Angelo Negro ‘Angelin‘
Grapes 100% Nebbiolo
Place Piedmont, Italy
Process Grapes are hand-picked into large, 20kg boxes. Macerated and fermented in stainless steel tanks for 15 - 18 days. Aged in stainless steel for 12 months.
Family Since 1670, the Negro family has been cultivating vineyards in the hills of the Roero and realizing the viticultural potential of this relatively undiscovered subregion of Piedmont. In that same year, two of the estate’s most cherished vineyards—Perdaudin and Prachiosso—were first planted. Boasting some of the most desirable vineyard sites in the Roero, Negro in an indisputable legend of the area. In fact, Giovanni Negro, the estate’s proud patriarch, vinified the first dry Roero Arneis on record in 1971. The current winemaker, Angelo Negro, produces wines exclusively from the native grapes of the region, offering a remarkable range of Arneis and Nebbiolo, among other varietals. The family’s sandy, fossil-laden vineyards in the village of Monteu Roero coupled with their meticulous work in the vineyard and the cellar give rise to precise, soulful wines. Today, the estate observes organic practices while managing a staggering 70 hectares under vine.
Bottle: $27 | Glass: $12
Gainey Estate Vinyards Cabernet Franc
Grapes 100% Cabernet Franc
Place Santa Ynez, Santa Barbara, California
Process 100% Estate grown fruit. Open top fermentation to allow for gentle extraction. Aged for 10 months in a combination of about 80% Neutral Oak and 20% New French Oak explicitly to allow the grape’s natural green, savory characteristics to be expressed.
Family Gainey Vineyard is the culmination of a family heritage that runs deep in the Santa Barbara wine country. Gainey’s story in the Santa Ynez Valley begins more than 60 years ago when the Gainey family, acquired 1,800 acres of undeveloped land. In 1984, vines were planted and Gainey Vineyard was born. We now have over 60 acres of vineyard at the “Home Ranch" and have since acquired two additional estate vineyards of 100 acres in the Santa Rita Hills.
As Gainey Vineyard’s winemaker for the past 14 years, Jeff LeBard brings a consistency of vision, style and quality to our wines. Jeff is also an ardent student of his craft, always seeking new information in the pursuit of incremental innovation. He is particularly fascinated by the juxtaposition of art and science, and how both disciplines can be mastered to create wines of significance. “My goal is to find a place where beauty, elegance and nuance exist while retaining proper scientific boundaries to ensure that the art lives on inside the bottle,” he says. In his spare time, Jeff enjoys mountain biking and grabbing a pint at the local brewery.
Bottle: $37 | Glass: $16
Latta Wines ‘Kind Stranger‘
Grapes Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec
Place Seattle, Washington
Process Washington Cabernet vines grown in basalt derived gravel on the long rise of Royal Slope give excellent depth, intense fruit and ample structure from this awesome site. Weinbau’s 30 year old Malbec vines pile on the concentration and spice notes. This stunner was fermented whole berry with indigenous yeasts, then macerated an average of 28 days between the lots. Basket pressed to barrel for 15 months, 15% new french oak barrels.
Family Latta Wines was founded in 2011 by winemaker and owner Andrew Latta. Andrew came to wine through years of restaurant work, from bussing tables in his home state of Kentucky all the way to a Sommelier position in Thailand, directing one of the finest wine programs in the country. Those restaurant years still give tremendous context to the way our wines are made and presented. Leaving that world behind, Andrew dove head first into production in Walla Walla almost 20 years ago. A ten year odyssey from harvest hand to Winemaker at a notable Washington Winery set the stage for the launch of Latta Wines
Latta Wines puts uncommon varietals from the most unique vineyards in Washington State on center stage. Years of scouring the geologically diverse soils of Eastern Washington led to an initial release of two very special wines, then four and so on. The extremely small production, mostly Rhone offerings are put forward from sustainable vineyard sites after fermentation with native yeast and aging in mostly neutral french barrique and puncheon
Bottle: $25 | Glass: $11
Alfredo Maestro ‘El Rey del Glam‘
Grapes 100% Garnacha
Place Sierra de Gredos and Ribera del Duero, Spain
Process The grapes were harvested by hand and mostly destemmed, leaving about 30% whole cluster. The fruit undergoes carbonic maceration and the juice is fermented with native yeasts using Malolactic fermentation in stainless steel tanks, then rested outside the bodega in the same tanks over winter to stabilize. Bottling in the spring without fining, filtering, or sulfur addition.
Family Alfredo Maestro’s family came to Peñafiel from the Basque Country. Having grown up amongst the vines, Alfredo had a great interest in wine and started making his own in 1998. From the beginning he farmed organically, yet in the cellar he worked literally “by the book,” teaching himself enology from a textbook and using all the tricks to make a
“correct” Ribera del Duero wine: cultured yeasts, acids, enzymes, tannins, color-enhancers, etc. In the early 2000’s Alfredo had a revelation: as an organic farmer, why should he use chemicals to adjust the finished wine? He wanted to work as naturally in the winery as he did in the vineyard, as he puts it "to better tell the story of the land." Alfredo began eliminating exogenous products, and by
2003 he was making wine without any additives
whatsoever, including sulfur. Over the past several years, Alfredo has been seeking out old, neglected, high elevation parcels around Castilla y León, and more recently in nearby Sierra de Gredos Mountains west of Madrid. He has two small bodegas, one located in his native Peñafiel where his father helps in the bodega, the other in the Navalcarnero area southwest of Madrid
Bottle: $43 | Glass: $19