Wine Divaa | WINE LIFE | Original Article

“Napa has a habit of romanticizing the winemaker while rendering the vineyard worker invisible,” Florencia says. Her Argentine-American perspective bridges corporate boardrooms and vineyard crew assemblies with ease. “During turbulent times, prestige doesn’t mean anything if you are a terrible employer. The people handling the canopy are the real winemakers.”

Palmaz dismantled the standard seasonal turn-and-burn farming model. The vineyard canopy along Mount George is trained high to eliminate back-breaking stoop labor. Nowadays, the employ smart, UV-deflecting tech fabrics replace heavy gear; and full-time day and night shifts carry comprehensive year-round stability.

LEADERS Interview with Florencia Palmaz | Original Article

Expert from interview: …rather than irrigate block by block, we irrigate vine by vine. To ensure that we are mindful to not waste our ground water, my brother built a program called VIGOR that reads infrared imagery flown over the vines twice a week and pairs it with soil moisture, insect mapping, and petiole data, so the team can respond to what each vine actually needs instead of watering for the thirstiest one in the row. In its first year, it cut our water use per acre by 18 percent. Since then, we continue to optimize our irrigation system dialing in the deficit farming mindset to great results in our net water usage and the quality of our wines.

And the most obvious sustainability program is the winery cave itself, all 100,000 square feet of it, in the living rock of Mount George, so the building disappears into the hillside and the viewshed of these mountains is left as we found it. Barrel storage in caves is the most energy-efficient way to cellar wine – the mountain holds temperature and humidity all year without wasting energy on climate control.

October 2025 | Written by Jessica Palmaz

One of the pillars of Palmaz Vineyards is the family legacy we have created: three generations live and work on the property, enjoying the literal fruits of our labor.  And as the third generation grows up, they continue to become more interested in the business and finding their future place.

When it comes to making an original wine recipe, Michael Keller, the owner of The Blending Lab Winery in Los Angeles, gives customers a real-world taste of what it’s like to be a winemaker. 

By Shellye Leggett, for Spectrum News | Original Article

“They’re getting hands-on experience of what a winemaker will typically do. Sitting at the table, trying to come up with what their final product is,” Keller said.

California’s wine country offers much more than world-class bottles. These memorable winery meals are more than worthy of their vino pairings. 

By Katie Sweeney, for Forbes Travel Guide | Original Article

When planning a trip to California wine country, instead of reserving a restaurant for every meal, consider dining at a winery. Many vintners believe that food is integral to a tasting and offer robust culinary programming that enhances the pours. A seafood or protein pairing can highlight the minerality of a sauvignon blanc or the subtle nuances of a cabernet franc. Full-time chefs with pedigreed backgrounds oversee these savory journeys that often involve a plant-to-plate ethos at vineyards with extensive culinary gardens growing alongside the grapes.

If you’re seeking an immersive gastronomic affair in a beautiful setting, head to one of the following eight wineries. Note that all of these places require reservations, but these incredible winery experiences are worth it because they go above and beyond, providing a meal and a lifelong memory.

Napa winemaker hires AI apprentice to refine winemaking process

By Tom Vacar | Original Article

There’s plenty of talk about how artificial intelligence has the potential to simplify workflows for office employees across a range of industries, but its uses may reach much further. As one Napa County vintner can attest, A.I. may have a place in agriculture.

Palmaz Winery, located on Napa County’s Mount George, has started using artificial intelligence to produce prized wines after a quarter-century of doing it the traditional way. The goal is to reduce the time winemakers spend on tedious tasks that distract them from the essence of their craft, where they feel they’re truly expressing themselves through the product.

By Peg Melnik, The Press Democrat | Get a taste of the future at this Napa winery | August 2024

With a dome of fluorescent lights shining on ever-changing computations displayed in different colors, the 110,000-square-foot cellar at Palmaz Vineyards looks more like the bridge in “Star Trek” than a winemaking facility.

VINTNER Q&A: What Christian Palmaz Believes About The Roles of People and Terroir in Winemaking

Miles Smith | May 19, 2023

VINTNER: Why did you enter the wine industry and what makes you love being a part of it and stay in it?

PALMAZ: Making wine is the ultimate pursuit of perfection. Through its process wine has infinite depth and dimension. After 25 years, I’m constantly humbled by the seemingly endless diversity of terroir this estate can offer our wine program. I’m not sure I will ever see the same vintage twice and that’s precisely why I’d spend lifetimes doing this if I could.

The Luxury Item: Christian Palmaz, Chief Operating Officer at Palmaz Vineyards

S09 E01 | May 2, 2023

Family-owned and -operated Palmaz Vineyards in Napa Valley is regularly voted one of the best wineries in the region and is known for fusing the time-honored art of winemaking and cutting-edge technology. Scott Kerr sits down with Christian Palmaz, COO at Palmaz Vineyards, to discuss his father Dr. Julio Palmaz’s journey from inventor of the balloon-expandable heart stent to vineyard owner. Christian also talks about the engineering marvel of the vineyard’s 18-story subterranean winery “Cave”, the smart technologies and big data analytics used to improve the winemaking process, expanding into cattle operations and creating a Wagyu beef enterprise, why Millennials are their best wine customers, and navigating through climate change and extreme California weather. Plus: Is AI technology eliminating the romance in winemaking?

The Living Kitchen | Marni Elyse Katz | November 2022

Three Napa Valley Vineyards; Abreu Vineyards, Palmaz Vineyards, and Rudd Estate; have properties and processes that are as distinctive as their wines.