Weston Eidson, Founder Silver Ghost Cellars and Montagu Wines
I told the story about Weston Eidson, founder of Silver Ghost Cellars and Montagu Wines, a few months ago when I met him online for a Twitter tasting. But since he’s a Texan, Fort Worth in fact, he gathered the Dallas Wineaux together for a great lunch at Urbano and we tried several more of his wines. Weston is someone that while his path started him in tech consulting, he clearly had a heritage for wine going back for generations … and he links back to British Royalty.
Silver Ghost Cellars was named for his great-grandfather, John Montagu, who was a British Lord in Parliament, (the second Lord Montagu of Beaulieu) and instrumental in early automotive legislation. He was known as the first to drive a car to Parliament. He was good friends with Charles Rolls and Henry Royce, and his “secretary” (or special friend”) was the model for the Rolls-Royce hood ornament, the Spirit of Ecstasy, still present on Rolls-Royce cars today. The name comes from his grandfather’s favorite car, the 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost.
John Montagu‘s son, and Weston’s great-uncle Edward, the third Lord of Montagu, founded Britain’s National Motor Museum. Here’s where the connection to wine occurred as Edward was a wine lover and planted a vineyard in Southern England. And with the resurgence of sparkling wines in England, it’s interesting that Weston is now making a Grand Cru style sparking in conjunction with Russell Bevin at Brasswood. I can’t tell you how excited I am to try this in a few years when it is ready.
Weston’s love and appreciation for wine has continued his entire life. During graduate school, he visited several wine regions including Chile, South Africa, Bordeaux, Alsace and Veneto. He worked the 2012 harvest in Napa under Jason Moore of Modus Operandi and then was mentored by Russell Bevan.
Weston Eidson
As I mentioned before in the previous post, with Silver Ghost, he focuses on wines that are elegant, layered, complex and balanced. He believes in making wine with minimal intervention. These wines have a wider distribution, so you are likely to find them. Weston wants to make good Napa Cabernet at an affordable price point.
Montagu Wines is a boutique winery making wine from world-class terroir sourced from great vineyards in Napa Valley and Sonoma. Vineyards like Ritchie, Bacigalupi, Hyde Valley and several others that I’m not at liberty to name. These wines are all about expressing the terroir and are also made with minimum intervention. These wines are very limited and usually they produce about 100-150 cases per varietal.
We tried the following wines:
· 2016 Montagu Durell Vineyard, Sonoma Coast Chardonnay – Old World in style with notes of tropical fruit, minerality, flowers and stone fruit.
· 2016 Montagu Syrah, Hyde Vineyard, Napa Valley – notes of chocolate, dark blackberry, pepper, spice, smoked meat and spice made this one of the group favorites.
· 2016 Silver Ghost Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – notes of black cherry, plum, cassis, vanilla, mocha, herbs and spice. A Napa cab of this caliber for $35 – should I repeat that????
· 2015 Silver Ghost RED Napa Valley – a blend of 61 percent Malbec, 21 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 10 percent Zinfandel, 5 percent Petite Sirah and 3 percent Petite Verdot, this is an easy drinking wine with notes of blue fruit, herbs, floral and spice.
· 2016 Montagu Rutherford, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – black currant, raspberry, chocolate cherry, plum, licorice, spice and herbs. Such a silky, nuanced and elegant wine.
