Groundbreaking Wine and Website from Iconoclast Winemaker Jayson Woodbridge

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Oct 05, 2023, 12:00 ET

Fortunate Son Wines Evoke the Emotions of Wines from Dreamer, Diplomat and Warrior Offerings

ST. HELENA, Calif., Oct. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wine marketing websites all look much the same. They feature photos of sunsets over sprawling vineyards, videos of couples laughing and holding glasses of wine, and shots of winemakers walking through the vines with their dogs.

The sameness of wine promotion begs the question: With so many differences in how a wine is made and how it tastes why are wines depicted in such a repetitive fashion?

Now, groundbreaking vintner Jayson Woodbridge is changing how wine is made, seen, and felt through his new hand-crafted, Fortunate Son Wines. These wines harken back to the earliest days of Napa Valley, sourcing and farming from heritage micro-block sites to showcase the unique qualities of these family grown vineyards.

When you enter the newly released website Fortunate Sons Wines a viewer isn't sure if they came to buy wine or have joined an immersive film-like journey.

That's just what Woodbridge and his team wants. Wine is about emotion, not repetition. Wine making and drinking is about patience, the journey, the effort, the quest that defines what Fortunate Son is all about.

Woodbridge--not being a person who leans towards the mundane or the commonplace—wants clients to think about and enjoy his wines in a new way. To experience them, to allow the mind to wander beyond the glass and to tap into the emotions and feelings that a great wine can evoke.

The journey into the Fortunate Son website takes viewers to the founding of Napa Valley, and the first forefathers of the Valley in David Fulton.

Through the website, Woodbridge asks viewers to exam the very tenants of what encompasses a person you admire: a Dreamer, a Diplomat and a Warrior. Each of these three wine offerings has dynamic imagery and quotes from the great thinkers of our time. As you dig further you see uninhibited and candid thoughts from Woodbridge as he takes you through the aspects of the wine in a way no one has done before. Most of the information is hidden for you to discover, unlock, so to speak.

Fortunate Son is not just a wine, it's a holy quest, a commitment to explore the heritage sites of the original farmers of Napa Valley and a commitment to elevate the vines to a new place as Woodbridge has done with his flagship winery Hundred Acre.

Woodbridge launched Fortunate Son in 2018, and soon after began exploring vineyard sites of historic significance. The David Fulton Winery, established in 1860 was one of only four wineries in Napa Valley at that time and the first in St. Helena. One of the longest running multi-generational wineries, the Fulton heirs selected Woodbridge as its new successor in 2020.

The 2020 vintage of old vine Petite Sirah planted in 1963 from the David Fulton Vineyard was harvested and aged in Hundred Acre barrels for Fortunate Son, with an anticipated release date of early 2024. Following harvest, a revitalization of the 14.5-acre vineyard managed by Jim Barbour included replanting the vines to Cabernet Sauvignon from Hundred Acre Vineyard clones. This Fulton property will become known as the "Fortunate Son winery at the historic David Fulton ranch Est. 1860," with an invitation-only tasting salon slated to open in late 2024.

Fortunate Son's second estate vineyard, Larkmead Vineyards was admired by Woodbridge for 30 years and he acquired it in 2022. A ranch found on the corner of Highway 29 and Larkmead Lane in Calistoga, its 18.5-acre vineyard originally planted in 1882 has some of the oldest surviving vines in California.

This vineyard was renamed "True Romance" as a nod to Woodbridge's son Cameron (the word romance is an anagram of Cameron), and its grapes will be included in Fortunate Son's 2022 vintage. "True Romance" will be a future home of an additional Fortunate Son winery with an estate planned for 2027.

In his Fortunate Son Wines, Woodbridge endeavors to do what he does with Hundred Acre, strive for perfection, wines of incredible complexity and character. He wants Fortunate Son to push the limits much like the early pioneers did when they created what we now know as Napa Valley. Fortunate Son is in a way an homage to small family vineyards and to the pioneer families, their noble stories and histories, that Woodbridge wants to preserve and pass along to new generations.

"Fortunate Son is for all the fortunate sons and daughters and is a celebration of the living art that is fine wine," Woodbridge says of the new vineyards and their wines.

www.fortunatesonwines.com

Offerings Coming this Year from Fortunate Son Wines:
Fortunate Son "Dreamer" Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Fortunate Son "Diplomat" Red Blend 2019
Fortunate Son "Warrior" Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Contact: Landon Patterson, CEO, Hundred Acre Wine Group
[email protected]
or Sam Singer
Singer Associates Public Relations
[email protected]
415.336.4949

SOURCE Hundred Acre Wine Group