Winery Confidential
An Open Letter to the Ones Who Still Care About What’s in the Bottle You won’t find these wines at your local Costco. Not because they’re rare (though they are). Not because they cost $500.But because they weren’t made for...
Before the Label and the Bottle
And why we’re going back there—just for a moment. Wine’s been around for over 8,000 years. The first records of it come from Georgia (the country, not the state), where people stored fermented grape juice in clay vessels called qvevri....
A note from the founder You don’t need another wine brand.You’ve got grocery shelves full of “award-winning” bottles and restaurant lists priced like rent. But here’s what no one really says out loud:The wine industry is basically a cartel. A...
The Traditional Wine Club Is Ruined
And that's exactly why we're doing it differently. Let’s be honest: wine clubs used to feel kind of fancy. You’d sign up, get some mysterious bottles, and suddenly feel like you were in on something. The idea was charming. A...
The Wine Mafia (And How It Makes You Pay More For The Bottle)
How your $100 bottle got made—and who took a cut along the way It started in the hills of Oregon. A winemaker with dirt beneath his nails and a hoodie crusted in dust walked his rows of Pinot Noir at...
The Sweetest Scam in the Wine Industry
When Austrian winemakers added antifreeze to their vintages—and no one noticed until it was too late. Let’s talk about something that sounds fake but isn’t: in the mid-80s, a handful of Austrian wineries decided their wines weren’t sweet enough. So...
“I’m Not Drinking Any F*ing Merlot”
How Hollywood made Pinot Noir a star and turned wine lists upside down It’s 2004. You’re watching Sideways—the indie flick where two middle-aged guys bumble through California wine country, sipping, sulking, and soul-searching. The movie wasn’t exactly Fast & Furious,...
The Founding Father of Wine (in America)
Thomas Jefferson walked so our sommeliers could run Let’s rewind to the 1780s. America was still licking its Revolution wounds, and Thomas Jefferson—yes, that Jefferson—was off in France, technically serving as a diplomat. But while he was supposed to be...
Pinot‑Gate: The $7 Million Syrah in Disguise
How Merlot rode a red bicycle into American glasses and no one tasted the difference The label said Pinot. Your palate nodded yes. Back in the mid‑2000s, America was knee‑deep in the Sideways craze. Pinot Noir became the sip of...