In 2006 we moved to Oregon from Napa, where Brian had been making wine for ten years. We bought property in the Willamette Valley (about an hour outside of Portland).
This Oregon adventure is inspired by our desire to grow grapes, make wine, and to have the space for all of Clare’s animals and Brian’s wacky projects.
We named our farm and winery after our goal to provide a gracious and welcoming table for ourselves and friends, with a cornucopia of hand-crafted food and wine.
And now, almost ten years after we took the leap, we have developed this land into a working farm and built a barn and winery. We feel lucky to live here and we are still in awe and deeply grateful for the chance to build this dream and share it with you!
In 1996 Brian worked his first harvest. Having studied fermentation science at Davis, he took to the process of winemaking easily and loved it.
While working in Napa Valley, Brian learned from some of California's most esteemed winemakers and wineries - Turley Wine cellars, Neyers Vineyards, Blankiet Estate and Marcassin, just to name a few. Brian also spent a harvest working in Australia at Trevor Jones Fine Wines.
These varied experiences have contributed to Brian’s ability to optimize each vintage.
No products found
In the far northwest corner of the Sonoma Coast appellation, near the town of Annapolis, the vineyard sits just five miles from the Pacific Ocean, and provides a poignant setting for producing pinot noir with elegance, great precision, and intensity.
Review:
-James Suckling 97 Points
This new-wave Rioja (see below for info) is a blend of Tempranillo, Graciano and Garnacha. It combines maturity and complexity with freshness and elegance. Theres a core of dark plummy fruit, with some cherry notes, spice and earthiness and lovely ripe tannins giving complexity and body.
This is perfect with grilled lamb chops and salsa verde
Rioja has traditionally been defined by its ageing. Wines would be blended from across the region and quality would be defined by a wines age - vineyards and regionality were not considered important. Now, theres a new movement in Rioja where new wave producers are pushing to label the wines from their villages and regions highlighting the difference in the terroir and individual parcels.
Creaciones Exeo is part of this movement , stepping away from traditional methods, to produce fresher styles of wine with a lesser reliance an oak influence. The important thing here is hard work in the vineyard to produce great fruit.
Located in the area of Labastida, Rioja Alavesa (this village is labelled on the bottle, until very recently producers were not allowed to do this), Carlos works with 24 hectares of the highest altitude vineyards of the area. In the shelter of the Sierra Toloo, the vines benefit from Atlantic influences and the soils here are mainly chalk and limestone which all help to give elegance the wine.