L'Angolo Estate and the Chosen Family Label

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What a difference a week makes. I am still recovering from the bumps in the road caused by the ice, but overall, life is getting back to normal. Well, not exactly normal. This week has been a lot about getting to know a little puppy named Globgor. He is a toy Aussie and is an adorable fluff ball full of spunk, energy, and normal puppy stuff. I am not getting into the backstory of his name here, but you know how to get ahold of me if you are curious.

Also, this week there have been announcements of 50-year Oregon Wine webinars to sign up for. Knudsen has a whole series to sign up for along with Adelsheim. I am surprised I haven’t seen more, but I am sure more will be coming down the pike. Can you believe Oregon Wine as we know it is 50 years old? There are still so many hopes and dreams flourishing all over Oregon. One of the books I started during the power outage is Pinot Girl from Maria Ponzi. It blows my mind the level of detail she remembers from age 9 and earlier. There are some great stories, and it warms my heart to see how everyone in Wine Country still helps one another out after 50 years. My desire is for the Wine Community to stay this way and be accessible to everyone who wants to enjoy amazing wines!

Let’s dive into L’Angolo this week. When I first visited the winery in February 2020, it was on a whim to follow one of the main road's blue signs. I hadn’t heard much and didn’t have many expectations. I was pleasantly surprised driving down an unpaved road through the vineyard to be presented with a gorgeous building for the tasting. Being a pre-covid Saturday, the tasting room was busy but not overly packed. I decided to stand at the bar and talked with Izzie, the Hospitality Manager, during the tasting.

As I tasted through the 2017 Estate Chardonnay, the 2017 Estate Pinot, the 2016 Estate Pinot, and the 2017 Reserve Pinot, I had great mini conversations with Izzie, the tasting room manager. I bring this up because the tasting room was busy, but it didn’t feel busy at the same time. One of the conversations we dove into was wine certifications. Izzie’s viewpoint on getting a certification was that she didn’t want to spoil the fun of wine for herself. The conversations were far from the normal “Here is this wine, from so and so.” script. A real, personable conversation about wine is what I always strive for. I left in February with a couple of bottles of wine and a feeling of wanting to visit again.

A year has passed since my last visit, and I still have the same feeling in my heart. Towards the end of summer, L’Angolo partnered with Portland Trailblazer Channing Frye to create the Chosen Family label. I am not going to sugarcoat this. At first, I was thinking this was going to be another celebrity label for celebrity label sake. I was hesitant and never ordered any of the wine. My lack of urgency has left me empty-handed. The first vintage of Chosen Family is sold out.

Doing what I do, I dove a little deeper into L’Angolo and, of course, a little into Channing’s relationship. L’Angolo is Italian for “The Corner.” Chase Renton, the winemaker, is the son of Hollings and Lou Renton. 44 years ago in San Francisco, Chase’s parents met at a corner, where his dad said something like, “I can’t let you walk out of my life.” Growing up in the Bay Area, Chase’s exposure to wine was his dad being a hobby winemaker, but nothing serious. Studying abroad in Florence, Italy, the wine bug started to infest Chase. Chase has done harvest in Italy, Burgundy, and Napa. He even worked in the wine department at Whole Foods in 07 and 08 because he wasn’t sure what he wanted to in life regarding wine. Going back to study in Italy, he helped co-found a 100% Sangiovese winery called L’Ignoto Wine which means The Unknown Wines. Interning at Stoller, Kosta Browne, and Domaine Pierre Naigeon, he decided to move to Eugene with his sister while looking for land to start a vineyard. Luckily enough, Chase found 25 acres in the Dundee Hills. Today there are 20 acres under vine.

Without a mention of the building for L’Angolo would be shameful on so many levels. Lever Architecture built the winery and wanted to create something current, but it is very much about the place along with the history. Thomas Robinson took the lead on the project and said, “The building is expressive of the landscape in the same way that good wine is also connected to the landscape.” When you stop to look at the building from the outside, notice the roof and how it echos the canopy of native oak trees. Being inside the winery, it brings about a feeling of being immersed in the vineyard. Standing at the bar, with two huge sliding glass doors open, you are literally in the vineyard. Such a unique and pleasant experience!

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The general manager for L’Angolo is Jacob or Jake Gray. I would love to know how Jake became part of the team, but wow, what an amazing human. He has a talent for storytelling way beyond anything I can fathom. Coming from the entertainment industry, he worked on a movie called “Golf in the Kingdom” The movie was adapted from the 1972 best-selling book by Michael Murphy. Here is a trailer of the movie in case you are interested like me. I have an unconfirmed feeling, but it seems like Jake brought Channing into the L'Angolo family with a case of L’Angolo wine. Channing was blown away!

Even though Channing and Chosen Family released their label in 2020, it doesn’t mean Channing hasn’t been part of L’Angolo for a bit. In the summer of 2018, The Frye Family Foundation collaborated with L’Angolo in the first annual Give Joy, Get Joy event to deliver healing power to seriously ill kids. Overall, the event raised $40,000 while L’Angolo donated $2/bottle sold in the tasting room. The podcast Road Trippin captured the event for us to reminiscence on.

There is a lot of press surrounding Chosen Family, and I will not repeat any of it here. You know how to use a search engine and get the info you need. I will say they finished up bottling their Rose this week and if you are interested in procuring, sign up for the newsletter on their website.

Let’s talk more about L’Angolo. My second visit was towards the end of October on a Thursday. I mention Thursday because I was the only person tasting, and the sun was out. Oh, how I miss the sun! If you remember, my conversations with Izzie were amazing. During this visit, the conversation level was turned way past 11! Not only did we have a fabulous conversation, but the pours were wondrous. I had the 2018 Chardonnay, the 2017 Estate Pinot, the 2016 Estate Pinot, and the 2017 Reserve Pinot. The Estate Pinots were in barrel for 12 months, where the Reserve was 18 months in barrel. I fell in love with the Reserve and the Chardonnay.

When I think of L’Angolo, it feels like home on so many levels. Driving up to the building, Chase couldn’t phrase it any better, “We aimed for simplicity and for natural beauty” in regards to the winery itself. Having vineyard dogs running around while having marvelous conversations with Izzie makes me want to grab my book Pinot Girl have a seat in front of the fireplace, and sip wine for the next 5 hours. I know I am a broken record every single week, but visiting L’Angolo is unique, fun, and down-to-earth while being classy.

When I visit next time, I have to ask what the story is about the glass Hippo. I think it’s a Hippo, maybe not. If you know the story, please tell me and when you visit, please tell Izzie hi for me and tell her A.J. sent you!

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With Gratitude,

A.J.

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PS - The next #ajsHappyHour is March 9th and it is all about Chard! What are you going to open?

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