Human. Nature. Hope Well.
Hope Well wine is the alchemy between the natural world, my deep love for this ground and the unsung heroes whose strong hands, hearts and minds have helped me make it.
The landscape knows everything I want to learn in this life. Wine, for me, offers a different dimension of communication with my teacher and mentor, this place. The wordless communication of so many days and lessons culminates at harvest, and you are allowed communion and conversation.
April, 2019
Another year older, the most exciting report I have is on the farm itself. The unceasing devotion to pouring as much redundancy into every physical and biological layer of this ecosystem as we possibly can is transforming what was already a special place into a canvas that paradoxically grows more effervescent and resilient with age. I am taken aback every day by the life that thrums, insistently, vibrating on every frequency, that grows and grows. More diversity, more energy, more love; the vineyard soaks it up like a sponge and pays us back in spades. Every time I tasted these new wines in the cellar, I heard the voice of the vineyard and I resolved to keep doing more.
2017 was the third vintage of Hope Well wine. I am delighted to be able to offer the inaugural 2017 Chardonnay for Hope Well in addition to the 2017 Pinot Noir both of which present all that I could hope for from the efforts we put into allowing the fruit the time that it needs to achieve full, multi-octave resonance even in years like 2017 that are extremely hot and dry. It is now old hat to say ‘another hot, dry season,’ and it might sound like a way of getting in front of high alcohols and low acidity. Not so. The 2017 wines are fresh, nimble and reveal all the layers of Hope Well, the place, as it matures in voice and substance.
Both wines are now available for purchase here: 2017 Chardonnay | 2017 Pinot Noir