the piquette project
Patrick Cappiello
california
story…
One of two spin-off labels from Patrick Cappiello’s flagship project, Monte Rio Cellars. Here focused exclusively on the production of “piquette” wine which has roots that dating back to the late 18th, early 19th century. Piquette, for those unfamiliar, is not necessarily a wine seeing how it is not made with grape juice but instead produced with the leftover pumice from the production of wine that has water added to it which activates any remaining yeast to start fermenting any remaining sugar to create a slightly fizzy, very low ABV wine-like beverage. Historically piquette was produced as way to create an easy drinking beverage for farm hands to enjoy while working the fields, but was also a way to make use of what would typically be pure waste to create a refreshing beverage.
Patrick’s venture into piquette was not all that different than the origin story of piquette, say for it being meant for the farmhands. Piquette continues the overall goal of Patrick’s vision to create honest, affordable wines from California that anyone & everyone can afford to enjoy. All of the pumice used for The Piquette Project wines comes from the production of Monte Rio Wines or from the production from his good friend & collaborator Pax Mahle’s eponymous Pax wines.
