The /We are a Friulano Winery/ Selection

All 6 bottles of our Spring Bottling

All 6 bottles of our Spring Bottling

The /We are a Friulano Winery/ Selection All 6 bottles of our Spring Bottling - LOS ANGELES RIVER WINE COMPANY
$185.00 each $282.00 each
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There is so much to tell you here.

When I started making wine in about 2000, I was tied to Luna Vineyards, in Napa, founded by George Vare and John Kongsgaard. In some ways, the origin of this atypical Napa winery was driven by market research-- but in other ways, it was completely driven by the volcanic personalities, and towering intellects, of George and John.

In an effort to learn how to make Pinot Grigio (which the market research told them to make), they made two visits to Italy and spent days and weeks talking to grape growers and winemakers. Their visit to Friuli held no expectations for either of them. No one had heard of Gravner or Radikon in Napa, perhaps not, in 1996, anywhere in the United States.

George would never be the same. John became an ardent and respectful student of a winemaking world he had never attended to.


On their return to Napa, George planted a Pinot Grigio vineyard at the foot of Mt. Veeder, and a few years later, with the help of Steve Matthiasson, me, and Simonit-Sirch, in their first American consultation, began grafting to it cuttings of Gravner Ribolla Gialla. Eventually, we had a small amount of Tocai Friulano and Sauvignon Blanc in the vineyard too. The aim was to make a noble Friulano white blend from a noble Napa site.


George and I made a few vintages of wine from his vineyard and then went our separate ways. In the summer of 2025, I tasted a 2024 wine made by Arnot-Roberts made from the same vineyard. I was shocked-- I thought that it had been ripped up and replanted to Cabernet. I reached out to Steve. "Ha. The Ribolla was so virused, we couldn't graft anything to it. So we had to leave it in, or rip it out entirely. Do you want some?"


And then, now, in March 2026, as I contemplate the wines that we made in 2025 that are ready for bottling, I see Ribolla Gialla, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. While I was not looking, we became a Friulano winery, once again making noble white wines from noble sites…


The wines of this very Friulano release:


  1. 2025 Il Castello dell'Ovest-- a Ribolla-based blend, with Sauvignon and Chardonnay, in the manner of La Castellada
  2. 2025 Mt. Veeder Sauvignon Blanc, in the manner of Ronco del Gnemiz
  3. 2025 Le Volpi Chardonnay from Foxen Canyon
  4. 2025 La Severita di Bruto Riserva
  5. 2025 La Severita di Bruto Normale
  6. and 2025 The Prince in his Caves-- deeply influenced by Gravner and Radikon

We made some red wine in 2025, it's just not ready to bottle.


There are 84 bottles of the 2025 Mt. Veeder Sauvignon Blanc. We are saving 22 for posterity. That leaves 60 for this selection. We are offering 60 packages of this selection at this price for 48 hours only. Then it will go up to the much more rational price of $250. 




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