Patagonia, a purveyor of cult-loved, earth-friendly gear, is veering into the world of wine, extending the Patagonia Provisions line to incorporate pure wines, ciders and sakes.
Why, you weren’t planning on swinging by Patagonia on your comfortable hour bottle? Maybe rethink—the clothes and tenting model introduced aboard two wine trade vets to line up Patagonia-exclusive cuvées from stalwart pure wine producers.
Preliminary choices embody six wines, one Piquette, two ciders and a sake, all curated by Brian McClintic and Vanya Filipovic. A number of extra will observe later within the fall.
McClintic is a grasp sommelier and founding father of Viticole, an internet wine subscription service targeted on highlighting natural wines from around the globe, whereas Vanya Filipovic is a Quebec-based importer and coproprietor-slash-wine director of Montreal’s Vin Mon Lapin.
There’s one query nevertheless: why would a model finest related to sustainably-made fleece pullovers, technical backpacks, and sweat-wicking units lengthen into the wine realm?
In 2012, Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard and Birgit Cameron spearheaded the Provisions extension, initially as a approach to provide like-minded customers snacks for his or her journey: soups, chilis, fruit bars, jerkies and different off-grid grub. Because the undertaking grew, they expanded to incorporate merchandise for not simply out of doors actions, however for each stage of the Patagonia buyer’s day. They stocked conservas from their family-owned, sustainably-focused cannery in Galicia and beers created from natural two-row barley and brewed in partnership with Hopworks City brewery.
True to Patagonia’s do-better ethos, their new associate wineries have deep roots in ecological stewardship. Strategies embraced embody rising inter-row crops—planting wildflowers, native grasses and cereals in between vineyards to advertise biodiversity within the soil, suppress weed development and encourage pure wildlife. These wineries forgo artificial fertilizers that improve greenhouse gasoline emissions and largely use natural remedies for pest management or, let chickens, sheep or waterfowl graze on pests.
“In line with the ideas that drive Patagonia Provisions’ award-winning, responsibly sourced meals, our pure wines, ciders, and sake are produced utilizing restorative farming practices and historical, low intervention fermentation methods,” says Birgit Cameron, co-founder and head of Patagonia Provisions. “Because of this, these drinks assist rebuild broken soils, restore important habitat and draw down carbon—all whereas filling your glass with vigorous, region-specific flavors.”
In his eyes, Patagonia founder Chouinard believes that Provisions is Patagonia’s method of constant to seek out options to environmental points, telling Bloomberg that “it’s not simply one other enterprise enterprise. Meals and agriculture are a matter of human survival.” If the Patagonia buyer cares about what they’re sporting, they doubtless care about what they’re consuming.
This extends to what they’re ingesting.
Patagonia Provisions now sells a vibrant, life-filled Chablis from Château de Béru, made by Athénaïs de Béru on her household’s 400-year-old property. She deserted typical farming methods and transformed to biodynamic practices in 2010, although every little thing continues to be fastidiously aged within the household’s Thirteenth-century chateau. (Athénaïs’ wines are improbable, and can fully redefine your definition of Chablis.)
A bottle of effervescent, easy-drinking Marquette Piquette from Wild Arc’s Todd Cavallo within the Hudson Valley drinks with rustic darkish fruit and zippy acidity. Not aware of Piquette? It’s a low-alcohol, zero-waste wine-ish beverage made by upcycling the grape pomace (the leftover seeds, skins, and pulp that end result after the juice has been pressed), including water, and fermenting it right into a fizzy, recent beverage. Cavallo will be largely credited for the revival of the piquette motion.
Frank Cornelissen’s volcano-bred bottles want little introduction, and Patagonia has launched his rosso—earthy, vibrant, clairet-style pink—and a brooding, floral, mineral-driven rosato. All Cornelissen’s wines are grown on the foothills of an energetic Sicilian volcano. He prefers to age his wines in out of doors tanks or in terracotta amphora, buried in crushed volcanic rock.
Additionally current on Patagonia Provisions is bottles from Meinklang, an all-organic, family-run, biodiverse farm in Austria, and Kindeli, a New Zealand producer making expressive wines bottled largely by gravity and hand-sealed utilizing recycled sugarcane corks.
“We’re so thrilled to deliver collectively this group of vintners and producers for our preliminary assortment of wines, ciders, and sake,” explains Cameron by way of electronic mail. “At Patagonia Provisions we actually are all about bringing folks collectively in a collective motion, all shifting in the identical course, and this assortment of fermented drinks is an efficient instance of that. All of those producers use restorative farming practices and low-intervention fermentation methods. It really embodies the Patagonia Provisions ethos and is one step nearer in shifting the trade ahead — re-examining finest practices in agriculture and in winemaking and hopefully inspiring others to do the identical.”
Wines, ciders, and sake can be found by way of Patagonia Provisions’ web sites, and ship to most states.