Tom Rinaldi’s Patent Wine Co. is making remarkable wines in Napa Valley

He has made some of the valley’s most iconic wines, some when he was the winemaker at Duckhorn Vineyards from 1978 through 1999. Now, along with his friend and business partner, Eric Risch, Rinaldi has embarked on a new project called Patent Wine Co. that is crafting truly remarkable wines.

“I enjoy winemaking and the process of creating something that people might enjoy together,” Rinaldi said. “It’s nice to be working on a smaller project like Patent because I can get my hands dirty and keep my feet wet.”

Tom Rinaldi

As a kid growing up in San Francisco, Rinaldi was a self-proclaimed hippie, or perhaps he was more akin to a character out of the movie “Easy Rider.” In 1965, he was barely 16, but he had long hair, drove a motorcycle and would occasionally converse with the likes of Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin.

But there was a problem. Rinaldi was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the serious drug use and self-destructive behavior that he saw around him. While he was all for freedom and self-expression, he was also an athlete, and he was also interested in wines made in the nearby Napa Valley.

“At first I think I liked it [wine] because even as a teenager, I could ride to the Napa Valley and stop at BV [Beaulieu Vineyard] and buy some without being carded,” he said. “But then it became something more. Looking back on it, wine not only captured my attention but held it.”

By 1967, the Bay Area had become a mecca for the flower-child generation. It was the site of the Summer of Love festival and widespread protests against the ongoing Vietnam War. Sensing that if he stayed he might be swept away by the swift undercurrent of drugs and increasing lawlessness, Rinaldi took the unpopular step of joining the Navy. He served as an aircrew member, often flying in the skies over Vietnam.

In 1971, he was honorably discharged from the military, and using the GI Bill, started his education at Santa Rosa Junior College. He eventually transferred to UC Davis, graduating first with a degree in malting and brewing and then going back to study viticulture and enology.

With degree in hand, Rinaldi headed straight for the Napa Valley. His hope was to work at BV with winemaker Tom Selfridge, but instead he was hired first at Freemark Abbey as an intern and soon after at Rutherford Hill, where he worked with winemaker Phil Baxter.

The young winemaker was turning heads. His attention to detail, insistence on strict cleanliness in the winery, ability to distinguish wines at blind tastings and use of high-end oak barrels had caught the eye of Dan Duckhorn, who had recently opened his winery.

Another local winemaker, Sterling Vineyards’ Ric Foreman, had suggested Duckhorn meet Rinaldi while touring the Three Palms Vineyard, a Merlot vineyard that would become central to Duckhorn’s success. According to Duckhorn lore, Rinaldi drove up on a motorcycle and Margaret Duckhorn exclaimed, “He looks like a flower child!”

During the 22 years that Rinaldi oversaw winemaking at Duckhorn, the winery became famous for making Merlot-influenced Right-Bank Bordeaux-style wines, winning numerous awards and accolades.

Rinaldi departed Duckhorn in 1999 to pursue other projects such as Pellet Estate, Provenance Vineyards and Hewitt. Today, beyond making Patent wines, Rinaldi consults for numerous small wine brands, including Teaderman Vineyards (Oakville), Ambassador Wines (Washington state) and Stout Family Wines (Napa Valley).

Eric Risch

Primarily in charge of marketing and sales at Patent, Risch is not new to the Napa Valley or to the world of wine. When he was growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, his family owned a construction company that built residential homes. Even when he was young he was expected to work summers, learning the trade and how to work with his hands.

His family had always appreciated good food and wine, often traveling to Europe on family vacations or having celebrated chefs such as Giuliano Bugialli visit their home. Surrounded by such influences, Risch came to believe that wine and food would be central to his life. But that needed to wait. First California was calling his name.

After attending boarding schools on the East Coast, Risch headed west to obtain a degree in information systems management at the University of San Francisco, graduating in 1985.

It was the 1980s, and the Bay Area’s tech sector was red-hot. Risch moved to the Silicon Valley and worked for a variety of businesses before launching his own company, Grapevine Software in 1991. Risch said his company — an early internet technology design and marketing firm — grew to be one of the largest such firms in California.

