We realized recently that it had been far too long since we saw our friend Scott Schultz, owner and winemaker at Jolie-Laide, one of our favorite new California wineries. Fortunately, we got a chance to stop by after our farm stay in Tomales a few weeks ago. After we left the farm, we headed over to for a quick lunch at Zazu, and then met up with Scott.
We’ve been huge fans of Scott’s wines ever since we first tried his Trousseau Gris a few years ago. It has been one of our go-to wines ever since. He’s continually expanded his portfolio to include a range of whites and reds, and we’ve never had one we didn’t like. Besides the wine being amazing, Scott also adorns the bottles with new (stunning) artwork every year. The first vintage we ever tasted had beautiful sketches. Then there were butterflies, and then antique photos. This year features amazing watercolor paintings by Italian artist Sabrina Garrasi.
One of the primary things we love about Jolie-Laide wines is the natural winemaking philosophy and the care and passion with which they are produced. The grapes are grown in select vineyards all over California, picked by hand, crushed by traditional foot treading, and aged to perfection in mostly neutral oak. Oak never overpowers the freshness and acidity in the wines.
We tried a few of Jolie-Laide’s current and upcoming releases. We loved the Pinot Gris, which is both refreshing and complex. We would love it as a poolside wine as much as we would love it on the dinner table with food. We also got a sneak peek of the upcoming fall release, which includes the Trousseau Gris (which we can’t wait to get our hands on), a Grenache, a Grenache/Syrah blend, and a wildly complex Syrah that will complement so many amazing fall and winter dishes. For summer, we paired the Trousseau Gris with this grilled octopus salad.
The wine glasses pictured are by Schott Zwiesel and are are a great option for sturdy, dishwasher safe stemware that is highly resistant to breakage. For wines this complex and meticulously crafted we typically prefer these or these. Jolie Laide wines are not widely available and are allocated, so we highly recommend signing up for their mailing list to secure a few bottles in the next release!
GET RECIPE: Grilled Octopus Salad paired with Trousseau Gris