“Bottled poetry” represents our goal: wine that equals poetry in artistic expression. In one very important way, wine can offer more than a poem, wine is truly alive. Wine is fermented, not distilled. It changes in the bottle, evolves in the decanter and leaps on the tongue. Wine is opened to celebrate the milestones of our lives, our personal vintages, our birth years and anniversaries. Because of this, we launch new ventures, toast the coming year, embrace a new love with  “liquid poems.”

How do we approach our craft?
When you pull the cork from a bottle of Poem Cellars, you will notice the Haiku printed on it, a tacit reminder of our relation to and inspiration from art. We celebrate this connection. In fact, every decision we make about grapes, barrels and corks corresponds to our expectation that our wines will be part of a the celebration at your table.

Why do we call ourselves Poem Cellars?
It is remarkable to read the entire passage from Stevenson’s Silverado Squatters (1883),  the source of our name and observe his other ideas that have come to pass.

“Wine in California is still in the experimental stage; and when you taste a vintage, grave economical questions are involved. The beginning of vine-planting is like the beginning of mining for the precious metals: the wine-grower also ‘Prospects.’ One corner of land after another is tried with one kind of grape after another. This is a failure; that is better; a third best. So, bit by bit, they grope about for their Clos Vougeot and Lafite. Those lodes and pockets of earth, more precious than the precious ores, that yield inimitable fragrance and soft fire; those virtuous Bonanzas, where the soil has sublimated under sun and stars to something finer, and the wine is bottled poetry: these still lie undiscovered; chaparral conceals, thicket embowers them; the miner chips the rock and wanders farther, and the grizzly muses undisturbed. But there they bide their hour, awaiting their Columbus; and nature nurses and prepares them. The smack of Californian earth shall linger on the palate of your grandson.”

Indeed Napa Valley found a Columbus, Robert Mondavi, and the Paris Tasting of 1976 very much put the lingering taste of Napa wines on the palates of the grandchildren of Stevenson’s readers, 93 years after he wrote those words.

At Poem Cellars we think of ourselves as “prospectors” in the modern wine world. We seek to craft beautiful and articulate wines that elevate and reward the senses. We are delighted to share our “bottled poems” with you. We welcome your comments on our wines and implore you to send us your poetry.