Wine from Royal Prince
The latest expressions from our vineyards.
It’s a crisp winter night in Napa in 2018.
There’s roast chicken in the oven. David Green and Maayan Koschitzky are standing at the counter in David’s kitchen, trying out a sample bottle of the 2016 Royal Prince Pinot Noir before dinner.
“What do you think?” asked David.
“Well, when are you bottling the next one?” said Maayan with a playful smirk.
“Um, well in three months,” said David.
“Good, we’ve got time to fix it.”
With a hearty laugh, the seed of an enduring partnership was planted. David Green, a dynamic wine industry veteran, and Maayan Koschitzky, one of the Napa Valley’s most revered winemakers, would soon join forces.
“You’re hired!” David continued.
“You can’t afford me,” Maayan shot back playfully.
Around this time, Maayan was ramping up his own brand, La Pelle wines, and David was able to make some introductions and use his own industry expertise to help his friend with his brand. It was clear that a synergy was emerging. Soon David would buy out his investors in Royal Prince Wines and invite Maayan to become an equity partner.
“Maayan has all the reasons to be a primadonna, but he’s not,” says David. The duo work so well together, they launched additional brands under the Royal Wine & Spirits umbrella, including Slam Dunk, Ride and Ridden, and Slate. All of the wines met with immediate acclaim.
David Green and Maayan Koschitzky have an enviable rolodex. Between the two of them, they have contacts at hundreds of the best wineries in Napa and Sonoma Counties, and monthly contact with at least 50. This places them at the front of the line for new sourcing opportunities, whether it’s for prime vineyard contracts or a blue-chip winery with five or six more barrels of coveted Cabernet than they know they can sell.
On-Scene, Real-time Knowledge
Maayan’s role as Director of Winemaking for Atelier Melka finds him making the rounds in the vineyards of nearly every AVA in Napa and Sonoma Counties, from the pop of the first Pinot Noir bud in Russian River Valley all the way through the season until the last Cabernet Sauvignon berry is picked on Howell Mountain.
What this means is that he has a running list in his mind of the best-performing AVAs in the North Coast, even before harvest begins. In this way Maayan can focus his energies on the very best-performing sites and “sweet spots” when choosing fruit and wines to buy for the Royal Prince label.
