Joseph Jewell Wines

“Killer Pinots from high-quality fruit” is the goal at Russian River winery specializing in single-vineyard wines.

The aha moment that sparked Joseph Jewell Wines vintner Adrian Jewell Manspeaker’s infatuation with wine occurred during a night on the town for his twenty-fifth birthday. At dinner he splurged on a bottle from the year of his birth, a wine whose grapes, he learned from the label, were harvested the very week he was born. As he read the description more closely, it dawned on him, he recalls, “that every wine is more than just a Cabernet or Pinot Noir. There’s a vintage. What happened that year? When were the grapes harvested? What winery made it? Who was the winemaker? What’s the story?” 

A year or so later, Manspeaker teamed up with a friend working at Gary Farrell Vineyards & Winery to make wine with him. Their first effort, a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir made in a garage with borrowed equipment, placed second in a blind tasting of wines by two dozen far more accomplished producers.

Buoyed by the encouragement of local winemakers, the duo established Joseph Jewell, a brand whose name joins its founders’ middle ones. The winery, which Manspeaker now leads solo, specializes in single-vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs from premier sites such as Hallberg Ranch, Bucher, and Starscape. The small operation also produces wines from Humboldt County, where Manspeaker was born. With only 35 acres of Pinot Noir vineyards in the entire county, wines from there qualify as California rarities.

Although Joseph Jewell has in recent years made Chardonnay, Vermentino, sparkling Vermentino, a rosé of Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel, the Russian River Valley and Humboldt County Pinots, most crafted in small lots, are the stars. Hosts, sometimes Manspeaker himself, pour them at a modest storefront tasting room along laid-back Forestville’s short main drag. (Seasonal experiences include a vineyard tour and tasting.) The Joseph Jewell story—best conveyed by the wines themselves—revolves around a passion for producing what Manspeaker hopes guests will agree are “killer Pinots from high-quality fruit.”

JOSEPH JEWELL
6542 Front St.
Forestville, CA 95436
707-820-1621
josephjewell.com

Owner and winemaker: Adrian Manspeaker.

Location: 12 miles west of Santa Rosa and 13 miles south of Healdsburg.

Appellations: Dry Creek Valley, Humboldt County, Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast.

Hours: Check website.

Tastings: From $28. By appointment.

Specialties: Vineyard-designate Pinot Noirs.

This profile first appeared in The California Directory of Fine Wineries, ninth edition (2019), and is reproduced here, with updates, courtesy of the publisher, Wine House Press.