Wineries

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01 May

Posted at 06:06h in 2024 Wineries, Uncategorized, Wineries

Fuil Wines

1330 Flynn Rd., Unit E, Camarillo, CA 91344
www.fuilwines.com

Region: Camarillo, CA

Owner: Matt and Carolina Espiro Jaeger

Winemaker: Matt Espiro Jaeger

About: Boutique winery using fruit from the Santa Ynez Valley to combine New World flavors with Old World structure.

What is your favorite undiscovered grape? Viognier

What was your first experience with an undiscovered grape? Not my first, but the revelatory one. I’d largely written off Viognier as flabby and overly sweet in my 20s, then I had a Viognier that was crisp, complex, and still full of fruit and flower from Demetria Estate in the Santa Ynez Valley AVA. That started me on my journey to find and enjoy cool-weather wine in general, and is why Viognier was the first wine I made in my own winery.

What do you love most about the undiscovered grapes? They’re not forgotten! They’re usually part of popular Old World blends, but we in the USA have been so conditioned to look for varietal over place, that people don’t recognize them. As an example: I’ve had people ask me what on earth Mourvèdre is, until I ask if they’ve had a Cotes du Rhone or GSM wine. Then suddenly the light dawns.

08 Mar

Posted at 23:10h in 2024 Wineries, 2025 Wineries, 2026 Wineries, Los Angeles 2026, San Jose 2026, Wineries

Giornata

470 Marquita Ave #A, Paso Robles CA 93446
giornatawines.com

Region: Paso Robles

Owners/Winemakers: Brian and Stephy Terrizzi

About: We make authentic, complex and balanced wines in Paso Robles, CA featuring Italian grape varieties.

What is your favorite undiscovered grape? Fiano. It almost disappeared until someone made it a focus. It is a success story and also delicious!

What was your first experience with an undiscovered grape? I wasn’t sure what to make of Nebbiolo the first time I tried it. I did not understand it, but I knew I wanted a second glass.

What do you love most about the undiscovered grapes? Learning their history

08 Mar

Posted at 23:24h in 2024 Wineries, Uncategorized, Wineries

Guthrie Family Wines

574 Este Madera Drive, Sonoma, CA 95476
www.guthriefamilywines.com

Region: Sonoma, California

Owner: Blair & Caroline Guthrie

Winemaker: Blair Guthrie

About: Crafting low-intervention wines from responsibly farmed grapes.

What is your favorite undiscovered grape? Grenache Blanc

What was your first experience with an undiscovered grape? In Australia, I came across Arneis and was lucky enough to get my hands on it and make it!

What do you love most about the undiscovered grapes? It’s like walking the forgotten path. I love their history but also their originality in today’s wine world.

13 Mar

Posted at 04:24h in 2024 Wineries, Uncategorized, Wineries

J. Brix Wines

298 Enterprise St., Suite D, Escondido CA 92029
www.jbrix.com

Region: San Diego County

Owners/Winemakers: Emily Towe & Jody Brix Towe

About: Emily and Jody Brix Towe started J. Brix Wines in 2009 with three barrels in their two-car garage. Since then, as a two-person winemaking team, they have grown the winery into a small but mighty standard-bearer for the minimal-intervention California wine movement. Working out of a warehouse facility in Escondido since 2013, they make as many as 16 different wines per year. They source impeccable fruit from incredible vineyards all over the Golden State, focusing on Santa Barbara (where they learned to make wine) and San Diego (where they live). Their motto, in winemaking and life: ONLY LOVE.

What is your favorite undiscovered grape? It’s impossible to pick a favorite grape, but we can say our favorite *fermentation* is always the Counoise – it’s like a strawberry-scented pink-and-purple-tie-dye foam party!

What was your first experience with an undiscovered grape? We worked with Grenache for our first vintage in 2009.

What do you love most about the undiscovered grapes? For many of the forgotten grapes, it might be the first time someone has ever experienced what that varietal wine might taste like. It’s so exciting to see people expand their horizons, and learn how much more is out there in the world of wine.

09 Mar

Posted at 17:21h in 2024 Wineries, Uncategorized, Wineries

L.A. Lepiane Wines

1480 Count Fleet St., Santa Barbara, CA
www.lepianewines.com

Region: Santa Barbara County

Owner/Winemaker: Alison Thomson

About: Founded in 1935 by Luigi A. Lepiane, and re-established by his great-granddaughter in 2013, L.A. Lepiane Wines focuses on small lots of unexpected Italian varieties. Alison Thomson crafts unique wines, using traditional techniques, natural fermentations and lots of time. Her wines reflect true character of the varieties translated in California’s soil and sun.

