Vintners & Brewers

Darioush
Napa Valley, CA
Darioush is a 115-acre Napa Valley Estate privately owned and founded by Darioush Khaledi in 1997. The winery focuses on limited production “Old World” style fine wines featuring the signature Cabernet Sauvignon as the cornerstone of their production.

The Darioush Estate is committed to hand harvesting and handsorting each grape cluster prior to crushing. This is a meticulous and labor-intensive method, but it ensures that only the finest, fully matured grapes are used in Darioush wines. This approach includes small lot whole cluster pressing, destemming, cold soaking, extended maceration, barrel-to-barrel racking and bottling without filtration.

This minimalist approach preserves and expresses the true varietal character of Darioush Signature wines. Our main focus is to grow a classic red Bordeaux blend that displays the finest qualities of the Estate’s unique soils and microclimate.
www.darioush.com

Domaine Serene
Dayton, OR
A passion and commitment to produce the world’s best Pinot Noir led Grace & Ken Evenstad to Oregon in 1989. They founded Domaine Serene in the Dundee Hills located in the North Willamette Valley, where Oregon's Pinot Noir began and where its heart remains. Domaine Serene owns three vineyard estates totaling 462 acres. 150 acres are planted exclusively to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and the remaining property has been left in its natural state. Vineyards are dry farmed using sustainable, environmentally friendly farming practices for extremely low crop yields which produce consistently elegant, concentrated, award winning wines.
www.domaineserene.com

FireFly Distillery
Wadmalaw Island, SC
 Southern Hospitality + Southern Tradition + Two Southern Gentleman = Southern Perfection! Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka is born.

It all started back in 2000 when Jim Irvin, a Vanderbilt grad, decided to make some wine on South Carolina’s Wadmalaw Island—about 30 miles south of Charleston. Jim was a one family show—planting the vines, harvesting the grapes, and selling the wine!    

Enter Southern gentleman number two, Scott Newitt, an LSU grad.  Scott was a manager at a local liquor distributor in 2003 when he and Jim crossed paths.

“You make some nice Southern wine,” Scott told Jim. “Now let’s make some Southern spirit.” Both men were very proud of their Southern roots and committed to making a product that was as unique as the South. Scott and Jim joined forces and vodka with a Southern accent was born.  Created in a small still on Wadmalaw Island, SC in 2008, Firefly became the world’s first hand-crafted sweet tea vodka. Firefly is distilled four times, infused with tea grown on a plantation five miles from the distillery and blended with real Louisiana sugar cane. Firefly has quickly become a consumer favorite and continues to “fly” off store shelves. Firefly—This ain’t your Grandma’s sweet tea!
www.fireflyvodka.com

Gruet Winery
Albuquerque, NM
The award winning Gruet Winery is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico and produces seven different sparkling wines: Brut NV (non-vintage), Blanc de Noirs NV, Rosé NV, Demi Sec NV, vintage Blanc de Blancs, vintage Grand Rosé, and Gruet’s latest bubbly creation – as homage to his late, great father, and the Gruet Winery’s luxury tîte de cuvée – the vintage Gilbert Gruet Grande Reserve. Gruet also produces two excellent Chardonnays and two Pinot Noirs, both with a regular bottling and an unfiltered barrel select reserve bottling.
www.gruetwinery.com

Gundlach Bundschu
Sonoma, CA
Founded in 1858, Gundlach Bundschu is California’s oldest familyowned winery. Currently run by the sixth generation of the Bundschu family, the historic winery focuses on making small lots of single vineyard, estate-grown, ultra-premium wines from its sustainablyfarmed vineyard in southern Sonoma Valley. This remarkable site at
the base of the Mayacamas Mountain Range is located literally at the crossroads of the Sonoma Valley, Carneros and Napa Valley appellations. The family meticulously farms the vineyard’s steep hillsides to produce world-class Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, while blocks on the cool, clay soils of the valley floor are ideally suited for limited productions of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer.

Sixth generation vintner and president Jeff Bundschu is focused on the future, approaching the vineyards, wines, business and the world with creativity and dedication to excellence. Along with winemaker Keith Emerson, Bundschu is dedicated to the estate vision to take the wines to the highest quality level. Equally important to him is sharing the family’s spirit, culture and rich, personal relationship with the land on
which they live.
www.gunbun.com

Hirsch Vineyards
Sonoma, CA
Hirsch Vineyards is recognized as one of the premier sites for Pinot Noir in the new world. David Hirsch planted his vineyard overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the extreme Sonoma Coast in 1980, and since then it has become one of the leading sources for pinot noir grapes, providing fruit to Littorai, Williams Selyem and Kistler, among others. Since 2002, David has been producing his own estate Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from this complex, cool-weather site. These are wines of balance, concentration, complexity and site-specificity.
www.hirschvineyards.com

Weingut Josef Leitz
Rheingau, Germany
Johannes Leitz is universally regarded as one of the three stars of the new generation of Rheingauers; extraordinarily aromatic, vigorous wines from a vintner who grows more commanding each vintage. Johannes Leitz, or “Yo-zee” is an emotional guy, and he is always in love with his latest vintage; a crush on the crush, if you will. “When I am honest, this is my best vintage ever,” he is wont to say, and he hasn’t an insincere bone in his body. He means it.

His wines are like himself, a mixture of serious and playful, finesse and earthiness, open and robust but also earnest and commanding. They have a remarkable reconciliation of weight, solidity and buoyancy. They tend to run stony, as is the Rheingau type—when it’s true! And they are fastidiously specific in their site characteristics. The dry wines are better than most! Still, almost none of Johannes’ wines taste “sweet.” They have the coiled power of a tightly closed fist. They are intensely fragrant, as though they wished to convince you of something. They are the most exciting wines currently made in the Rheingau.
Weingut Josef Leitz

L’Ecole
Frenchtown, Washington
A family-owned business, L'Ecole Nº 41 was founded by Jean and Baker Ferguson. Today, the winery is owned and operated by their daughter and son-in-law, Megan and Martin Clubb.

