, I mean,
(25:41):
yes, owning a huge chunk of land in a very desirable place presents its challenges.
You know, we are so exposed.
I mean, a public road runs right through the middle of our ranch, Yonk Mill Road and Cook
(26:04):
Road right in the middle of our ranch.
And so there's a lot of exposure and there's a lot of people that poke and pry and want
to know what's going on.
And it's private property.
There's a lot of trespassers.
And, you know, we've also been a family that don't put up fences.
(26:24):
And I mean, the fences are really for the cows.
But as far as, you know, our vineyards, there's it's always been very like open access and
friendly and, you know, the biggest I should say motto that we live by that my great grandfather
(26:45):
instilled in his grandson and my father has instilled in us is that no one actually owns
the land.
It's just stewards here to take care of it and leave it in better condition than we found
it.
And that's ultimately and what we're doing.
My father moved all of our vineyard practices to organic in 1986 before that was even a
(27:09):
trend or anyone knew what organic meant.
And we were certified by the CCOF all 600 acres, not just 10 acres or 20 acres in 1991.
Wow.
I knew that you were certified organic.
Yeah.
Land owner.
I didn't realize it was all of your land.
(27:30):
All of it.
That is so singing.
There was a study, my dad loves to tell this story, but there was a study done by one of
the environmental groups or I can't I can't tell you which one, but the healthiest place
to live was between Oakville and Yontville because of the way that we farm.
(27:50):
There was some, you know, air quality exposure, something like that.
And it's very interesting.
I think the last question I want to ask and it's a very relevant topic with all of the
fires in LA.
How does somebody with as much land as the you steward, how do you prepare for fire seasons?
(28:14):
A couple of years ago, we purchased our own fire truck.
So we literally have a fire truck parked up on our shop on Yontville Road.
That's just a fun fact.
But really, the cows are a huge part of fire protection.
Their grazing is what keeps the Yontville Hill under control.
(28:34):
Obviously, of course, there's trees covering the hill, but we have done a lot of work,
especially around any structures, farm worker housing.
Just making sure that there's a very clean and clear boundary.
Yes.
Yeah, it's something incredibly scary that has obviously happened on the hill surrounding
(28:58):
the valley.
And my family's land, thankfully, is strictly valley floor.
But then we have this Yontville Hill in the middle of our property where, you know, the
thing that's so scary about the LA fires is they didn't have vineyards to stop the fire.
I mean, vineyards are the greatest firebreak and fire prevention.
(29:21):
And so, you know, thankfully, there's vineyards all around that would slow it down.
You know, obviously, there would be damage and it would be devastating regardless.
But that is what we have to be thankful for, I guess.
Yeah.
I've spent quite a bit of time on Yontville Road, but I knew you had had a fire truck
(29:46):
on the property and I was dying to ask about it.
So my dad grew up in Northern California on a cattle ranch.
And there's a little town on your way, you know, between here and Alturas, Modoc County,
called Likely.
And they found a Likely fire truck that was for sale.
(30:08):
That's amazing.
You're pretty awesome.
I really hope that Napa Valley has taken the steps to be more prepared for the next eventual
fire.
I mean, it's not an if, it's a when.
And when people aren't talking about it or thinking about it, I think it's the people
that have...
Yeah, I think it's something that's like very serious.
And again, our vineyard manager, Jim Del Bondio, has been with us.
(30:33):
His father was our vineyard manager for my great grandfather, so he's also generational.
And he and his father are stewards of the land and they care just as much as we do.
And they are true, true, true farmers.
And so protecting the land and knowing all of this information that we have to know is
(30:55):
at the forefront of their mind.
And I know that we're prepared and it feels good, obviously.
Thank you so very much for jumping on today's episode of Napa Valley Insider.
It's fantastic to learn a little bit about you.
Where can people get a hold of you or where can they check out your product?
We can obviously leave anything in the show notes.
(31:15):
Please do.
We have a wonderful Instagram, GhostBlockWine.
I have an Instagram, Morgan Lee.
And all of my information is on our website, email, office number, ghostblockwine.com.
Awesome.
Morgan, thank you so much for jumping on today's episode.
(31:36):
Thank you, Andrew.
Napa Valley Insider.
Cheers.
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