Who We Are
Matthew & Amanda.
We're building this for a long time.
Who We Are
A multi-decade family business.
Matthew has been chasing wine since childhood, a family with bottles open at every gathering, uncles arguing about Mondavi, his mother quietly drinking the '82 Dom Pérignon his father brought home and promptly fell asleep next to. Amanda is the partner without whom none of this happens. Together, with our children, we are building a sparkling wine and cider house in Western Missouri.
We are planning a multi-decade business. Not a vintage-by-vintage project, not a startup looking for an exit. Quality above quantity. The long way. We are planting for our grandchildren.
How We Got Here
Wine in the blood.
Wine fills glasses, starts conversations, and occasionally starts fights. It also brings people together. That is what wine has always been in our family, the through-line, from Aldi reds to grand cru, from Tuesday nights to Christmas Eve. The full version of how this got here is in the journal.Wine in My Blood →
The Next Generation
Teaching the kids.
Our children, Theo, Avery, Reece, and Rian, are part of this from the start. Theo and Avery are already at it. They have helped pick apples and grapes, run them through the press and crusher, and worked all the way through to bottling and labeling.
All four will learn how to prune, how to read soil, how to taste critically, how to run a business honestly. We also intend to open this to local kids, and possibly to the local school, which has just started a food science program. A working farm and cellar is a place to learn how a real business works, decade by decade, season by season.
The Land
Aaron's farm.
None of this exists without Aaron, Matthew's brother-in-law, who is making the land available for us to plant on. He is a partner in this in a real sense, steward, collaborator, family. We thank him publicly here because his contribution should not be invisible.
The Plan
What we're building.
"We are building the American sparkling house in Missouri, the birthplace of American wine. Our work is defined by structure, time, and the disciplined blending of exceptional fruit."