Built in 1915, the schoolhouse is located in historic Frenchtown, a small community just west of Walla Walla, Washington. Frenchtown derived its name from the many French-Canadians who settled the valley during the early 1800s. Legend has it, these men of French descent were raising grapes and producing wine. By the 1860s, nurseries, vineyards and winemaking had become a part of the regions' growing economy. The name - L'Ecole Nº 41 French for "the school" located in district number 41 - was chosen to salute these pioneer viticulture efforts.
www.lecole.com

Maker’s Mark
Louisville, KY
It wasn’t until 1840 that the Samuels family got serious about whisky distilling. And that’s when T.W. Samuels, built the family’s first commercial distillery at Samuels Depot, Kentucky. He was known as the “High” Sheriff of Nelson County. The “secret” family recipe was passed from generation to generation, six to be exact.
www.makersmark.com

Maysara Winery
McMinnville, OR
In 1997, Moe and Flora Momtazi purchased 532 acres of abandoned wheat farm just south of their home in McMinnville, Oregon. Though most saw it as wild and uncared for, Moe saw a vital, thriving piece of land that had been free from chemicals for seven years.

They began planting in March of 1998 with three blocks of self rooted Pommard clone Pinot Noir, consisting of 13 acres total. In early spring of 1999, over 120,000 plants were grafted in their greenhouses. These vines were planted towards the end of the summer. They put quite a bit of time and research into planting different varieties in the different soil types found around the vineyard to find the best combinations possible. Today they have over 200 acres of vines planted.

They believe that healthy soil and healthy vines will produce superior grapes, without the need for man-made chemicals and poisons. The quality shows in the wines that they produce. The consistent high quality of the wines made from Momtazi Vineyard grapes leads them to believe that the dedication to the terroir and natural farming techniques is working.
www.maysarawinery.com

Rombauer
Napa Valley, CA
In 1972, the Rombauers moved their family, two horses, and five dogs to the Napa Valley. The chose the area because it reminded them of the small-town, agricultural environment in which they had been raised and it appeared to be a clean, safe place to raise children. They purchase 40 acres of beautiful hilltop land on the Silverado Trail, near the town of St. Helena.

When the Rombauers moved to Napa Valley they had no intention of starting a winery. They did, however, have a great appreciation for the role of wine in the fine dining experience. Koerner’s great aunt Irma Rombauer was author of the internationally renowned cookbook “The Joy of Cooking.” It didn’t take long in their new surroundings before they became fascinated with the wine industry and in 1976 Koerner and Joan became partners in Conn Creek Winery. Koerner learned the wine business first in the cellar, working hand-in-hand with the winemaker and learning all phases of winery operations. By 1980 the Rombauers had become interested in making wine under their own label; they had it custom produced in a neighbor’s winery. In 1981 they sold their interest in Conn Creek and began construction of the Rombauer Vineyards winery on the property adjacent to their home.
www.rombauer.com

Teira Wines
Sonoma, CA
TEIRA™ Wines was founded by Daniel Donahoe and Alexis Woods, whose roots in the wine business go deep. Daniel's grandmother grew up with Julia Child and introduced the two during his first year at Boston University. Over the next four years, Daniel was fortunate to spend a great deal of time learning about food and wine from Julia and ultimately chose a career in wine instead of International Relations.

TEIRA™ Wines was founded in 2002 and is named after Daniel and Alexis’s two daughters: Thea & Keira. They produce high-quality, award-winning wines from Sonoma County, releasing limited quantities of each varietal every vintage. Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot are grown on the western side of Dry Creek Valley, near Healdsburg. Working with growers throughout Sonoma County, fruit is also sourced from the best sub-appellations of the County to produce their wines.
www.teirawines.com

Terry Theise Estate Selections
The Man, the Myth, the Legend! If it is true that the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom, Terry Theise has been there and back. A brief perusal of his writing makes it quickly apparent that the man has no reservations about conveying his thoughts and feelings on wine, life, sex, philosophy and general cosmology. In Terry's world, it's all inter-related. So, without further ado, we encourage you to jump headlong into the wonderful world of Terry Theise's German, Austrian and Champagne Estate Selections. Prepare yourself for a psychotropic experience.
Read more about the man, the myth, the legend

Thomas Creek Brewery
Greenville, SC
Thomas Creek Brewery is situated in the heart of Upstate, SC, creating an array of micro-brewed ales, lagers and bocks. Brewer Tom Davis’ goal is to make the finest hand crafted beers and to please every beer lover that tries a Thomas Creek brew. Award-winning Thomas Creek beers are made using only the finest American barley, hops and yeast. Hand crafted beer since 1998 and family owned and operated, Thomas Creek is distributed throughout South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, winning the hearts and taste buds of beer lovers across the Southeast.
www.thomascreekbeer.com

Vineyard Brands
Vineyard Brands was founded by Robert Haas in 1971, and a remodeled barn on the Haas family farm served as headquarters from the inception of the company until May of 1997.

Today, Vineyard Brands represents over 25 growers of estate-bottled wines in Burgundy, Chablis, the Rhône, Loire Valley, Alsace and Southern France, as well as some of the best wines available from Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Germany and Italy.

All wines are personally selected by Jerry Neff and Daniel Haas, Robert’s son, who continues the tradition of a close family relationship with the French proprietors and makes a number of trips to taste and select wines during the year. All wines are tasted by the management staff before a decision on representation is made.
www.vineyardbrands.com