Our Story
Mary and I created a bridge between the Old World and the New by bringing our Burgundian experiences home to California. By living in Burgundy, attending school, and studying with the Masters, we learned those principles that define great Burgundy: low yields, French clones, distinct terroirs and slow élevage.
The life of the "Vigneron" also captured our admiration. In France, the Vigneron is the center of the complete cycle of winemaking, tending the vines, harvesting and raising the wines, and greeting his customers at the cellar door, Viticulturist, Enologist, and Marketing Department all in one.
The first day I walked into class at the Lycee Agricole et Viticole in Beaune, it was understood that I would gain winemaking knowledge at the cradle of it all. School submerged me in the subject of winemaking, but it took much more to complete my education in Burgundy. It took breaking bread with my classmates, Frédéric Mugnier, Anne Gros, Françoise Niellon, Henri Darnat, and following them into their cellars to see the day to day work of raising great vineyards into wine. In France, and especially in Burgundy, the culture surrounding wine is integral to the experience and enjoyment of life. Wine accompanies every important event whether solemn or joyous; a simple break from pruning in the vineyards with cheese and wine to baptisms, weddings, and historic celebrations.
If you are reading this you have probably had that one moment when a Burgundy, Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, left you in amazement, spellbound and wanting the bottle to have no end.
There is a certain progression in the appreciation of wine that brings people to these varietals that deliver texture, balance, purity of fruit and captivating aromas as a new definition of strength and intensity. That same progression made us want to craft wines with the finesse and balance of Burgundy and the pure intensity of California.
To experience wines so ethereal and graceful, saturated with flavor but not weighed down by it, seductive and effortless to enjoy, is usually the beginning of a life-long passion. It is why we make wine.