Kalin Cellars
CALIFORNIA & BEAUNE
Microbiologists Dr. Terry Leighton and his wife Dr. Frances Leighton founded Kalin Cellars in Marin County in 1977. With no other employees they produce only about 7,000 cases a year.
Terry and Frances own no vines in California but find vineyards that produce wines of unique character. Vineyard sources are selected based on the superiority of the soil type and their being situated in the coolest possible microclimate suitable for the variety being grown. The Leightons own and farm two vineyards in Beaune, from which Frances oversees the production of 80 cases of “Kalin Bourgogne”.
They produce exclusively 100% single vineyard wines and it is only after a minimum of ten years of bottle ageing that the wines are released for sale.
Red wines are fermented for several weeks in wooden "cuves" and aged in new French oak barrels. The wines are neither fined nor filtered - they are naturally clarified and stabilised by settling and aging in small barrels. White wines are fermented and aged in new French oak barrels. These wines receive the minimum of fining to achieve brilliance and stability, and are bottled without filtration.
THE WINES
Beaune 1er Cru Les Chouacheux
Côte de Beaune
Bourgogne Les Pierres Blanches
Chardonnay Cuvee CH Sonoma Coast
Chardonnay Cuvee L Dry Creek Sonoma
Pinot Noir Cuvee DD Sonoma
Sauvignon Blanc Reserve Livermore Valley
Cayuse Vineyards
WALLA WALLA VALLEY
Descending from a family of champenoiswinemakers, Christophe Baron has always been passionate about wine. After studying viticulture in Champagne and Burgundy, he realised he wasn’t quite ready to enter the family estate and embarked on a number of trips.
An internship first brought Christophe to Walla Walla in 1993 but it was s few years later that Christophe created Cayuse Vineyards, upon accidently discovering a field covered in Chateauneuf-du-Pape like pebbles.
Alongside Cayuse Vineyards, Christophe has developed two other unique vineyards: Horsepower, starting in 2011 and Hors Catégorie purchased in 2005 that was finally presented to the public with the vintage 2014.
The work of Northern Rhône legendary winemakers has played a large part in developing Christophe’s winemaking philosophy and style of wine. Most of his vineyards are planted in high-density and pole-trained as in Northern Rhone. In the cellar Christophe relies solely on native yeasts and whole-cluster fermentation. He keeps minimal the influence of wood using very little new oak (15 to 20%) and uses more and more larger barrels. In addition, Christophe was not only the first vigneronin Walla Walla to work according to biodynamic farming practices, but also the first to use horses for soil work.
Over the past 20 years, Christophe Baron, has made it his mission to craft food-friendly wines of incredible depth, individuality and character. Unique, his wines are considered by most to be some of the most compelling examples of Syrah in the world and reminiscent of the legends of yesteryear such as Noel Verset, Gentaz-Dervieux or Robert Michel!
THE WINES
CAYUSE, Armada Vineyard Syrah
CAYUSE, Cailloux Vineyard Syrah
CAYUSE, God Only Knows
HORSEPOWER, The Tribe Vineyard Syrah
HORS CATEGORIE, Syrah
Rhys Vineyards
CALIFORNIA
Rhys Vineyards aspires to make great Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah from some of California's most unique and expressive vineyards. This pursuit has lead the team around founder Kevin Harvey to search the state for exciting rocky soils that are high up in altitude and generally very cool. Over the last 15 years they have developed seven estate vineyards, six in the Santa Cruz Mountains –Alpine Vineyard, Horseshoe Vineyard, Family Farm Vineyard, Home Vineyard, Skyline Vineyard and Mt. Pajaro Vineyard- and one in Anderson Valley –Bearwallow-, each of which is capable of producing uniquely compelling, distinctive, soil driven wine.
As most top wine producers around the world, Rhys winemaker Jeff Brinkman believes that real quality is produced in the vineyard and not in the winery. Driven by that belief, each of their seven vineyards is managed with a "spare no expense" viticultural approach that is based on organic and Biodynamic farming methods. Their goal is to naturally balance the vines while cultivating a vibrant and biologically diverse ecosystem in and around each vineyard. This philosophy of minimal intervention is mirrored in the winemaking. The wines are fermented with varying degrees of whole clusters, and undergo ageing in a very cool cave, lodged in the finest barrels from Francois Freres and Damy.
The result are breathtakingly complex wines: fresh, strikingly aromatic and perfectly balanced they are Burgundian without denying their very own roots and terroir. Few Californian Pinots and Chardonnays are as close to top Burgundy as these wines are nowadays and we’re more than honoured to be able to work with them!
THE WINES
Alesia Anderson Valley Chardonnay
Alesia Anderson Valley Pinot Noir
Alesia Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay
Alesia Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir
Alpine Pinot Noir
Bearwallow Pinot Noir
Family Farm Pinot Noir
Horseshoe Chardonnay
