Backsberg is a century-old, award-winning winery located in spectacular Franschhoek, in the heart of the Cape Winelands. Founded in 1916, the winery is currently run by the fourth generation of the founding Back family in partnership with DGB Ltd., one of South Africa’s largest independent wine producers. Backsberg aims to provide pleasure and enjoyment to a broad range of wine lovers by producing wines with structure, finesse and a high levelof drinkability. The winery has been a leader in sustainable farming, becoming South Africa’s first certified carbon neutral winery in 2006. Backsberg produces a wide array of wines across a variety of price points and has a full range of varietally-labelled certified Kosher wines.

Vina Marty was founded in 2008 by Pascal Marty who, after an extensive globe-trotting winemaking career, had a vision of producing high-quality, consumer-driven wines in Chile’s Central Valley. Pascal draws on 25 years of experience with a number of the world’s most famous wine producers to guide Vina Marty. After graduating from the University of Bordeaux’s Enology Institute in 1982, he began working as a Winemaker for Baron Phillippe de Rothschild SA, the acclaimed owners of Bordeaux’s world famous Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. Over the next two decades, he work with the company took him to California, where he was one of the key technical team members at Opus One, and later to Chile, where he led the development and growth of the now iconic Almaviva. Today, Vina Marty is Pascal’s personal passion project and blends Old World tradition with New World technology and innovation to craft exceptional and expressive wines from the Central Valley’s most renowned areas.

Caligiore is a third-generation family-owned winery devoted to the production of certified organic wines from Luján de Cuyo, one of Mendoza, Argentina’s top regions for high-quality wines. Situated at 3,000 feet in the foothills of the majestic Andes Mountain Range, Caligiore’s wines come from a single, organically-farmed vineyard and are made in a naturally-inflected, minimal-intervention style to fully capture the unique terroir of the Upper Mendoza River Valley. Founded with a view to developing sustainable business, local identity, social responsibility and care for the environment, the wines of Caligiore capture the true essence and culture of Mendoza, Argentina.

The history of Poderi del Nespoli spans four generations of Romagna winemakers with an unshakable faith in their land and its fruits, tirelessly dedicated to its promotion by means of constant research and improvement.

Discussion of Saint Jaques de Siran 2017 and a review of the Margaux appellation.

Tenuta Santi Giacomo e Filippo is an 800 acre organically-certified estate located just outside Urbino in Marche on Italy’s eastern coast. The passion project of the Bruscoli family, the estate is a resurrected working farm. The 30 acres of grape vines include unique native varietals such as Incrocio Bruni, Verdicchio, Bianchello and Montepulciano, as well as Sangiovese. The first vintage was released in 2010, and in 2016, a state of the art winery was opened, enabling the estate to age wines in steel, oak and ancient clay amphorae.

A review of all things Torii Mor as we roll to the 2018 vintage of the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir!

Paul Lato’s story is as exceptional as his wines. Born in Poland, Lato was a successful sommelier in Toronto, but harbored a dream of becoming a winemaker. After short stints working for Jim Clendenen (proprietor of famed California Pinot pioneer Au Bon Climat) and as a cellar-rat at Bien Nacido, Lato began making his own wines in 2002 with a scant 500 cases of Pinot Noir and Syrah (two notoriously difficult grapes to work with). Fast forward two decades, including a chance meeting with Robert Parker, some fortuitously-timed help from Thomas Keller and Paul Lato Winery is now widely considered one of California’s top producers of Burgundian and Rhone varietals. Producing from a number of superb vineyard sites across California’s Central Coast, Lato’s wines routinely garner mid- to high-90s scores from many of the wine world’s most revered critics (including Jeb Dunnuck and Antonio Galloni).

James Sparks has become a star of the California wine scene through his award-winning work at Liquid Farm, the renowned third-wave producer of Burgundian-style California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Kings Carey is Sparks’ proprietary Santa Barbara County label crafting small-production wines in a minimalist, “keep it simple” style. Founded only in 2017, the aim is to produce “untypical wines of ‘typicity’…[which are] clean expressions of the fruit at hand” and are authentic representatives of California’s unique terroirs.