In 2000, Risch left the tech world behind and moved to the Napa Valley, where he eventually became the general manager for Pellet Estate winery. That’s where Risch and Rinaldi first met.

Today, beyond overseeing the Patent Wine portfolio, Risch manages winery operations, sales and marketing, and grape-grower relations. He also stays engaged with his three adult children (one of whom, Ansel, is pursuing winemaking in the Napa Valley), and he also sits on the board of directors as vice president of Appellation St. Helena.

The wines

Since Patent doesn’t have a winery of its own, the wines are made at the Madrigal Family Winery in Calistoga. The grapes are grown in Yountville and Napa on vineyards managed by another Napa Valley veteran, Jim Munk. The label on each bottle includes wine-related drawings found within the historic U.S. Patent Office database, many of them from the 1800s and often showcasing corkscrews, wine presses and the like.

The 2021 Patent Sauvignon Blanc ($33 a bottle and 750 cases) is made from grapes grown at the Miller Ranch in Yountville. A blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Masque and Muscat, this pale-gold-colored wine is aromatically explosive — full of mandarin flowers, citrus zest and oak elements such as vanilla and toast.

Although endowed with a mouthwatering acidity, this wine is richer and more complex than many California Sauvignon Blancs and shows a delicious yeastiness that comes from weekly stirrings (bâtonnage) while in barrel. Spending time with this wine will reveal tropical fruit, green tea and marmalade. Serve this wine with a Greek-style watermelon salad full of mint, feta and Kalamata olives.

The 2022 Patent Rosé ($33 a bottle and 100 cases) is crazy delicious. Made from the saignée (wine drawn off from the initial stages of a wine as it ferments) of Cabernet Sauvignon, this magenta wine is full of red-fruit aromatics such as massenez pasteque, strawberry and raspberry with an undertow of sarsaparilla and rosemary.

Like the Sauvignon Blanc, this wine is bright but with a richness that includes a hint of fine tannins. If you can find it before it sells out — last year it sold out in just weeks — drink this wine with sunshine and friends.

The 2020 Patent Cabernet Sauvignon ($68 a bottle and 550 cases) is made from grapes grown in the valley's Oak Knoll District. Because this wine is fermented in French oak barrels — unlike most that are fermented in stainless-steel tanks before being transferred to age in oak — there is a decided creaminess to both the aromatics and the flavors.

This is an extraordinary wine that highlights the quality and complexity of both the fruit and the winemaker. Think of this as a benchmark example of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Napa Valley’s more southern environs. Classic elements include black currant, fresh tobacco, Chinese plum sauce and stony graphite.

This wine has a complete flavor and texture profile that fills the mouth with joy, the mind with curiosity and is a pleasant reminder of just why winemakers flock to this region and are willing to pay exorbitant prices to obtain this particular cultivar. Serve this wine with beef bourguignon (à la Yountville’s Bistro Jeanty) or a lamb burger with Manchego (à la Mustards Grill).

I spoke with Rinaldi, Risch and vineyard manager Munk at the Madrigal Family Winery as they bottled next year’s wine offerings, the clinking of glass constant as the bottles passed through a machine that always reminds me of a Rube Goldberg invention. Around us, in the distance, vineyards stretched north toward Mount St. Helena, which was topped with a rare dusting of snow. Barely visible to the northeast, tall palms towered over the iconic Three Palms Vineyard.

During a break in the conversation, Rinaldi, nearly always clad in shorts, grinned widely, his smile evident even behind his thick winter beard. He scanned the horizon.

“You know…” he said and then paused.

I pictured what it must be like to look out over the valley and have such a deep and personal history with many of the vines that stretched out before us.

“Almost half a century of doing this and each vintage has been completely different,” he said. “It’s fun; that’s a big reason why I keep doing it — but it’s also a lot more than that, too.”

Find Patent wines either directly through their website (patentwines.com), or local retailers such Gary’s or Sunshine Market in St. Helena.