The Octopus: a Sparkling Albariño

Let’s pop a red cap and get into the bottle with CARBONISTE Winemakers, Dan and Jacqueline Person. These questions go deeper and get bubbly as they share more about CARBONISTE, winemaking, and wine drinking.

Can you tell us more about the Octopus, the sparkling Albariño?

The idea of CARBONISTE started around a table with a desire to highlight the bright fresh character of California wine grape varieties. In the French tradition, champagne is made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and sparkling wine houses in California follow that tradition. However, through experience in working with California fruit, Dan and Jaqueline realized that sparkling wine can be so much more than your traditional champagne. California fruit has a character all its own and should be celebrated. The first wine created at CARBONISTE, the Octopus is a sparkling Albariño that is starting a sparkling revolution. Watch or read below as Dan and Jacqueline share more about the Octopus, sparkling Albariño, and how it started it all at CARBONISTE.

Jacqueline: The Octopus was our first wine that we ever made. When we released it the first time it sold out in two weeks. And that’s how we knew we were on to something. I’ve been making wine with grapes from this vineyard for years. Making still wine. Don’t you remember every year I would bring it home?

Dan: Every year!

Jacqueline: Haha. He’d be like. Hmmmm. This tastes pretty good. Do you know what it needs in it? It needs some bubbles!

Dan: We had taken a trip to Portugal and seeing some examples of sparkling Albariño there, it was like “wow”. Here is something you don’t really see in the US market. It doesn’t really exist here. We know where there is some great Albariño grown in California. Like, let’s just try it. You know. Let’s get a couple of tons and make a hundred cases of it. If it doesn’t work? You know?

Jacqueline: I remember sitting down and trying to figure out what the label should be for this wine. And Dan and I both came to it together at the same time that it should be an octopus. They are really, really cool creatures.

Dan: Ya. They capture the imagination.

Jacqueline: And this one in particular. He kind of winks at you. He’s alive. He’s happy, just like the wine in the bottle.

Dan: The wine winks at you. . . You know. . .

Dan and Jacqueline: Haha!

Cheers!

Follow Along on Instagram

New Red Cap Questions will be shared every Thursday on Instagram Reels. You can follow along with us @carbonistewine to catch them all.