“Life must be lived forwards but can only be understood backwards.” -Kierkegaard

Once & Future is the new project from California wine pioneer Joel Peterson of Ravenswood fame.

In late 1972, Joel met Joe Swan and was given an extraordinary chance to learn the art of winemaking. Joel was a complete novice when it came to the craft but not when it came to wine. Joe’s fastidious winemaking techniques played out the theories of his tasting experiences with real-world creation. Grapes from carefully selected and cultivated vineyards were harvested at ripeness but not over ripeness. They were fermented in small 3-4 ton open top redwood fermenters and punched down by hand. The processing was minimal and the storage in small, newly imported French oak cooperage.

When Joel started Ravenswood in 1976, he wanted to focus on Zinfandel and planned to make single vineyard wines in a somewhat gothic, old-world style. It was his hope to make wine similar to that made in Europe but with a Californian twist. Small open top, redwood fermenters, hand punch downs, extended macerations, native yeast, gentle transfer, minimal processing, and small French oak aging – all done by hand. He thought the winery, if he was lucky, would grow to six or seven thousand cases. The success of Ravenswood dwarfed those initial hopes, and Joel definitely learned a thing or two about vintage variation both in the vineyard and in life. He is enormously proud of the wines he made at Ravenswood, from those wines that hopefully sing of place—Old Hill Ranch, Dickerson, Belloni, Barricia, Teldeschi—to the more economical wines that hopefully helped turn a couple of generations of people onto the joy and deliciousness of well-wrought wine. However, after nearly 45 years in the wine business, he felt it time to look backwards.

Once and Future Wine Company is a return to the original vision Joel had for Ravenswood so many years ago. A project that specializes in wines from special vineyards made with a sensitivity to place and in a style that he personally loves and believes in. Wines that force him to dust off the old redwood vats and get out a new punch down tool (his original is in the Smithsonian); wines that dye his hands that harvest shade of black/purple and sometimes force him to take an additional Advil some mornings. In short, wines of sweat, exertion, and love.