{"id":2525,"date":"2025-06-11T01:49:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T01:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=2525"},"modified":"2025-06-11T21:01:27","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T21:01:27","slug":"winemaker-interview-series-cole-ballentine-of-predecessor-estate-april-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=2525","title":{"rendered":"Winemaker Interview Series \u2013 Cole Ballentine of Predecessor Estate &#8211; April 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Cole-Ballentine-Winemaker-of-Predecessor.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2527\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Cole-Ballentine-Winemaker-of-Predecessor-242x300.gif\" alt=\"Cole Ballentine Winemaker of Predecessor\" width=\"242\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>On Wednesday, April 16, 2025, we had the opportunity to interview <a href=\"https:\/\/predecessorestate.com\/winemakers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>Cole Ballentine<\/u><\/strong><\/a>. Cole is the co-winemaker, with his father William Ballentine Jr., at <a href=\"https:\/\/predecessorestate.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>Predecessor Estate<\/u><\/strong><\/a>. Cole and his father-built Predecessor Estate to reunite the mountain with their ancestors who once farmed the area. We covered Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from both the 2018 and the 2021 vintages. We also covered the Predecessor Estate reserve Cabernet Sauvignon named &#8220;Lorraine&#8221; from both the 2016 and the 2108 vintages. These are super-premium offerings; very little of each was made.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Before we get to the wines, I thought I would share some tidbits that Cole shared in the interview.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Where did the winery name come from? It is a tribute to their Irish heritage and a nod to our ancestors who farmed Howell Mountain in an area they developed and named Deer Park. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tell us a little bit about your dad, William Ballentine Jr.?<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">My dad took over winemaking role at St. Clement in 1998. He worked there until 2001. After leaving he became devoted to his own estate project and and worked on small consulting projects on the side.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In 1999 he bought an old ghost winery across the street from where he grew up. That winery eventually became <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/williamcolevineyards.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">William Cole Vineyards<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">That old stone winery had its doors closed since prohibition. They enthusiastically began many years of renovation on the original 1873 stone building. The property was eventually marked as a historical landmark and the cellar doors were reopened in 2004. You can read about its <a href=\"https:\/\/williamcolevineyards.com\/our-estate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>history here.<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/predecessorestate.com\/vineyards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2528\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Red-Lake-Vineyard.jpg\" alt=\"Red Lake Vineyard\" width=\"300\" height=\"146\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/predecessorestate.com\/vineyards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Red Lake Vineyard<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">7 acres of the 41 total acres are planted to grapes on this stunning mountainside estate.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It was planted in 2007, 2011, and 2015.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Since Predecessor owns Red Lake, they can use that water to irrigate.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">That said, Predecessor is in the middle of an 8-year permit process with the county to get a &#8220;use permit&#8221; so they can build a winery on the mountain.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They would like to offer a wine experience on site and show off the property.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So where is your tasting room?<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/predecessorestate.com\/experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A private tasting experience<\/a><\/strong> can be hosted at our sister property, William Cole Vineyards, in St. Helena.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Who is or was Lorraine?<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">She is a great aunt that was very influential to Cole&#8217;s dad.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The &#8220;Lorraine&#8221; block produces about 2 barrels per year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is \u00bd an acre and is very different.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They had to jack hammer the rock to plant the vines.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is a labor intensive and strong-willed vineyard. Just like Aunt Lorraine!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">William and Cole make all the wines for both William Cole and Predecessor wine labels.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">All the Predecessor wines we covered are 100% varietal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They tend to pick later than most folks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">All the wines from these two projects are DTC and club offerings.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cole went to school in Montana and Texas.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">His dad lured him back in the summer of 2015.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He learned the winemaking trade mainly from his dad on the job. The old fashion apprentice way!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There are two Podcasts interviews with Cole from this year that are definitely worth checking out for more details on the families history and their winery projects.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The first is an <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lifebetweenthevines.com\/podcast-667-cole-ballantine-assistant-winemaker-william-cole-vineyards-napa-valley\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interview with Ray Fister on his Life Between The Vines<\/a> <\/strong>podcast in February 2025. It was this podcast that led me to Cole.