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Author: Adrian Manspeaker

29 Dec

Posted at 22:01h in Uncategorized
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Reflecting on 2025: A Year of Challenges, Growth, and Milestones at Joseph Jewell Wines 2025 has been an interesting year for the wine industry. Truthfully, this business has never been easy to navigate, and starting Joseph Jewell Wines during the Great Recession taught me early on how to handle uncertainty and bumpy roads. That experience has proven valuable once again. While there has certainly been turbulence this year — from shifting consumer habits to continued pressure across the industry — the ups have outweighed the downs. Looking back, there’s a lot to be proud of. Here are a few highlights from the past year. National Recognition One of the biggest personal and professional honors this year was being named one of Imbibe Magazine’s “75 People to Watch.” It was incredibly humbling to be recognized...

24 Jul

Posted at 17:17h in Wine
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Capturing the True Character of Pinot Noir At Joseph Jewell, I’ve always believed that great wine starts in the vineyard—and native yeast fermentation is one of the purest ways I know to honor that philosophy. Every vineyard has a story to tell, and it’s my job to capture that story in the bottle. Each year, I produce ten single-vineyard Pinot Noirs, each from a unique site scattered across the diverse landscapes of Sonoma and Humboldt Counties. No two vineyards are the same: soils shift, slopes roll, exposures vary, and winds and marine influence leave their mark. Then there’s the vintage itself—each season bringing a different pattern of weather, shaping a new set of building blocks. My goal is to craft wines that express both the best of the vineyard and the truth of...

17 Mar

Posted at 23:52h in Wine
1 Like

I've played around with whole-cluster fermentation in Pinot Noir for years, but in 2022, I fully committed to it. After seeing how it enhanced structure and complexity in small experimental batches, I realized its potential as a key tool for expressing terroir. That year's vintage, with its ideal balance of ripeness and stem lignification, was the perfect opportunity to go all in. This old-school technique—fermenting grapes with their stems still attached—is making a big comeback among winemakers looking to add serious depth and complexity to their wines.   What is Whole-Cluster Fermentation? Instead of removing the stems before fermentation, we keep the entire grape bunch intact. This simple decision has a huge impact on the final wine, influencing everything from texture to aroma to the way the tannins feel on your palate. At Joseph...

09 May

Posted at 00:09h in Wine
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2022 marks the 16th year of Joseph Jewell Wines. Making wine is certainly a labor of love and having a community who supports us through the ups and downs has been a true honor. I’m proud that this small wine business has brought joy to so many. On behalf of myself, my wife Lily, and our three daughters, we want to thank you for your friendship and patronage. Never in my grandest dreams did I imagine where Joseph Jewell would go when we made that first barrel of Russian River Pinot Noir in my little garage in Windsor, California. For one, I was illusioned under the guise of, “if you make it they will buy it.” I know now that is far from fact. The old industry adage, “making wine is...

08 Sep

Posted at 18:41h in Vineyards
2 Likes

Just outside the town of Healdsburg, the 38 sustainably farmed acres of the Bucher Vineyard produce elegant and nuanced Pinot Noir for our single-vineyard bottling of the same name. Owner and farmer John Bucher has made quite a reputation for himself as a winegrower in the Russian River Valley, with the likes of Williams Selyem lobbying for fruit annually from his Westside Road estate that overlooks the Russian River. Being neighbors with the coveted Rochioli Vineyard to the south, it is easy to understand why the grapes from Bucher Vineyard are held in such high regard. We've been sourcing fruit since 2014 from a steep hillside block on the west edge of the property along with a smaller block towards the bottom of the slope adjacent to Westside Road. Bucher History As a...

03 Sep

Posted at 17:53h in Wine
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The similarities and differences in Pinot Noir Clones grown in Humboldt County and Russian River Valley made by Joseph Jewell Wines. In part one of our Comparing Pinots series, we explored the differences and similarities between growing Pinot Noir in Humboldt County and the Russian River Valley in regards to acreage, soils, and climate. Read through it here if you missed it. In part two, we’ll discover how these differences and similarities manifest in the final wines of each of Joseph Jewell’s single-vineyard Pinot Noirs. We’ll break them down by their clone which will lend further understanding to where flavors and aromatics originate.   Clones Something that many wine enthusiasts don’t know about Pinot Noir is that it comes in many sizes, colors, flavors, and aromas. You can almost think of Pinot Noir as the...

26 Aug

Posted at 19:11h in Wine
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Comparing Pinots: Part 1  The similarities and differences in geology and geography between Humboldt County and Russian River Valley Pinot Noir made by Joseph Jewell Wines.   Acreage Before we begin our deep dive comparison between Humboldt County and Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, it is important to have an understanding of the size of areas we’re discussing. Humboldt County is roughly 200 miles north of San Francisco with Del Norte County at its northern border, Mendocino County on its southern border,Trinity County to its east and ~150 miles of fog-shrouded Pacific coastline. Humboldt is ~2.5 million acres in total with a measly 150 acres of grape vines planted majority of which are in southern Humboldt County with one AVA (American Viticultural Area), Willow Creek, containing 30 acres in the northeastern part of the...

05 Aug

Posted at 21:51h in Wine
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Where Does Vermentino Come From? If you ever venture to old-world Europe, keep your eyes peeled for wines by the name of Pigato (Liguria, Italy), Favorita (Piedmonte, Italy), or Rolle (Provence, France). All of these are localized names for Vermentino.  When exploring the Mediterranean basin you’ll find these common Vermentino names from Provence and Piedmont, to Tuscany and the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. All of these warmer climate regions near the Mediterranean provide Vermentino the optimal growing conditions with plenty of UV light to ripen easily and cooling winds from the sea. As California's wine growing regions boast a “Mediterranean climate,” you can often find great examples of Southern France and Northern Italian grape varietals. While Vermentino isn’t as common in these parts, varietals like Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, Barbera, Nebbiolo, and...

26 Jul

Posted at 15:16h in Wine
2 Likes

Thanks to our very brief history of rosé, we know that rosé has been made around the world for quite some time now. But how exactly is it made? Traditionally there are three ways to make rosé. Depending on who you talk to, you’ll get a different answer as to which is the “best” way to make it. Essentially, winemaking doesn’t really have any hard-and-fast rule to what is “correct.” There are rough guides of how to do things, but part of the beauty of winemaking is that it's a blend of art and science. Everyone has their interpretations, and that’s okay. As the saying goes, “ask four different winemakers a question, you’ll get 16 different answers.”   For the most part, rosé is made in the following ways… courtesy of Wine Folly Direct...