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There are few things as lovely as a bright Spring day after an overly dreary Winter, which is why we are excited to greet the new season with the release of our 2018 Vermentino and our 2018 Rosé of Pinot Noir. Bright, crisp, and pleasantly palatable these Jewells of Spring will take you happily into the warmer months ahead. For our very first vintage of Vermentino, the 2018 from the Raymond Burr Vineyard in Sonoma County is a spectacular example of what happens when opportunity meets aspiration. When we first introduced this new wine, it was still aging in the tank and Adrian revealed he could not definitively describe the flavors and aromas of this wine yet due to the sediment and esters from the fermentation process. His hope was to...

In 2011 Joseph Jewell decided it would be fun to create a bottling that was comprised of our three best barrels of Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley. Part of the selection process required us to taste and rate each barrel.  We looked at the color of the wine, the aromas and the palate (attack, mid-palate, and finish); taking detailed notes on each barrel. This was, and remains, the process every year.  In 2011, at the end of our week-long journey of tasting all of our barrels, we felt that we found the elements we needed to create a special Pinot Noir that was comprised only of our three favorite barrels from the Russian River Valley. When selecting our barrels, we think of our ideal Pinot Noir. We want a...

As we welcome the New Year, we are eager to share with you new projects on the horizon for Joseph Jewell. We added a few new wines to our lineup that we are extremely excited about. In 2018 we created three new wines: a Vermentino from Dry Creek Valley and two Pinot Noirs from Humboldt County. The opportunity to create a Vermentino from the Raymond Burr vineyard in Dry Creek Valley presented itself last year and we decided to go for it. We have always love light-bodied white wines with high acid. While Vermentino is not a well know grape varietal here in California, and plantings are limited, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to branch out from what is typical of the region and expand our portfolio. This...

Jewell Box: December 2018 A Look in our Library Joseph Jewell began producing wine in 2006 and since then has amassed a collection of meticulously crafted wines that perfectly showcase the longevity of each wine through their ease of aging, as well as their ability to stand with similar wines of the same vintage and reach acclaim. This month, we take a look in our library and invite you to explore some of our past vintages that have gained both age in the bottle as well as recognition among their peers. We are also including access to larger formats of these wines to showcase the ongoing aging potential that coincides with larger bottles. Most of the wines produced at Joseph Jewell go through an aging process in French oak barrels (12-18 months) before moving...

Jewell Box: November 2018 Gem Series Wines Joseph Jewell produces several award-winning pinot noirs from both Sonoma and Humboldt County and among our many offerings is our prized Gem Series. The Gem Series features three of our special barrel-selected pinot noirs: Rubies, Emerald, and Martini Clone -Old Girls. These wines are made for aging and will be prized additions to any wine collection. Anyone familiar with our wines knows that we adorn our Gem Series bottles with striking white labels, giving these special offerings a look all their own. We also forego the standard foil enclosures in favor of the traditional wax seals—a special touch which signifies the uniqueness of these wines. The Gem Series began with our Rubies, which is our finest expression of pinot noir from the Russian River Valley each year....

Jewell Box: September 2018 Journey to Humboldt Joseph Jewell’s home may be in the esteemed Sonoma County, but its roots extend beyond the region to the north, to the lesser known, but equally as beautiful Humboldt County. Lauded as what may be “the next frontier for great California Pinot Noir,” Humboldt County offers a winegrowing region similar to Sonoma, producing cool-climate wines that rival those of its southern neighbor. Relatively overshadowed in the winemaking world by its California siblings, Humboldt County is a new region to many wine devotees with old region clout. Enjoying the shorter days and cooler temperatures of October, the flavor development in the grapes sourced from this area are on par with wines made in the most prestigious pinot noir growing areas of the world for a fraction of...

Jewell Box - August 2018 Reflecting on the 2011 Vintage: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful The 2011 vintage was seven years ago and while many harvests have come and gone since then, one thing stands true: farming grapes in 2011 had extreme challenges that we have not seen since. We had rain in late spring during bloom and in the early fall, during harvest. The summer heat was tempered, with very few heat spikes (that’s a good thing). With the exception of the rain in early Fall, the growing season was perfect for making beautiful wines that truly express the spirit of the vineyards. Here in California, when we get hot summers the wines tend to be much more full bodied and fruit forward. When we have cooler summers our wines tend to...

Mostly because Adrian was born and raised in Humboldt County and has a great love for the area. The beautiful rugged landscape, redwood trees, the Lost Coast. There are only 150 acres of grapes planted in the whole county. The main reason for this is the rugged mountains do not have lots of shelves and benches to plant on, and where they do, giant trees grow. Adrian noticed at a young age that there are several different climates throughout the county, which is similar to the home of JJW--Sonoma County. There is a persistent fog that enshrouds the Humboldt Bay in the summer, which is quite similar to what we see here in Bodega Bay. That fog is rolls slowly up the broad banks of the Eel River each day, and it...

2012 Dry Creek Valley Grist Vineyard Zinfandel This wine could be exhibit one in an argument that site matters as much as vine age when it comes to growing great zinfandel.  The vines aren’t particu-larly old in the context of California zin. They were planted in 1974 on a hilltop that looks down on Dry Creek Valley on one site and toward the rugged, often impassable ridges of the Coast Range in the other. In 2012, the vineyard’s red volcanic soils nour-ished a wine with unmistakable purity: vivid and tart, with lifted hibiscus and sumac aromas drawn out by the delicate touch of winemakers Micah Wirth and Adrian Manspeaker.  Tasted over four days, this wine continued to evolve without flagging in the least. It builds toward a woodsy red-berry flavor that’s...

This month, our elegant Shiloh Hill Vineyard Chardonnay gets the spotlight. Co-Founder and Co-Winemaker Adrian Manspeaker shares the history of the Shiloh Hill Vineyards and celebrates the release of the 2012 vintage.   With the release of the 2012 Shiloh Hill Chardonnay, I am once again reflecting on Joseph Jewell’s past and the relationships which inspired us to produce a Chardonnay.   Some time after our garage winemaking days, during the summer of 2011, Micah and I were hosting a winemaker dinner at the amazing Scopa Restaurant in Healdsburg. We love these events because they provide an opportunity to showcase our wines and mingle with the patrons. During this particular dinner, we struck up a conversation with Les and Jo Lesniak, a couple found sitting at the bar enjoying our Sauvignon Blanc. We engaged...