A taste of a bottle led to the purchase of more bottles. The purchase of more bottles led to an email exchange. An email exchange led to the request for an interview. So goes my relationship with Emily Towe of j.brix wines.
My first encounter was with the j.brix Nullius in Verba, a lively, exciting amphora Pinot Gris that the winemakers themselves note โrequires the willingness to shift your expectations.โ It was a notorious โsuitcase wineโ that (Sprudge co-founder) Jordan Michelman had brought back from California. This was late winter 2015, and I had recently returned from living in Paris, where I had been living in an apartment nestled between two fantastic natural wine stores. Upon returning to American soilโthe south Puget Sound are of Washington State, to be specificโthe search to find interesting wines locally was proving slightly more difficult. Yet on that night with a glass of this wine with an attitude, I was assured that perhaps there were some exciting things fermenting on the American wine scene.
Emily Towe and Jody Brix Toweโs motto in wine, and in life in general, is โOnly Love.โ This straightforward approach to living and winemaking reveals itself in each wine bottle. After ordering a few bottles to taste and keep on hand (the Naughty Goblin Bubblesย pet-nat was used as a celebratory bottle for a book release), eventually Emily and I struck up an email conversation. (Sidenote: If you like someoneโs work, be it a winemaker, an author, or an artist, write them a note to say just that. Kindness and gratitude go a long way.) This led to asking Emily to pen an essay on wine for my indie publication Comestible, with the intent of encouraging people who think a lot about where their food comes from and what goes into it to do the same with their wine.
Yes, if you hadnโt picked up on it, she happens to fall into my lady winemaker fangirl group.
I not only enjoy what j.brix wines produces, but I also have respect for how Emily tells her story and advocates for a healthy relationship to our food, drink, and the people who ensure that we get both. I caught up with Emily to learn more about j.brix, what itโs like to be a woman in the wine industry, and what she sees as the future of American wine.
Tell us a little bit about j.brix wines. Whatโs your story and how did you start?
My husband, Jody, and I had always enjoyed wine, but we had a โEureka!โ moment about 10 years ago over a bottle of Pinot Noir from a vineyard in Santa Barbara County. At the time, we didnโt know anything about the vineyard or the winery; weโd never seen the movie Sideways or visited Santa Barbara wine country, but there was something about that wine that grabbed us both with a very insistent sense of, โYou need to go to this place.โ We looked up the producer, who invited us to visit, which we did, and when we arrived, it felt like home. We quickly became friends with the winemakers and cellar crew. Shortly thereafter, we were volunteering during harvest, learning how to make wine, working 16-hour days covered head to toe in sticky grape juice (and earwigs), and we couldnโt get enough. We wanted to give winemaking a try on our own, so we got barrels and fruit sources from our Santa Barbara friends, turned our garage into a micro-winery, and made a few barrels of wine at home in 2009. They turned out to be pretty delicious, and we were keen to make some more, so we set about becoming a real winery. Starting a winery hadnโt been our original intention, but once we decided to go for it, things took off pretty quickly from there.
Can you describe the vineyards and wine growers that you work with?
We work with a number of wonderful vineyards in Santa Barbara County, as itโs where we learned the ropes, but we live and make our wine in San Diego County. Itโs an up-and-coming appellation for grapes because avocado and citrus farmers are looking for ways to use less water; some of them are removing their orchards and planting vines. As a result, weโve been fortunate to find some vineyard sources right here at home. One that Iโm particularly excited about is called Hagata Vineyard, where we started working with Cinsault in 2016ย for our rosรฉ. Itโs owned by the Broomell family, whose roots in San Diego farming go back many generations. Debbie Broomell runs the farm and their on-site family winery; her son Chrisโan 11th-generation California farmerโis the vineyard manager. He planted these vines specifically for rosรฉ, and tends them for the entire growing season with that end goal.
It seems as if we often hear that โgood wine starts in the vineyard,โ but wine production is very different in the U.S. than, say, France, where a winemaker is typically also the winegrower. How do you cultivate a close relationship with the grapes you work with and the people who grow them?
Jodyโs degree [and day job] is in horticulture, so he is very familiar with plant physiology and all that goes into growing healthy vines. We spend as much time as possible in the vineyards during the year leading up to harvest, to keep an eye on how everything progresses, and if thereโs anything that needs extra attention. The growers we work with are stellar; I admire what they do because it takes a certain skill set to not only manage vineyards impeccably but also deal diplomatically with any number of winemakers bugging you all year long about tweaks to the regimen on their particular rows. Itโs really about good communication and respect, and we generally have been able to maintain that with our growers and vineyard managers.
As you have grown in the wine business, and the natural wine business grows as a whole, have you found that more wine growers are transitioning to more sustainable methods of production?
Yes. Iโve found that the more reluctant growers have started to come around once they realize winemakers are willing to pay more for fruit thatโs grown sustainably. Our Santa Barbara growers were ahead of the curve in this regard; San Diego is just beginning to form its identity, as most of the vineyards are new, and thereโs definitely a great interest in dry-farming vines here, both out of necessity and because of an interest in how that might positively affect the wine.
Wine has been a very male-dominated industryย for a long time. Does it seem as if gender expectations are finally shifting?
Itโs funny, I was talking recently to a woman winemaker at a festival we both were involved in, and she said sheโd had a lot of questions like, โOh, do you work for a distributor? โฆ No? โฆ Well, who makes your wines?โ That kind of assumption is still fairly common. We laughed as we tried to put together a shortlist of careers that might elicit legitimate surprise that a woman was at the helm: Navy SEAL, maybe? But seriously, I think itโs a slow path toward changing long-held expectations, even though more women are working in the wine industry than ever before.
What is the most exciting thing about making wines?
There are so many exciting things! One of my favorites is walking the vineyard rows as the ripe grapes are being picked, thinking about the year thatโs led up to that moment, and the task that lies ahead to do right by this fruit, to guide it into something completely different that will still allow its story to shine through.
What is the most challenging?
Honestly, itโs that harvest and back-to-school time for our two kids happen simultaneously every single year. Itโs the only time I wish I could clone myself! Because you canโt control when the fruit is ready to pick, weโve also had to miss out-of-town family weddings and funerals during harvest season.
Making wine is no easy task, nor is it easy being a small, independent producer. What keeps you making wine?
I really, truly love it. Itโs satisfying on a number of levels: mentally, through the connection to nature and to the seasons; physically, through the hard work in the cellar; and emotionally, when all your efforts result in a transformation that can be a part of peopleโs lives and bring them joy.
For people just getting into natural wine, what would you encourage them to look for when they are seeking out wine to drink?
Without a doubt, look for a good local independent wine merchant. Theyโll be happy to help you find what you likeโand suggest new ways to branch out from there.
What do you see as the future of wine in the United States?
I am hopeful that the concept of wine as food will expand its reach to an increasing number of people who care deeply about what they eat, how itโs been treated, and where it comes from. Itโs exactly the same with wine. If all of those people seek out sustainably farmed, thoughtfully made wines, we small, independent winemakers will be able to keep doing what weโre doing. That doesnโt mean corporate large-production wine will go away; but if consumers are educated and informed about their options when it comes to wine, perhaps more of them will want to support the little folks.
Thank you.
Anna Bronesย (@annabrones) is an artist, activist, author, and Sprudge Media Network staff writer based in the American Pacific Northwest. Read more Anna Brones for Sprudge Wine.
*images courtesy of j.brix wines.