We’ve been huge fans of Scott Schultz’s wines ever since we first tried his Trousseau Gris some years back. From the beginning, his wines had poise and a level of finesse and precision rarely seen in a young winemaker. 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 bottles with new and rather lovely artwork every year.

Jolie-Laide is a one-man operation based in Sebastopol. His first vintage Scott made 500 cases of wine a year and has slowly ramped that up to about 2400 cases today. The name Jolie-Laide translates loosely to “Pretty-Ugly”, a French term of endearment to describe something that is unconventionally beautiful. Scott’s unique and highly sought-after wines live up to their name.

Scott’s passion for wine was ignited when he moved to Napa from Chicago in 2007. Having had extensive experience in the restaurant business, he switched gears upon his arrival in California to lead the wine program at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon. Working as cellar master as well as Pax Mahle’s assistant winemaker are a few of Scott’s many achievements. He and Pax both share a winemaking space and similar philosophies in discovering unconventional beauty. Scott Schultz does what he loves, and he does it well.

Scott's philosophy of discovering unconventional beauty led him to work with some of our state’s rarest varieties. Homogeneity often leads to mediocrity and he has steered well clear of that. Whether it's his fresh and electric Valdiguie or his exceptionally complex pinot gris, every wine seems to have a sense of place and time. They are both unique and “new” yet somehow speak to an era long gone. An era when California wasn’t an ocean of Pinot, Cabernet and Chardonnay vines and the wines were light on their feet and unpretentiously delicious.

What importer Bowler Wine has to say about this wine...

100% Gamay from two stellar sites in Sonoma County. Las Cimas Vineyard lies on the northern side of the county, where the vines are north-east facing and are planted in Franciscan soils layered with quartz and schist. The second is a brand-new vineyard for Jolie-Laide on the west side of the Fountaingrove AVA (a small sub-AVA bordering Bennett Valley, Sonoma Valley, Chalk Hill, and Russian River Valley). Here the vines are grown in well drained iron rich volcanic soils. Made with partial carbonic maceration before foot crushing whole clusters to complete fermentation. The wine was then pressed to neutral barrique for 6 months and bottled young to preserve freshness and delicate aromatics. 11% abv.