Matt and Alexis Iaconis met and fell in love whilst working at Napa’s 3-Michelin Star, ultra-luxurious Meadowood restaurant. As someone who’s worked fine dining…let me tell you, that’s not an easy thing to do! Clearly, it was destiny, fate, or just some incredibly fortunate, old-fashioned luck. Matt had previously dreamed of being an astronaut, and Alexis an artist, but life had other plans for the pair. After tearing his ACL whilst studying aeronautical engineering at UC Davis, he added on a wine studies course to cheer him up/ease his pain and immediately fell in love with the notion of terroir and the scientific basis of winemaking. Alexis spent her formative years working in restaurants, eventually forgoing her art school training and enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America (whose notable alum includes Anthony Bourdain, Charlie Palmer, and yours truly…) before pursuing her role as a sommelier. They fell in love over Champagne, splurging on bottles of Krug, Cristal, and the like – leading them eventually to where they are today. 

This Vin Petillant rosé is their entry-level offering – making use of the same fruit and world-class Sonoma vineyards as their single-site, methode champenoise style wines – simply fermented just the once, with less time in bottle (this is all 2021 vintage fruit), and utilizing the classic soda-pop crown cap. This is decidedly fun, with intense and youthful flavors strawberries and cream, Red Delicious apples, and bright Korean pears – all matched by a floral, zesty aroma. The mouthfeel is surprisingly rich and ample for a pét nat, with a bubbly mousse that holds as well as any traditional method sparkler I’ve ever seen!

No sulfur is added during the process, and the blend of 51% pinot noir and 49% chardonnay provides a perfect balance of freshness, ripeness, and zippy minerality making for an ideal aperitif wine. They only made a total of 750 cases, and at just over $20…this is the ideal introduction to their evolving house style! Grab a handful, as we got all we could, but with fantastically fun bubbly like this – can you ever really have enough?