Solano Cellars
Friday, March 21
5-8 PM
$25 ($15 Club)
Last year, we featured the wines of Pierre-Jean Villa, the counter-culture, modernist renegade, and pioneer of sustainable, permaculture-based viticulture in the Northern Rhône, at the bar; they sold out almost immediately (and when we scrambled to restock to fulfill the ongoing demand... sold out again). Now, we’re thrilled to welcome Pierre-Jean’s daughter Pauline, who alongside her brother Hugo, is launching a newly established range of wines that represent a new generation taking hold in the Rhône.
Pauline & Hugo grew up immersed in wine culture in the northern Rhône village of Chavanay, at their father’s hip in the vineyards. But while their approach to winemaking is unavoidably shaped and influenced by Pierre-Jean, they consciously embarked on making wines reflective of their generation. Theirs emphasize camaraderie, joy and drinkability—bistro wines, they say, in contrast to Dad’s more serious and stern stuff meant for the cellar and fine tablecloths. They work with many of the same vineyards that Pierre-Jean has tended for years—ancient, terraced, often impossibly old and remarkably steep - and borrow the best from the traditionalists and from the modernists in equal measure, to make wines that are clean, pure, deep, mineral, and transparently of their place.
That means for every Crozes-Hermitage with breadth and structure, or Saint-Joseph with expressive spice and density of fruit, there’s a cheerful, charming co-ferment of Syrah and Viognier. There’s the tension and texture of Condrieu, as serious and classic as they come; but there’s also a crystalline, fresh, nervy Marsanne from the Collines Rhodaniennes, easygoing and affable in a way that belies its nuance and complexity.
This Friday, we’re pouring through their newly released range. If you loved Pierre-Jean’s wines, you won’t want to miss this!
*No reservations necessary