The Chenin Blanc used in this sparkling wine comes from Wilson Vineyards, located in the southern Clarksburg AVA in the Sacramento River Delta.
Owned by the Wilson family, this Chenin Blanc vineyard has recently converted to organic farming.
The vines were planted in 1998 and the grapes from this vineyard are characterised by bursts of acidity.
Fermented using indigenous yeast in stainless steel and old barrels, aged for six months and made using the Champagne method.
In order to allow the wine to experience the fruitiness of California and the diversity of Chenin Blanc, the aging period was kept short and the tirage was completed in July 2020 with a dosage of 2g/L.
The brand was founded in 2012 by Alex Pitts, who worked for many years as an assistant winemaker at the Scholium Project, a pioneer in the California nature movement, and then went independent to team up with Martin Winter, who learned winemaking under Leo Steen and was a sommelier at the three-star Michelin restaurant Meadowood in Napa.
In 2019, they were selected as Winemakers to Watch by the San Francisco Chronicle, a national newspaper in the United States, and are currently one of the most promising young duo.
Our motto is to produce high-quality, unique, "California-esque" wines while minimizing human intervention and striving to bring out the individuality of the vineyards to the fullest.
Using their own network, they not only cultivate organically, but also seek out old, unirrigated vineyards and fields that have not yet been noticed. They then use only indigenous yeasts for fermentation, allowing them to fully reflect the natural flavor and individuality of the grape varieties in their wines.
"Maître de chai" is a French (mainly Bordeaux) term meaning head brewer.
Although they are now independent and able to make a living solely from running their own winery, when they first started Maitre de Chef they both worked as winemaker and assistant at other wineries.
The brand name expresses our gratitude to our mentor, who gave us the opportunity to work in the cellar during such difficult times and shared his knowledge of brewing and cultivation with us, as it is thanks to him that we are who we are today.
In other words, "Maître de Chai" is the title that led Alex and Martin to enter the wine industry, and it is their origins.
The label features an illustration from 1883 showing Liberty, the Roman goddess of liberty, and a grizzly bear, the symbol of California, raising a toast.
California adopted the grizzly bear as its state flag in 1911, so this painting was created before that.
The side of the barrel depicts a sailing ship and a worker with a hoe, who made the long journey to the West Coast of the United States during the Gold Rush (1848).
The original illustration had the word "Eureka" written on the side of the barrel, meaning "Found!", and the sides of the wooden wine crate had "Mission," "Pineau," "Riesling," and "Zinfandel" written on the sides, respectively. However, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau did not approve the designs as they were, so the word "Eureka" was removed and the side of the wooden crate now lists the grape varieties used in the wine inside.