What is your favorite forgotten grape? Nebbiolo

What was your first experience with a forgotten grape? I worked my first harvest for Ettore Germano in Barolo, Italy.

What do you love most about the forgotten grapes? I love variety and a good story. Introducing consumers to less known grape varieties expands their wine drinking horizons to new regions, flavors, and aromas. Variety is the spice of life.

08 Mar

Posted at 23:44h in 2024 Wineries, Uncategorized, Wineries

Lindquist Family Wines

4665 Santa Maria Mesa Rd, Santa Maria, CA 93454
verdadandlindquistfamilywines.com

Region: Santa Maria Valley

Owners/Winemakers: Bob Lindquist and Louisa Sawyer Lindquist

About: We make a number of forgotten grapes from cool climate vineyards on the Central Coast.

What is your favorite undiscovered grape? Marsanne

What was your first experience with an undiscovered grape? Probably my first experience would have been when I was in college with Wente Grey Riesling, which is Trousseau Gris.  As a winemaker, the first forgotten grape that I made was a 1987 Marsanne, which I still make today.

What do you love most about the undiscovered grapes? There is so much diversity in flavors, aromas and character…and they can often be better values.

Lindquist-2021-Marsanne

22 Mar

Posted at 06:54h in 2024 Wineries, Uncategorized, Wineries

Lodi Wine

2545 West Turner Road, Lodi, CA, 95242
www.lodiwine.com

Region: Lodi, CA

About: Perfectly situated 90 miles east of San Francisco, Lodi’s Mediterranean climate and unique soils allow its growers to cultivate more than 125 winegrape varieties, cementing the historic winegrowing region as the unrivaled producer of “forgotten grapes.”

What do you love most about the forgotten grapes? The forgotten grapes add a point of difference between Lodi and other American winegrowing regions and diversify the region’s portfolio of high quality wines.

09 Mar

Posted at 00:06h in 2024 Wineries, 2025 Wineries, 2026 Wineries, Los Angeles 2026, San Jose 2026, Wineries

Marchelle Wines

2064 Hwy 116 N Ste 102 Sebastopol, CA 95472
Tasting Room: 34 North St, Healdsburg, CA 95447
marchellewines.com

Region: Russian River Valley, Sonoma County

Owners: Kevin Lee and Greg La Follette

Winemaker: Greg La Follette and Evan Damiano

About: Marchelle employs traditional winemaking techniques combined with modern innovations to create wines that harmonize balance, finesse, and complexity. The resulting wines display a purity of fruit, precise acidity, and a seamless integration of flavors—a testament to Greg La Follette’s artistry and the exceptional vineyards from which the grapes are sourced.

What is your favorite undiscovered grape? Cinsaut, as it comes from the oldest producing Cinsaut vineyard in the world at Bechthold Vineyard in Mokelumne River AVA in Lodi, originally planted in 1886

What was your first experience with an undiscovered grape? Colombard, it is Marchelle’s origin story as Greg La Follette nursed these old vines back to health at Betty Ann Vineyard in the Russian River Valley. The crisp acidity and green apple flavors pair so well with raw oysters.

What do you love most about the undiscovered grapes? It’s unique and interesting and something most people have not tried. Discovering something special and creating an exceptional wine from it.

MarchelleGreg-in-cellarKevin-Lee

18 Mar

Posted at 17:16h in 2024 Wineries, Uncategorized, Wineries

No Love Lost Wine Co.

960 Clinton St, Napa CA 94559
www.nolovelost.wine

Region: Napa Valley

Owner/Winemaker: Jay Nunez

About: Napa Valley based natural winery focused on family owned vineyards that are systemic herbicide and pesticide free with sustainable practices.

What is your favorite undiscovered grape? Counoise

What was your first experience with an undiscovered grape? It was tasting through the wines of Sicily and The Canaray Islands.

What do you love most about the undiscovered grapes? Chasing new experiences and preserving history.

16 Mar

Posted at 22:54h in 2024 Wineries, Uncategorized, Wineries

Presqu’ile Winery

3591 Presquile Drive, Santa Maria, CA 93455
www.presquilewine.com

Region: Santa Barbara County

Owner: The Murphy Family

Winemaker: Dieter Cronje

About: Presqu’ile (‘press-keel’) is a family-owned winery in the Santa Maria Valley dedicated to crafting exceptional, cool-climate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah from Santa Barbara County.

What is your favorite undiscovered grape? Aligoté

What was your first experience with an undiscovered grape? Trying a beautifully fresh Aligoté while visiting Burgundy, France. I was surprised to learn about the grape, in general, and even more shocked to find such a unique white wine coming out of the area.

What do you love most about the undiscovered grapes? The opportunity to stumble upon something unique and fun while wine buying in the wild.