Fuil Wines

Fuil Wines

1330 Flynn Rd., Unit E, Camarillo, CA 91344
www.fuilwines.com

Region: Camarillo, CA

Owner: Matt and Carolina Espiro Jaeger

Winemaker: Matt Espiro Jaeger

About: Boutique winery using fruit from the Santa Ynez Valley to combine New World flavors with Old World structure.

What is your favorite forgotten grape? Viognier

What was your first experience with a forgotten grape? Not my first, but the revelatory one. I’d largely written off Viognier as flabby and overly sweet in my 20s, then I had a Viognier that was crisp, complex, and still full of fruit and flower from Demetria Estate in the Santa Ynez Valley AVA. That started me on my journey to find and enjoy cool-weather wine in general, and is why Viognier was the first wine I made in my own winery.

What do you love most about the forgotten grapes? They’re not forgotten! They’re usually part of popular Old World blends, but we in the USA have been so conditioned to look for varietal over place, that people don’t recognize them. As an example: I’ve had people ask me what on earth Mourvèdre is, until I ask if they’ve had a Cotes du Rhone or GSM wine. Then suddenly the light dawns.