Patagonia Now Selling Wines, None Of Which Are Fleece-Flavored
Bloomberg says the wine is actually pretty damn good.
Outdoor clothing company Patagonia has released a wine portfolio, reports Bloomberg, and according to said report, it's pretty good. These are exclusive wines to Patagonia's brand, and are in line with its environmentally friendly mindset. You're not obligated to put on a pull-over and sip it on top of a mountain, but honestly, everything probably tastes better that way.
If you think wine is an unexpected product extension for Patagonia, think again. The company has a food line, started in 2012, called Patagonia Provisions (as I've just learned), which founder Yvon Chouinard considers a necessary focus of evolution. The store sells all sorts of stuff from canned fish (my favorite!) to pantry staples like maple syrup.
Chouinard writes, on the Patagonia Provisions website:
I've been a longtime doom-bat about humanity's prospects if we continue on the path we're on now. As I write this, the pandemic we're experiencing has warned me that perhaps the days of buying expensive gear and plane tickets to travel halfway around the world to fish, ski, climb and surf may be over, if not greatly reduced. But we still need to eat. In fact, I think the only revolution we're likely to see is in agriculture, and I want to be a part of that revolution.
Chouinard is a big wine enthusiast whose favorite red wine comes from Chateau Musar in Lebanon, an organic winery that has somehow managed to survive through civil wars. His favorite white wines come from New Zealand's Marlborough region.
The Patagonia lineup consists of eight natural wines, meaning farmers don't mess with the wine making process much, while also restoring farmland as they go along. (KNPR has a good explainer on natural wine for those as unfamiliar with it as I am.) Two more wines will be added to the lineup in November.
Bloomberg rated all eight varieties, scoring them out of 10, and only one sort of flunked: the canned Alex Craighead Kindeli Piquette ($28), earning 5 out of 10 stars. The rest were considered good to great, the highest scoring a 9.5 out of 10. That one was the 2020 Frank Cornelissen Pistemutta rosso ($39). There's even a sake in the mix, the Terada Honke Gonin Musume Junmai sake ($39), which came in at a solid 8. All prices range from $19-$48, which doesn't seem to be unreasonable, if you're a big wine enthusiast. So if you're cozying up by the fireplace, now you've got some sophisticated vino to pair with your wool socks.