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Beverage / Napa Valley / Lithology
winery

Lithology

Napa Valley, United States
Philosophy
Winemakers Matt Sands and Mark Pittman lead daily operations, joined by consultants Michel Rolland, Philippe Melka, and Maayan Koschitzky, crafting ultra luxurious handcrafted small production wines from select growing areas within the Napa Valley, carefully chosen from the patchwork of microclimates and terroirs. Limited barrel selection yields exceptional expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.
Reputation
When international vintner Alejandro Bulgheroni purchased the estate from the Harlan Family in 2014, he recognized it as a textbook environment for cultivating world-class Cabernet Sauvignon, bringing a lifetime of studying land and soil as an oil and gas engineer. The stone winery had served as the 'Founders Room' for H. William Harlan's wine portfolio, including the first vintages of The Napa Valley Reserve.
AllocationAlejandro Bulgheroni is portfolio collector/magnate with 14-21 global estates across 4 continents; this entry focuses on his flagship Napa Valley operation. Name change from 'Alejandro Bulgheroni Estate' to 'Lithology' occurred circa 2019-2020 to reflect terroir focus. Extremely limited production (est. 3,000 bottles/year estate wine); founder entered wine business 2007 starting in Uruguay (Bodega Garzón) at age 64, expanding rapidly through 2016 acquisition of Bill Harlan's former Founders Room property. Napa operation exhibits multiple 100-point scores (Dunnuck, Parker successors). LEED Silver certification 2019 for Garzón, not Napa property, but cited as model. Certified organic documented for estate vineyard. No independent US importer identified—direct-to-collector model. Website uses lithology.wine domain. Sparse public tasting access; by appointment only. Cross-sourcing from Beckstoffer vineyards (To Kalon, Dr. Crane, Las Piedras) defines secondary wine lines under Lithology umbrella. Confidence hampered by limited producer-authored documentation; most intel via retail/critic sources. Production volume estimated from reported barrel counts and case yields.
No benchmark products catalogued for this producer yet.