Living in the San Francisco Bay Area for most of our lives, we have spent a great deal of time exploring the Northern California coastline from Monterey to Mendocino – rugged fog shrouded coast terrain, beautiful bays to explore via kayak, and challenging hiking trails with beautiful vistas. No matter the outing, we know that the late afternoon will most likely include an increase in wind velocity accompanied by a rolling bank of fog, rushing through the Golden Gate, rolling over the coastlines, and filling in the Sonoma hillsides and Mendocino's Anderson Valley. Although this unique fog phenomenon may be totally unexpected and a surprise to new summer visitors, it is a primary factor of what makes this region prime terroir for such exquisite Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
We began our entry into the world of winemaking in the late 1990’s while living in beautiful Marin County. Through the guidance of a local wine making supply merchant, we ordered zinfandel grapes from Amador County, crushed them in the store’s parking lot, transported them to our home’s garage where we inoculated yeast — and witnessed the transformation of those beautiful grapes into our first wine! The perfume of this natural process permeated not just the air – but our enthusiasm for wine making. What an amazing experience! I guess we should have used the French term connoting innovative small volume wine makers -- and called ourselves “garagistes!”
From there, the next year we had the opportunity to bid on a charity auction item with several friends: the creation of a barrel of wine in Napa County – this time under the mentorship of a professional wine maker. He guided our weekend efforts over the period of a year or so -- all the way from picking zinfandel grapes on a very hot day to bottling the finished product. We worked with him again the following season to create a cabernet -- which turned out quite well.
The wine making bug took hold! After reading about the creation of Crushpad, a custom crush facility in San Francisco, we decided to move to a higher level of wine making by “adopting” a barrel of pinot noir from a prized vineyard in the Anderson Valley appellation of Mendocino County. In working closely with the winemaker, we loved the experience and learned so much! And our friends bought most of that barrel of wine because they really liked it! In fact, some of them asked for more. That experience gave us encouragement to move to the next step.
In early 2007, we launched August Truth, LLC, as our own small production boutique winery – after having the opportunity to procure premier pinot noir and chardonnay grapes for our first harvest in the Fall of 2007. Since then, we have also been very fortunate in being able to contract for similarly exquisite grapes for our 2008 and 2009 vintages.
To do this, we have once again partnered with Crushpad – with their extensive viticulture management experience and an intense passion for winemaking. We found those qualities in our Consulting Winemaker Chris Nelson and his winemaking team. Not only does Chris bring technical knowledge to the project but he also brings extreme energy and focus to craft the most exceptional wines possible! He has been a valuable sounding board for every decision we make – urging us to keep to our vision and follow our noses and palates – so that each vintage of August Truth has been carefully nurtured from crush to cork, including the use of wonderful Francois Freres French oak barrels.
From the moment we set out on this new venture, our guiding principle has been
In Vino Veritas – truth in wine. We narrowed our focus to craft wines which best express the natural characteristics of the very unique pinot noir and chardonnay grapes grown in our specially selected coastal vineyards between the Pacific Ocean and inland valleys.
beautiful bays to explore via kayak, and challenging hiking trails with beautiful vistas. No matter the outing, we know that the late afternoon will most likely include an increase in wind velocity accompanied by a rolling bank of fog, rushing through the Golden Gate, rolling over the coastlines, and filling in the Sonoma hillsides and Mendocino's Anderson Valley. Although this unique fog phenomenon may be totally unexpected and a surprise to new summer visitors, it is a primary factor of what makes this region prime terroir for such exquisite Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The wine making bug took hold! After reading about the creation of Crushpad, a custom crush facility in San Francisco, we decided to move to a higher level of wine making by “adopting” a barrel of pinot noir from a prized vineyard in the Anderson Valley appellation of Mendocino County. In working closely with the winemaker, we loved the experience and learned so much! And our friends bought most of that barrel of wine because they really liked it! In fact, some of them asked for more. That experience gave us encouragement to move to the next step.
To do this, we have once again partnered with Crushpad – with their extensive viticulture management experience and an intense passion for winemaking. We found those qualities in our Consulting Winemaker Chris Nelson and his winemaking team. Not only does Chris bring technical knowledge to the project but he also brings extreme energy and focus to craft the most exceptional wines possible! He has been a valuable sounding board for every decision we make – urging us to keep to our vision and follow our noses and palates – so that each vintage of August Truth has been carefully nurtured from crush to cork, including the use of wonderful Francois Freres French oak barrels.
stages of the process, from securing harvests from hard-to-access vineyards like Hein in Anderson Valley and Gap's Crown in Sonoma County, to guiding us on cooperage and bottling. In addition to winemaking, their support team has worked with us to design the label and support our marketing and sales efforts.
Adam was raised in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, brought up to appreciate the dark, gnarly, ancient stuff. But it wasn't until he was studying literature in Los Angeles that he first fell in love with wine. And it was Santa Rita Hills Pinot that did it. After that, Adam decided to pack up and move to Oregon to make Pinot Noir & Chardonnay.