indian spice is nice

kiki & juan is the new spanish project from john “juan” house (of ovum fame) and his business partner kerin “kiki” auth bembry. they met on a bus in spain in 2011 and formed an instant connection that is expressed in these joyful wines. their wines are certified organic crushers that playfully express the terroir of utiel requena in valencia. kerin sources the vineyards, and john is the consulting winemaker. this is a totally crowd pleasing orange wine made from macabeo accented with some sauvignon blanc (10%), cofermented and macerated ont he skins for almost a month resulting in a vibrant orange color and flavors of apricot, tangerine, and honey, with a slight tannic grip and a salty, pithy texture. 

la boutanche is a collaboration between venerable natural wine importer selection massale and some of their best winemakers, and it's famous for brightly colored labels depicting different imbibing humanoid animals, each one distinct to the corresponding winemakers. winemaker oliver minot is the force behind this cuvée, and is represented on the label by a fun loving porcine figure in a hawaian shirt. olivier is the winemaker at domaine des charbonnieres in southern beaujolais and was the inaugural producer for la boutanche. along with his wife corrine they have been helping to bring recognition to the less well known southern end of beaujolais. made from 100% organically-grown 90 year old gamay from beaujolais sud,, the wine is fermented and aged in concrete tanks, and bottled with minimal sulfur. notes of fresh-picked red fruits like cherry and raspberry with spicy, woody black tea and forest floor notes. it's polished yet totally crushable. and bonus - it's a liter size!

Stolpman Vineyards is a true heritage winery for Santa Barbara County. When Tom Stolpman purchased the land, he was determined that his dream of owning a vineyard would not be on the backs of people being taken advantage of. He asked vineyard manager Ruben Solorzano to employ vineyard workers year-round to provide a steady job, a career, and raise their families with security. Ruben took Tom’s idea a step further: to further engage their workers, he wanted crew members to learn the lifecycle of the vine to become more engaged, and so started a training program in which he gave one Cuadra - a small vineyard block - to his team so they would take responsibility for their land, becoming a farmer rather than just the worker. Beginning with the 2009 vintage, the Stolpmans expanded the Cuadrilla program to blend in more wine from the vineyard in addition to the training Cuadra. Today, 10% of the vineyard’s production goes into the blend, and the profits are returned to the crew members. This wine is ripe yumminess with deep, ripe red fruits, bold, expressive, and rotund all while maintaining a nice kick of freshness and fun.