bramblegrower

My brother-in-law Eddie and I had the opportunity to have a private tour of Palmaz Winery in Napa Valley as a friend of ours who is also a winery owner knows the Palmaz family. As background, Dr. Julio Palmaz invented the cardiac stent that is currently used in angioplasty surgery. This enabled him to pursue a few of his passions. One of those being winemaking led to his aquisition of the abandoned Cedar Knolls Winery in Napa in 1997. His scientific background led him to apply the same logic to growing grapes and building his winery. Palmaz winery relies purely on gravity to transfer its wines throughout the process. The winery is a series of caves on several levels the heigth of an 18 story building built into a mountain.

Throughout the winemaking process, the wine flows down from one level to the next into stainless tanks.



When pressure is needed to push the wine through the filtration process, it is transferred into tanks that fit into an elevator and are raised back up to the top level.

All told, the process and technology employed by the Palmaz family is very innovative and certainly expensive.
We also enjoyed a winetasting and food pairing

This was all facinating for us but the true reason for our visit was to see Dr. Palmaz' other passion - vintage Porsche race cars. In fact, many consider his collection the most significant grouping of Porsches outside of the factory museum. Visitors to the winery don't normally get to see the cars but we had an inside connection with our friend Deborah Mathy, owner of Dutcher Crossing winery in Healdsburg. So what makes this collection so special? According to Isabel Palamz, our tour guide who knows the cars and their histories well, Dr. Palmaz focuses on cars that won the race they were designed for.
For example, here's a 1958 RSK that won the Targa Florio in 1959 and Porsche's first podium finish at LeMans.

A 1958 Porsche-Cooper "Pooper"

How about a 1960 RS-60, 1960 12 Hours of Sebring winner

A 1961 Abarth Carrera, 1st in class at both LeMans and Targa Florio

This is a 1963 2000 GSGT, one of only two made

Next is a 1966 906 LH long tail, 1966 LeMans 1st in index of performance and 4th overall with the 2000 GSGT in the background

This 907 won the 1968 Targa Florio

A 1967 910

How about a 1976 936, the first one built and winner of LeMans in 1977

And here's the crown jewel of the collection, probably the most important Porsche in the world in private hands: 1969 917K, 917-023 is the car that brought Porsche its first overall victory at LeMans in 1970



WOW!!!
And according to Isabel, every once in a while, the various family members will close up shop early, each get in a car and drive them around on the local roads. In addition, Julio and his son Christian drive the cars at Porsche events and actually race the Pooper. They will bring some of the cars including the 917 to Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca in October.
Now for the good part
I asked Isabel if I could arrange for a group of Porsche enthusiasts to visit some day and see the cars and the winery and she sais that would be wonderful!!. The only downside is they charge $60 for tours and tasting, you can apply that to any wine purchases but the wines are pretty pricey - the cabernets start at $100. But to me, seeing the cars is easily worth the price and Isabel is a great guide. Between seeing the winery, the cars and winetasting, we were there for three hours. What a great experience!!
So lets see if there is interest in planning a group drive one weekend in the next few months. I'll propose a date when I get a better idea of my schedule but I'm thinking of June. We can meet up possibly in Pleasanton and drive up together. Once we set a date and anumber of attendees I can work it out with Isabel.

goofballdeluxe

Wow, what a collection of amazing cars! Thanks so much for sharing these great shots.

FisterD

Please count me in on this!

rusty993

I am interested, count me in too!

AOW162435

Fascinating.


Andreas

Mike J

Wow, must be money in wine!! :-)

JPP

John,
Wow, what a story! I am absolutely in for a tour as well, please keep me posted.

I always find it amazing that there are these small 'cache's' of incredibly rare cars in private hands and these are in many cases, the cream of the crop. But the best part is that they are taken out and driven and enjoyed the way Porsche intended, not just locked away in the darkness. Bravo! to the doctor and his family .. that is a class act!

So, how do I get a job 'Curating' a collection of Porsches for people like this???? that would be my dream retirement .....

Cactus

Living the dream!

cgfen

there can be, but the good doc made his $$$$$$ in the medical device industry.
do you have any idea how many balloon angioplasties are done every year?

OP, thanks for sharing the photo's

kjr914

I'm thinking this might be worth flying up for... or a extra long weekend drive. I mean just to see #23.

MarkD

John, I am definitely IN.
All in.

Thanks!

Looking forward to trying a new winery and seeing some vintage Porsches!
Nice collection.
BTW, I am still liking Dutcher Crossing... great wines!

hal m

John,

This looks fantastic. I would love to join in this event.

Hal

911ist

hmm...this would be fun...any socal owners interested in the event and perhaps we all drive up together?

Eric S

Cool,
I still haven't got over there even though I'm 15 minutes away. The winery is amazing in itself with the caves being like no others I know of.

Count me in as well.

Eric

Eric S

Check this schematic of the cave/winery layout.

http://www.palmazvineyards.com/follo...e_overview.cfm