Southold

Southold An American wine growing family on an adventure in Bordeaux. Our hope and goal are to make wines that speak of a place, speak of a year; that we want to drink.

Been spending a few weeks at wine events/tastings around France. Before going to the Loire, I heard the same comment mor...
03/02/2026

Been spending a few weeks at wine events/tastings around France. Before going to the Loire, I heard the same comment more than once: the whole fair “scene” is passé. Played out.

I don’t buy it.

I met dozens of winemakers I’d never crossed paths with. Tasted wines that shifted how I think about regions I thought I knew. Had real conversations, not networking, just people talking about what they’re trying to do and why it matters.

This work is hard enough without retreating into fiefdoms. Once the instinct kicks in to protect turf, dismiss newcomers, or write off the old guard, things start to calcify.

What I saw in the Loire was the opposite. People showing up. Pouring for each other. Being curious. New producers learning from growers who’ve farmed the same parcels for generations. Established names tasting first vintages with genuine interest.

If wine has a future worth participating in, it’s that one.
Not the version where we hide out and decide who’s in and who’s out.

The door should be open.
In both directions.
(As always I forgot to take more pictures)

The weeks go fast in winter. A time for maintenance, both professionally and personally. A time for learning, a time for...
28/01/2026

The weeks go fast in winter. A time for maintenance, both professionally and personally. A time for learning, a time for reconnecting, a time for being outside, the work will soon begin again, so we maximize this time of year. I know I’ve done a good job when I realize how few pictures I took of all those times, living in it rather than documenting it. It’s a shame carpe diem is such a cliche, then again f**k it, carpe diem.

Spent the day tasting through 2025. Every barrel given its chance to introduce itself, blind, on its own terms without m...
17/01/2026

Spent the day tasting through 2025. Every barrel given its chance to introduce itself, blind, on its own terms without my own biases. I still don’t know what came from where, but I’ll sit with these for the next few days, listening to what they have to say about last year. This isn’t so much about blending or anything like that, but more about being present and open to what the wine wants to say now, in this moment, instead of me trying to steer it down whatever path.

“2016, Why does it feel like yesterday?” Said the old man.
15/01/2026

“2016, Why does it feel like yesterday?” Said the old man.

When people talk about “terroir,” too often it’s as if a vineyard is supposed to fit neatly into a single idea. Limeston...
14/01/2026

When people talk about “terroir,” too often it’s as if a vineyard is supposed to fit neatly into a single idea. Limestone! Slate! Schist!

Of course the reality is something messier (not “good” soil versus “bad” soil) and also more interesting.
Here are three very different soils, feet apart ( in our Le Pelan block), governed by varying degrees of clay, sand and limestone influence but behaving nothing alike.

Sure, you can try to farm them the same way. They just won’t give you the same thing.

We’re still listening.

But it’s already clear that patience isn’t always about waiting, sometimes it’s also about reconsidering what belongs where.

I wrote about risk, connection, and why the anti-alcohol movement is wrong about all of this. Link in bio.
11/12/2025

I wrote about risk, connection, and why the anti-alcohol movement is wrong about all of this. Link in bio.

Looking at this photo from our very first wine release in 2014, I barely recognize the two people staring back. We had n...
14/11/2025

Looking at this photo from our very first wine release in 2014, I barely recognize the two people staring back. We had no idea if anyone would care about what we were making.

This week in Austin answered that question completely.

Tuesday at Otto’s in Fredericksburg, then yesterday through twelve restaurants and friends, ending at Bar Toti/Este where we ran out of wine. And throughout the week, hundreds of shipments going out to people across the country… many of them with us since the very first days.

These weren’t just events. This was a homecoming with people who’ve stuck with us through everything. Long Island to Texas to Francs. Every impossible turn.

You didn’t just buy wine this week. You showed up. Wine club members who’ve been with us from the beginning. Friends who believed when we were still figuring it out. People who waited while we planted roots in Bordeaux. Those who’ve trusted us enough to order sight unseen, vintage after vintage.

Coming back to Texas with these bottles, with everything we’ve learned in Francs, with estate fruit finally on the horizon, it feels different now. Not because we’ve proven anything to critics or the industry. Because we’ve proven it to ourselves. And because you were there to prove it with us.

The couple in this photo would be stunned by what happened this week. The couple we are now understands: this is what it looks like when you make something that matters to people. When you choose conviction over convenience, again and again, until the path you’re on is undeniably your own.

Thank you for showing up. Thank you for believing. Thank you for making these few days everything we needed them to be.

Harvest photo dump. 2025 was a dream and a blur. Stoked for what’s in barrel already. But now it’s time to take the 2024...
16/10/2025

Harvest photo dump. 2025 was a dream and a blur. Stoked for what’s in barrel already. But now it’s time to take the 2024s to the USA. See you very soon.

Le P’tit Rouge is the first red we make every vintage. Earlier picks, before the fruit warms up and gets plush. It’s how...
07/10/2025

Le P’tit Rouge is the first red we make every vintage. Earlier picks, before the fruit warms up and gets plush. It’s how we figure out what the year is giving us.

2024 gave us forty-year-old vines with structure and a cool growing season that kept everything taut. Deep ruby color that looks powerful, then opens with fruit that’s neither cranberry-tart nor currant-sweet, somewhere between the two, if you could combine them. Whole cluster fermentation, mineral backbone, enough elegance to keep you pouring after the food’s gone.

This is for those dinners where platters spill off the edges of the table. Potluck or someone went ham on the grill.

Not courses, just food everywhere.

Drink it now or wait five years. 4,620 bottles. Worldwide.
 
The Work:
* 40-year-old merlot on mixed soils
* Hand-harvested at 12% potential alcohol
* 30% whole cluster fermentation
* 10-month aging in neutral French oak

There’s a hidden gully on the property, you can’t see it until you’re in it. Rocky, cool even in summer, surrounded by w...
07/10/2025

There’s a hidden gully on the property, you can’t see it until you’re in it. Rocky, cool even in summer, surrounded by wild fig and cherry plum trees. It’s where we go to disappear for lunch on hot days in the vineyard.
Rouge Clair tastes like that spot. Clairet (a traditional Bordeaux style, lighter than red, deeper than rosé) used to be made everywhere here, then it vanished. The 2024 vintage, cool and tense, gave us 100% merlot that tastes like rocks and herbs instead of plums. Mineral, nervy, racy but ripe.
It’s the wine you want when it’s not time for a red wine but rosé feels too light.
Drink it cool but not cold. 2,740 bottles. Worldwide.

The Work:
* Location: Francs 
* Variety: Merlot from 40-year-old vines
* Fermentation: 48hr maceration, fermentation in concrete tanks
* Aging: 9 months in neutral French oak
* Alcohol: 12.5%
* Production: 2,740 bottles

07/10/2025

A quick message of thanks to the mailing list and to let you know the new wines are available now for purchase in the USA (shipping Nov 11th) and France. Also, I did my best to edit out the “ums”.

Adresse

Bordeaux
33570

Notifications

Soyez le premier à savoir et laissez-nous vous envoyer un courriel lorsque Southold publie des nouvelles et des promotions. Votre adresse e-mail ne sera pas utilisée à d'autres fins, et vous pouvez vous désabonner à tout moment.

Contacter L'entreprise

Envoyer un message à Southold:

Partager

Type