Aerika inaugural release on March 3

[kevin_s]

I imagine it will have a 3 or 4 in front. Time will tell!

[Paul_Marshall]

For what it’s worth, in speaking with Julia and Rob they are actually farming those sites. Really great people that are doing very cool shit

[Karl_K]

What does Prologue refer to?

[TreyS]

Prologue is an “introductory section of literary or musical work”.
This is the “prologue” release of two wines from vineyards that are not the Aerika estate.
The two vineyards should be somewhat reflective of the terrior of the estate and offer and glimpse into the potential of their future primary release.

[Karl_K]

Will the Prologue wines be made when the estate wine comes online? What will be the first vintage of the estate wine?

Qualitatively how will the estate wines differ from the Prologue offerings?

[TreyS]

They planted the estate in 2022, but I have not seen a definitive date that they will release. They mentioned “a few more years” in a past communication. Same email says that Prologue was originally intended as short term R&D project to explore terroir of Mt Veeder at high elevation. Not sure if working with the sites has changed that plan.

I have not tasted anything though so won’t comment on quality. These are single vineyards though so I imagine the main difference will just be terroir and farming (sourced vs. estate).

[Robert_Dentice]

For those looking for more info on the project @Rohit_B did an excellent write up. I have visited and tasted the wines as well and agree with his take. I am really excited to see what they do with the Mount Veeder terrior.

Napa trip April 2025: Aerika, Beta-Jasud, Nacra, Kinsman-Eades, MOWE, Bergman, Palisades Canyon, Roy Piper, Rivers Marie

Took a quick trip to Napa earlier this month for a few days. Some notes and general thoughts below. Nacra Estate Recommended to me by Ketan Mody, who am I to argue. This is an upcoming wine and estate by Gavin Sharrocks. He is of a similar mindset as Ketan, where farming the right way and making a wine true-to-site is of utmost importance. A trek up some winding roads of Mount Veeder eventually you find the house where he stays. Very happily greeted by his German Shepherd Nala who is a very go…

[kevin_s]

I believe the 2026 vintage will be the first commercial release wine, but I don’t expect it to release for a number of years. It is my understanding that some of the wines from the Prologue program will be deprecated once Estate is fully running. I do believe there are plans to keep a few of the Prologue wines running, just not all four.

[Rohit_B]

Thanks for the endorsement Robert. I can confirm the price will be $170 per in 3 packs.

I do not say this lightly–the wines are excellent and the Wing Canyon is up there with Jasud for me.

[TreyS]

Wow I didn’t realize there were 5 prologue vineyards. Nice. Any idea what the other 3 are?

[kevin_s]

4* not 5. I misremembered.

“Aerika Prologue is a five-year study of four neighboring vineyards above 1400 feet elevation on Mount Veeder.” This is from their site. The other two have not been publicly named.

[Paul_Marshall]

If I recall Rob said they pulled 5 tons of fruit last year. They’re nowhere near to be fully online. Here are some pictures of the property

[Dav3_Dyr0ff]

Re the “other two,” IIRC something was written somewhere that they won’t necessarily be commercially released?

[Mike_Schieffer]

Julia is a good friend of mine and one of the few people I know in the industry capable of farming these vineyards at this high of a level. And with Rob leading the way on the winemaking side, I have no doubt the wines will be impressive.

Another good friend who’s involved in the project told me the estate wines will be significantly higher than initially mentioned price point of $275/btl. That was a somewhat offhanded comment a year ago, though, and I haven’t inquired since.

For whatever any of that is worth.

[T.Phillips]

Has anyone confirmed any of this? It’s all hearsay to me. This all could have changed etc?

I’d be surprised if the estate wine is “significantly higher than 275” at first offer. I mean it could be. Just would be surprised and havent seen anyone who has actually spoken to them about it recently and all seems to be old information or guess work?

Fwiw i took a 3 pack of each of the prologue wines in the Friends and Fam release and they were 510 each and shipping was ground to TN for like 65 bucks

[Greg_K]

@Robert_Dentice

For those looking for more info on the project @Rohit_B did an excellent write up. I have visited and tasted the wines as well and agree with his take. I am really excited to see what they do with the Mount Veeder terrior.

I don’t buy a lot of Napa these days, but like Robert I’m really excited about this project. I know some of the people behind it and I trust them to do a really good job with the wines and (especially) the farming - I’m buying the wines.

[Branson_G_Ropp]

I signed up a while ago and the email said I have been added to the wait list. I’m curious if they expect all these bottles to be spoken for already with early additions to their list? It sounds like I jumped in too late to get an offer but we will see, or maybe I’m just misinterpreting the email.
EDIT: I just misinterpreted the wait list component of the email and I received an offer

[jeremypruitt]

It’s live Just picked up a 3-pack of Wing Canyon.

[kevin_s]

In for one 3-pack of each. Good luck to everyone - they’re lovely wines!

[SilverR]

Heard that both are good but if you had to only pick one, which one would it be?