Just along St. Helena Highway in Napa Valley is ONEHOPE. A one-lane road leads through a gate to a gravel parking lot facing the vineyards. On this crisp winter day, the grapevines are mostly bare, but the remaining leaves still hold a reddish tint from fall. The fog hangs low over Mount Saint John and the muted sky transforms everything around it in vibrant colors.
Winemaker Mari Wells Coyle waits by the entrance, ready to give a quick tour of the space. ONE HOPE was founded in 2007. The property was purchased in 2014, and the winery itself was finished in 2020. Designed by acclaimed Napa Valley architect Howard Backen, the tall building with its slanted roof is contemporary rustic.
Though the venue is elegant, the brand came from humble beginnings—namely, a group of friends, 168 cases of wine and a white pickup truck. “[The founders] were all in their early 20s and gathered around with nothing more than what they had in their pockets at that time,” Coyle says. “They were just highly motivated to create this wine company that could give back.”
In the tasting room, a long table is set with glasses and silverware for a Wines & Bites experience. Three of the four walls are made up entirely of windows and stylish lights dangle from the high ceilings. Coyle notes that the glass doors can also slide apart to create a beautiful patio space that is used during warmer months.
We start with the 2019 Estate Sauvignon Blanc. The Rutherford region is known for its cool cloud-covered mornings and warm days, creating a unique climate for this grape varietal. Bright and crisp, it offers aromas of citrus, guava and passion fruit with notes of key lime and grapefruit. This is paired with an oyster topped with Sauvignon Blanc-flavored granita.
Next, we move on to the 2018 Napa Valley Chardonnay. It is barrel-fermented, offering aromas of butterscotch balanced by light citrus notes of mandarin and lemon. This is paired with a day boat scallop covered in brown butter sauce and served on a bed of risotto.
“It’s an interesting modern experience—offering these small bites and taking the time to share with our guests about the brand, our story and our giveback,” Coyle says. While ONE HOPE has a number of programs, the 20/20 Collective is the heartbeat of the winery. She explains that it is more like a social club than a wine club, and its members are referred to as “visionaries.”
“It’s been called ‘The SOHO House of Napa Valley’ where our visionaries come together and help fund 20 annual Acts of Hope,” she says. These may be large projects, such as partnering with charity: water to provide clean drinking water in developing countries or building a school in Guatemala through Pencils of Promise. Other projects are smaller and local, such as providing health care to Napa Valley farmworkers. “It’s about bringing people together through wine and experiences and connecting them to fundraise for good,” she says.
Next, we move on to a red, the 2016 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. “This is from the middle of the valley where the soils are deep, dense and rich,” Coyle says, adding that “the tannins tend to be soft, plush and giving.” Offering hints of allspice and clove balanced by notes of dried currant, vanilla and blackberry, this wine is bursting with winter flavors. It pairs well with the flannery beef, which is coated in their “Rutherford Dust” spice mix and topped with Oakville-soaked mushrooms.
We end the tasting on a sweet note with the 2018 Napa Valley Moscato. A thick and sweet wine with notes of honey, apricot and peach blossoms, it pairs beautifully with lightly breaded, fried goat cheese balls. “Instead of a dessert course, the wine is the dessert,” she says, noting how the savory characteristics of the cheese balance the acidity and elevate the sweetness of the wine. “It’s meant to be that punctuation to a tasting, complementing your whole experience,” she says.
Elevating the tasting notes and textures of the wine emphasizes a unique sense of place for ONEHOPE wines. Or, as Coyle describes this process, “capturing lightning in a bottle,” which is always her goal. “My winemaking philosophy is to shape our winemaking around what the site wants to express. Creating and expressing the site and vintage year has always been what has guided me to make my decisions because not every vintage year is the same, and definitely not every site is the same,” she says.
While capturing lightning in a bottle guides her work, compassion and purpose are just as much of an influence. When asked what attracted her to ONEHOPE, she says, “I wanted to do something to make a bigger impact and connect more with the craft that I had developed. I wanted to wake up every day and say, ‘The wines I’m going to make today are going to change somebody’s life.’”
To date, ONEHOPE has given more than $8 million to more than 20,000 nonprofits, and $2 million of that was donated just this past year. “At some point, we’ll be donating $10 million a year,” she says. “To get to that point from [where we started], will be very exciting to see.”
ONEHOPE
Address: 8301 St. Helena Hwy., Napa, CA 94558
Website: onehopewine.com
Hours: Wednesday—Monday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Wines & Bites Tasting Fee: $150/per person.
Wines: 2019 Estate Sauvignon Blanc, 2018 Napa Valley Chardonnay, 2016 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon, 2018 Napa Valley Moscato (Subject to change.)
Reservations: Required. Schedule online at onehopewine.com/winery
Picnics: No.
Pets: Yes. Friendly dogs welcome, on a leash.
Did You Know? Leading founder Jake Kloberdanz came up with the concept to give back through wine year-round while working at a large wine company. While stocking shelves, he noticed that brands were donating a portion of proceeds during October for Breast Cancer Awareness month. It sparked the idea for him to create a wine brand that gives back to meaningful causes every day.
[Photos courtesy of ONEHOPE]
