Companion Wine Co. - 'Skin Contact by Jolie Laide' - Pinot Gris - Contra Costa County, CA - 2022 - 375ml

100% Pinot Gris grapes from Contra Costa County given three days of skin contact yielding a pinky-amber hue that drinks a cross of an orange and rosé, a style the Italians call ramato. Made by Scott Schultz of Jolie Laide winery with the same non-interventionist philosophy he applies to all his wines, native fermentation and no additives save a small degree of sulfites.

Scott Schultz is a Chicago native who began his career by working front of the house in several top restaurants. Following a stint in Thomas Keller's Las Vegas Bouchon he made his way to the sister restaurant in Yountville. From there the logical step was out of the restaurant and into the cellar and in 2010 he took a position working for Pax Mahle. It was there he started experimenting with Trousseau Gris and Melon de Bourgogne and other more obscure varietals on his own.

Jolie-Laide’s wines are captivating because they are anything but typical: using lesser planted varietals like Gamay and Valdiguié grown on vineyards at the fringes of the typical wine regions. In style, his wines are made with minimal intervention and classic technique (whole-cluster, skin-fermented, foot tread) and each year brings a new label from artists that inspire him and seem to fit the vintage.

Companion was born out of the idea that delicious, terroir-driven, natural wine from California could be sold at a cost and in packaging that is accessible to all. This is an endeavor that celebrates Riesling, sunny days, the beach, the park, granite boulders, spicy food, and good friends.
Cali Grapes is a movement started by California winemakers to support sustainable, organic, and biodynamic farming practices amongst the vineyards they work with. The goal is to create awareness around farming practices that provide winemakers with superior fruit allowing them to make more expressive wine. We believe this is the clearest path to making these vineyards both economically and environmentally sustainable for decades to come.