Abiouness Winery

If you've followed the history of the winemaker, you will find us in the year 2000. Still working as cellar master at Luna Vineyards with my first batch of grapes in barrels aging beautifully, I hear about ten rows of old vine Pinot Noir from Carneros that are up for sale. So I hastened to get everything ready, made it through harvest smoothly, but soon realized that I had way too much wine for my friends and family to drink! That meant I now had to form a company, design a label, and get out and sell all that fermented grape juice! And so, the beginnings of Abiouness Wines. The name I chose, you might have figured out, is my beloved last name (compliments of a Lebanese father). Since it is not one of those easily pronounced names, like Smith, I decided it would be best to have something else on the label to catch the eye. I decided on the lotus flower. A variety of waterlily, the lotus rises in the morning from the muddy waters to open its perfectly symmetrical petals symbolizing the creation of life; purity, resurrection and perfect beauty; the union of bliss and emptiness, night and day, male and female. The closed lotus bud signifies potential. From there I think of the closed buds popping from the bare shoots in the spring. And the beautiful process of growth and ripening begins. It is my mission to work closely with the growers in order to optimize the potential the grapes already possess and allow them to express their true nature. That leads to minimal intervention in the winery: hand-sorting, minimal to no pumping, hand punchdowns, uninoculated, juice that is then left unfined and unfiltered until bottling. There is no 5 year plan- just making wine for now!

 



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