Date: May 22, 2009 @ 8:41 AM

We are EnRoute

If being en route implies being on a journey, we qualify, or at least we made it officially public, that due to our love of wine we have embarked on a new winemaking adventure.  We have started EnRoute Winery to make Russian River Pinot Noir and now Mary has removed the gag order so we can talk about it. (If you are a Pinot geek, the EnRoute 2007 “Les Pommiers" will get released this fall.)

Why? You ask.

Among other varieties, we love Pinot Noir. Heck, we have been flirting with it for about twenty-five years! (No, we don't need to examine commitment issues.) In 1984, we got into Pinot Noir when we owned Chateau Chevalier, a historic stone winery on Spring Mountain. I got to blend a distinctive wine made with grapes from Edna Valley's Paragon Vineyards and the Carneros Winery Lake Vineyard. Later we made a Far Niente Pinot Noir but realized we shouldn't stray from our origins of Chardonnay and Cabernet.

Our Pinot dream re-emerged in 2003 with single-vineyard wines at Nickel & Nickel but...then we realized we needed to do more…we had to become part of Russian River. We believe in it and in its wine.

Slowly, we have explored, discovered, purchased, even planted vineyards, added clones and explored what comes together to best express our distinctive house style in the "Les Pommiers" blend of our Russian River Pinot Noir. (Hey it keeps Andrew busy...when he isn't overwhelmed by Mia (brand new first child!))

We unveiled EnRoute this week. Actually, it was fun to talk, taste and reminisce about how we got here, after twenty-five years en route.

www.enroutewinery.com