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Next up is a just released <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidewinemaking.com\/#\/198-cole-ballentine-william-cole\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interview with Jim Duane on his Inside Winemaking<\/a><\/strong> podcast.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Below is a summary of the wine offerings from Predecessor Estate that we covered with Cole. The links below are to our full reviews. If you are interested in ordering and trying these super-premium wines, you will have to become a member. Allocation members receive first access to newly released, exclusive library, and barrel aged wines offered throughout the year. <a href=\"https:\/\/predecessorestate.com\/wine-clubs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Learn more about becoming an allocation member<\/strong><\/a>. If you are interested in a specific vintage, please email us at <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>info@predecessorestate.com<\/strong><\/span><u><\/u>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Predecessor-Estate-Logo.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2526\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Predecessor-Estate-Logo-244x300.gif\" alt=\"Predecessor Estate Logo\" width=\"244\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Predecessor-2021-Merlot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Predecessor 2021 Merlot &#8220;Red Lake Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Howell Mountain) $250 27 cases (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 94<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Predecessor-2018-Merlot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Predecessor 2018 Merlot &#8220;Red Lake Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Howell Mountain) $290 30 cases (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 95<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Predecessor-2021-Cabernet-Franc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Predecessor 2021 Cabernet Franc &#8220;Red Lake Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Howell Mountain) $250 58 cases (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 94<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Predecessor-2018-Cabernet-Franc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Predecessor 2018 Cabernet Franc &#8220;Red Lake Vineyard&#8221;<\/a><\/strong> (Howell Mountain) $290 60 cases (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 95<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Predecessor-2021-Red-Lake-Vineyard-Cabernet-Sauvignon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Predecessor 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon &#8220;Red Lake Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Howell Mountain) $250 220 cases (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 95.5<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Predecessor-2018-Red-Lake-Vineyard-Cabernet-Sauvignon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Predecessor 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon &#8220;Red Lake Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Howell Mountain) $290 213 cases (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 96<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Predecessor-2018-Lorraine-Cabernet-Sauvignon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Predecessor 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon &#8220;Lorraine&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Howell Mountain) $430 30 cases (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 98<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Predecessor-2016-Lorraine-Cabernet-Sauvignon\"><strong>Predecessor 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon &#8220;Lorraine&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Howell Mountain) $460 44 cases (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 95.5<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You can find reviews of past and future Predecessor wines that we cover on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine.php?winery=3125\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>Predecessor KWG winery page<\/u><\/strong><\/a> on our website. We hope you enjoy these terrific wines as much as we did. Cheers! \u2013 Ken<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, April 16, 2025, we had the opportunity to interview Cole Ballentine. Cole is the co-winemaker, with his father William Ballentine Jr., at Predecessor Estate. Cole and his father-built Predecessor Estate to reunite the mountain with their ancestors who once farmed the area. We covered Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from both [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,18,92,2878,1846,88,1188,11,10,2879,2880,1187,2900,1758,2201,126,8,6,240,1292,1288],"tags":[2889,2893,501,625,2898,2886,2891,2888,779,2897,2885,2896,2895,2883,519,2881,2884,2894,2890,2901,2892,1766,2887,1843,2899],"class_list":["post-2525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cabernet-franc","category-cabernet-sauvignon","category-california","category-cole-ballentine","category-estate-wines","category-high-end-wines","category-howell-mountain","category-kens-wine-guide-tasting-panel","category-merlot","category-predecessor-estate","category-premium-wine","category-red-wine","category-reserve-wine","category-spring-mountain","category-st-helena","category-wine-ratings","category-wine-recommendations","category-wine-reviews","category-wine-tasting","category-winemaker","category-zoom-wine-tasting","tag-1873-stone-building","tag-abditory-vineyard","tag-cabernet-franc","tag-cabernet-sauvignon","tag-cole-ballentine","tag-deer-park","tag-dennis-johns","tag-ghost-winery","tag-howell-mountain","tag-inside-winemaking","tag-irish-heritage","tag-jim-duane","tag-life-between-the-vines","tag-lorraine","tag-merlot","tag-predecessor-estate","tag-premium-wine","tag-ray-fister","tag-red-lake-vineyard","tag-reserve-wine","tag-smoking-gun-wines","tag-spring-mountain","tag-st-clement-winery","tag-st-helena","tag-william-ballentine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2525"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2539,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525\/revisions\/2539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}