Jolie-Laide Red Wine

About Jolie-Laide Red Wine

Jolie-Laide Red Wine is delicate and lean, mineral-laden, raspberry scented with incense, tobacco, and of course, lots of black pepper. Scott and Jenny may have made one of my favorite red wines released this year. Take two oddball grape varieties for California and add somm-favorite Gamay, then do a partial carbonic fermentation to emphasize the fruit’s brightness and add to the complex spice aromas. Sourced from organic vineyards, this cuvée from the outskirts of Sebastapol is lighter-bodied, aromatic, and fruit-forward.

Trousseau is better known in the Jura region of France, but there are some great natural winemakers taking a chance on the variety and the results have been promising. Cabernet Pfeffer is a mysterious grape variety planted in tiny quantities in California. Not much is known for sure about its origins. It is thought to be a crossing of Cabernet Sauvignon and another unknown variety (maybe Trousseau), and it is thought to have been bred in Los Altos Hills, California, in the late 19th Century, by orchardist and winemaker William Pfeffer. Gamay is everyone’s favorite Beaujolais variety and is grown throughout California, where it is often used as a secret blending partner with Pinot Noir.

About Jolie-Laide

Jolie-Laide is a two-person operation based in Sebastopol, California. The name Jolie-Laide translates loosely to pretty-ugly, a French term of endearment to describe something that is unconventionally beautiful. Founded originally by Scott Schultz, and later joined by his partner Jenny Schultz, their winemaking method is simple: grapes are left whole-cluster, foot crushed, and aged in neutral oak. All ferments are done with native yeasts, for both primary and secondary fermentation. They work with a handful of growers, all of whom farm organically; it is their ability to seek out spectacular vineyard sites which allows them to be hands-off in the winemaking process.

Scott’s passion for wine was ignited when he moved to Napa from Chicago in 2007. Scott began his transition into the winemaking world after a move to Napa for employment as Wine Director at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in Napa Valley. As he explains, “everyone I met was a winemaker, so on my days off I followed people around to see what they were doing.” Before he knew it, he had secured the cellar master job at Realm Winery. That was followed by working with Arnot-Roberts and then joining Pax Mahle in the same capacity working on the Pax and Wind Gap labels. Scott’s passion for winemaking grew so significantly that he decided to start his own project, Jolie-Laide, in 2010. To this day, he shares a winemaking space with Pax and several other like-minded producers in Sebastopol.

One feature to note – the labels change every year, featuring a different artist or art collective. “Our wines are a celebration of the year and seasons in which they are made, always unique and different, no two bottlings are ever the same.”

Scott and Jenny’s approach is a natural one, a less is more ethos. But their keen eye for finding great fruit from only sustainably and responsibly-farmed sites, coupled with an impressive natural talent, leads to consistently delicious wines. As Scott says, “The do-nothing approach isn’t new by any means; it’s just funny how far many have gotten away from it.”