Dear Member,
For the best wines from America’s west coast, look for a paradox.
To wit…
A chardonnay with no oak or butter…
A valley in Washington where it never rains (and the onions are so sweet you can eat them like apples)…
A So-Cal “wine ghetto” with a colder climate than northern California (and where some of the most interesting experiments in winemaking are taking place today)…
A Napa subregion where the pinots taste like cherry cola (and yet the soil is so highly prized even Domaine de la Romanée Conti owns a vineyard here)…
And much more (as you’ll soon discover).
American winemaking may date back 500 years (the Spaniards brought grapes with them), but the modern industry as we know it is still young.
As recently as the early 70s, winemaking in California, Oregon, and Washington was the province of UC Davis wine geeks, one step removed from hippies and earth-ship devotees.
The rest of the world, especially the Europeans, scoffed. But sure enough the geeks had their revenge in 1976, when Californian wines bested their French competitors in the “Judgement of Paris.”
Today, several wines of America’s west coast have become brands as strong as any from Bordeaux or Burgundy (with the prices to prove it). The suits have moved in, chasing scale and/or point scores with whatever means science affords them.
Yet, the marginal, frontier spirit of the original west coast wine geeks has not altogether disappeared.
Thus, the six bottles in this collection:
Deux Soldats Winemaker’s Blend 2018
Tamber Bey Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Muscardini Cellars Tesoro 2019
Iron Horse Vineyards UnOaked Chardonnay 2019
Bouchaine Estate Pinot Noir 2018
Tercero Verbiage Rouge 2015
Our American collections have always been our smallest batch. With the first wine on this list coming in at just 260 cases produced, the trend continues with this West Coast Collection. “Something rare, something special,” as Julien Miquel would say.
To your health,
Will Bonner
Founder, Bonner Private Wine Partnership