Charles and Wendy Outhwaite left high-powered professional careers in London (he was an investment banker, she a barrister) to settle in West Sussex in the heart of England’s Wine Country. They established Ambriel in 2007, joining the exploding English sparkling wine revolution. Critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic followed their first release and Ambriel has quickly become recognized as a quality leader. The wines are all made from hand-harvested estate grapes, grown in sloping, quick-draining and heat-retaining greensand soils overlooking the bucolic South Downs. These vineyards are planted to classic Champagne varietals, but on Burgundian clones. Winemaking features whole-cluster pressing of individual clones before fermentation in a mix of vessel types and blind blending to ensure that only the top barrels go in to the final, Ebulliently English product.

Chateau Siran is one of Margaux’s oldest estates (1428) and has been owned and managed by seven generations of the Miailhe family since 1858. The Saint-Jacques cuvee is sourced from an estate-owned 9 hectare plot which immediately borders the 24 hectares of Margaux vines used to make Siran’s grand vin. While outside the Margaux appellation, this adjacent, complex terroir produces rich and well-structured wines from clay soils formed by centuries of alluvial deposits from the Garonne River that have covered over the underlying gravel.

Ancient Oak Cellars was founded in 2006 on land owned by Ken Moholt-Siebert’s family for three generations.  The winery is named for a century-old oak tree that sits on the 31 acre home vineyard, Siebert Ranch, in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley.  Guided by famed winemaker Greg LaFollette, Ancient Oak strives to produce handmade wines of individuality and verve that reflect the extraordinary region that it calls home

Torii Mor was founded in 1972 by Dr Don Olson who purchased an older, ten-acre vineyard in the Dundee Hills with the aim of producing exceptional, Old-World style Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay.  Since its first small vintage in 1993, the estate has grown to over 10,000 cases per year of balanced, elegant wines, guided by Jon Tomaselli and Burgundian winemaker Jacques Tardy.

In the decade and a half since Omaha native Chris Brockway first founded Broc Cellars, this pioneering urban winery (based in two warehouses in Berkeley, CA) has become one of the leaders of California’s third wave of winemaker/negociants. Working with leading vineyards throughout California, Broc is emphatically natural in the vineyard and minimalist in the cellar, using only organically-grown grapes and native yeasts and applying the lightest possible winemaking touch to produce eminently drinkable and pure low-alcohol beauties.

Renowned father and son winemakers Daniel and Sam Baron teamed up to create Complant, bringing their 60+ years of combined experience to this passion project.  Daniel is one of California’s best known winemakers, having previously worked at Chateau Petrus in Bordeaux, Dominus and Silver Oak / Twomey.  His son Sam is one of California’s top new winemakers and has worked in wineries in Napa, Sonoma, Burgundy and New Zealand.  Sourcing fruit from some of California’s best vineyards and top growers, their aim is to use artisanal practices and minimal intervention to produce delicious wines of vibrancy that seamlessly express time, place and the cultivated vine, the Complant.

Kivelstadt Winery specializes in small production, terroir-driven wines made with the utmost respect to nature.  Sam Baron was born with winemaking in his veins (his father is Daniel Baron, former winemaker at Dominus, Silver Oak and Petrus) and is passionate about crafting well-balanced, organic wines steeped in old world traditions.  Owner Jordan Kivelstadt began his winemaking journey working harvests in Chile, Argentina, Australia.  He returned home to California and in 2007 bottled his first 125 cases of Estate Syrah.  Together, Sam and Jordan are committed to creating wines of intrigue that challenge the status quo of conventional California wines.

For this special Happy Hour we taste through a curated selection of our favorites with Jordan and Sam!

