Between The Wines Between The Wines

February February 2023 2023

Hidden Hidden Treasures Treasures

There are many ways to become a winemaker. Or better said, many ways to create a wine brand. The traditional path is to have a farm (vineyard), you grow grapes, turn them into wine, bottle it, create a name and voila. Another way--the way the big guys usually do it is to create a name, do marketing studies, then figure out what price you want to sell it for, and then go out and buy some bulk wine or fruit and voila. Then there is a route somewhere between: where a person/family either owns some vines somewhere (ie, a rich dentist with ½ acres of grapes at her Napa vacation home) or perhaps an assistant winemaker somewhere has access to a vineyard somewhere and agrees to buy some fruit personally; they then ‘borrow’ some winery’s facility/equipment and make a little batch of their own product, comes up with a name and…voila.

This latter version is sometimes referred to as a ‘custom-crush’ wine and it is more prevalent than some might know. Semifrequently, these little projects hit the market’s funny bone and they take off and grow and become bona fide brands. This is the story of Row 11.

Winemaker Richard de Los Reyes was able to find select parcels while doing his day job and purchase the fruit, use some winery’s facilities at night or on weekends paying along the way for the fruit and winery ‘rental’ and created Row 11, named after the first special lot he talked some farmer into selling him. Row 11 is a Pinot Noir brand and has now evolved into a three-sku ‘brand’, with three different appellations and three different price points… sortof like ‘good, better, best’.

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Quotation of the Month:

“Love, like wine, gets better with time ”

Hidden Hidden Treasures Treasures Continued.. Continued..

row eleven

All three are correct, luscious, fruitforward, friendly Pinot Noirs.They all taste like Pinot Noir, which is no small feat at the $12 wholesale cost the ‘Vinas 3’ (three vineyards) comes in at.

We have perpetual consternation when it comes to finding a good Pinot Noir for under $20 retail…and then we remember Row 11 If you don’t know these wines, you should!

Quotation of the Month:

“Love, like wine, gets better with time.”