Ruth Lewandowski "Stock Pot" Gruner Veltliner 2023

Press 4 Mix/White • April/May 2026 Direct Press Selection

"I love her wines" is a familiar phrase we hear about Evan Lewandowski's wines, and it's always a little tricky to explain how Ruth is not the winemaker or a relative, but a reference to the Old Testament Book of Ruth, which is a tale of redemption Evan finds inspiring. He explains, "without sounding 'preachy' and so as not to offend the sensitive, and in the interest of concisely summing things up, I don't believe there to be a deeper, more compelling depiction of the natural cycle of death and redemption (both in the physical realm we can see and the spiritual realm we often do not) than this one short book. From the wreckage of death and tragedy at the beginning of the book of Ruth, a young woman finds life, finds beauty and is able to truly live....not simply in spite of the death, but because the death occurred at all. The regeneration of the life of our soils occurs only through organic matter...all completely dead, broken down carbon-based items. A natural fermentation is the building up and dying off of multiple strains of yeast and bacteria, each paving the way for the next strain to take over (and each leaving their altogether unique signatures of flavor, aroma, and textural compounds)."

And though a decade ago or so Evan was talking about the potential for making wine in his home state of Utah, he has instead gone all in on California. Like anyone making wine, maybe even more so for natural wine, there has been an evolution to Evan's project, and if you haven't tasted the wines recently you are in for a treat. The whole range is exceptional. Nearly all the wines still are made without added sulfur, but they are less funky and more expressive, while maintaining their exciting, thirst-quenching irreverence.

"Stock Pot" is Grüner Veltliner from the Rancho Coda vineyard in Russian River Valley, Sonoma. There's no shortage of serviceable Grüner out there, but I don't come across many that really feel new and attention-grabbing. This spends about 10 days on the skins, just enough to give it a bit of texture. Salty and cloudy with notes of citrus zest, Sunny-D, chicken broth (fits with the Crock Pot-inspired label), savory spices, and a refreshingly zappy finish. Jonathan Kemp