Domaine Agape was founded a decade ago by fourth-generation Alsatian winemaker Vincent Sipp.  The domaine comprises approximately 10 hectares spread across some of Alsace’s top vineyard sites, including over three hectares of grand crus.  Sipp’s winemaking philosophy emphasizes sustainable, organic methods in the vineyard and true expression of Alsace’s native varietals, with the entire domaine converting to Bio-Organic methods in 2017.  All of Domaine Agape’s wines are made from estate-grown grapes and are authentic representations of Alsace’s varied terroirs.

Tracing its roots to the esteemed Gagnard-Delagrange vineyard holdings, Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard was founded in 1985 and has quickly become one of the top producers in Chassagne-Montrachet. Despite being relatively youthful by Burgundian standards, Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard has rapidly become one of Chassagne-Montrachet’s most indispensable and important producers. Boasting over 12 hectares of vineyard holdings in three Grand Crus and twelve Premier Crus, including such mythic parcels as Le Montrachet, Batard-Montrachet, Les Caillerets and La Romanee, the domaine is renowned for producing wines that are always among the finest and most authentic expressions of their respective terroirs. Proprietor Celine Fontaine uses traditional Burgundian winemaking methods to craft intense and complex yet classically-balanced wines that have become critical and commercial darlings.

Universally regarded as one of the stars of Crozes-Hermitage, Domaine Belle started producing wine under its own label in 1990, although the property has been under vine since at least 1769.  Guided by third-generation vigneron Philippe Belle, the domaine combines a deep understanding of its terroir with modern winemaking techniques and facilities and regularly produces wines that are among the most coveted and most critically acclaimed of Crozes-Hermitage.

The fifth-generation Menard brothers are proprietors of this historic Loire Valley winery and have blended respect for history with cutting-edge techniques to position the estate as a leader of Muscadet’s quality renaissance. The estate’s 200+ acres are farmed according to the strictest tenets of sustainable agriculture (“lutte raisonee”), with full organic certification starting in the 2020 vintage.

Caiarossa was founded in 1998 in the Val di Cecina, southwest of Florence and just inland from the Tuscan Coast, and takes its name from the intense red soils of the region.  The property was acquired in 2004 by Eric Jelgersma, owner of famed Bordeaux estates Ch. Giscours and Ch. Du Tertre, and has since become a critical darling, featuring a string of top scoring wines.  The vineyards sit on varied soil types and are planted to 11 different varietals, including classic Bordeaux cultivars as well as Syrah, Chardonnay and Viognier, among others.  The property has been fully organic and Demeter-certified bio-dynamic since 2005.  Caiarossa is the estate’s benchmark bottling and is the purest expression of the spectacular terroir.  Made from a blend of seven varietals grown in the Podere Serra all’Olio vineyard, the 2013 vintage garnered 94-point scores from both Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate. 

Massachusetts native Ginny Povall purchased Stellenbosch’s Protea Heights farm in 2008, after an extensive corporate career in New York.  The farm is located in Devon Valley just 10 minutes from the center of Stellenbosch and totals 21.6 hectares with 10 hectares of flowers and 5 hectares of vineyards. In the late 1940s, it was the first farm in South Africa to cultivate protea flowers and was the first to export flowers in the late 1960s. Since Ginny’s purchase, Big Flower (her estate grown label) and Botanica (made from grapes sourced from some of South Africa’s most sought-after emerging wine regions and best growers) have rapidly become icons of the new wave of South African winemaking.

This fourth-generation, 48 hectare estate in the foothills of the Corbieres massif in the French Pyrenees was founded a century ago by the Piquemal family.  Quality-driven and sustainably-farmed to allow the natural expression of the terroir, winemaker Marie-Pierre Piquemal was selected by France’s famed Le Guide Hachette as Winemaker of the Year for 2018.

One of South Africa’s oldest wineries, Morgenster traces its history to the early 18th century.  The estate has been owned by Italian fashion magnate Giulio Bertrand since 1992, who has upgraded the property extensively.  In addition, since 1994, Pierre Lurton of Bordeaux’s famed Chateau Cheval Blanc, has acted as consultant and has helped produce a string of exceptional and acclaimed wines.