The Bespoke Collection is a wine producer and

lifestyle brand A lifestyle brand is a brand that attempts to embody the values, aspirations, interests, attitudes, or opinions of a group or a culture for marketing purposes.page 16 Lifestyle brands seek to inspire, guide, and motivate people, with the goal of ...

based in

Yountville, California Yountville ( or ) is a city in Napa County, in the Wine Country of California, United States. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the population was 3,436 at the 2020 census. Almost a third of the town's population lives at the Ve ...

in the United States. The company comprises two wine labels: Blackbird Vineyards and Recuerdo Wines, and a wine, art and design

gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...

called Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley. Bespoke Collection also has an additional art gallery in

St. Helena, California St. Helena ( ; Wappo language, Wappo: ''Anakotanoma'') is a city in Napa County, California, Napa County, in the Wine Country of California. Located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the ...

called I. Wolk Gallery.

History

Michael Polenske purchased the Blackbird Vineyard, in Oak Knoll District in California, in 2003 as a vacation retreat. The 10-acre property has a

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

, a 100-year-old farm house, a

ranch home Ranch (also known as American ranch, California ranch, rambler, or rancher) is a domestic architectural style that originated in the United States. The ranch-style house is noted for its long, close-to-the-ground profile, and wide open layout. ...

and a

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

. Polenske left his job in finance in 2006, to create a

luxury brand In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast to n ...

focusing on wine, art and design, which would become the Bespoke Collection. Polenske's interest in wine was instilled in him when his father, a pilot in the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

, was stationed at

Travis Air Force Base Travis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), located three miles (5 km) east of the central business district of the city of Fairfield, in Solano County, Californi ...

Fairfield, California Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Solano County, California, in the North Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is generally considered the midpoint between the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento, approximately fro ...

. He moved from his San Francisco apartment to live full-time in

Napa Valley Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in Napa County in California's Wine Country. It was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) on January 27, 1981. Napa Valley is considered one of the premier ...

. Polenske opened Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley, a wine, art, and design gallery, in 2008. In 2010, Polenske purchased the I. Wolk Gallery in

. Bespoke Collection also introduced a membership program, which offers members access to limited production wines from the Bespoke Collection labels and to exclusive events. They also have a benefit program, called Bespoke Benefits, which allows members to earn points based on purchases made of Bespoke Collection products, including art and design pieces. In March 2014, Bespoke Collection opened a new art and design gallery in

Healdsburg, California Healdsburg is a city located in Sonoma County, in California's Wine Country. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,254. Owing to its three most important wine-producing regions (the Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valley ...

Blackbird Vineyards

After the purchasing the Blackbird Vineyard, Polenske created a wine label based around the

Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...

grapes grown in the vineyard. Blackbird produces

Pomerol Pomerol (; oc, Pomairòus) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gironde Departments of France, department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine near Bordeaux in southwestern France. Wine With only . Pomerol is the smallest wine producing area in the Bordea ...

-inspired, proprietary

red wine Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties. The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice from most purple grap ...

s by blending Merlot,

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being us ...

, and

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

. They also produce a

rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. ...

from those three varietals. The wine labels have flocks of blackbirds on them.

Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley

Ma(i)sonry is a wine, art and design gallery located in

. It was created in 2007 and opened in October 2008, when Michael Polenske purchased a

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

building that was a former hotel for over 50 years. The name is a play on the French word ''maison'' and the English word ''

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

''. Ma(i)sonry sells

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

and

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

and

vintage Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

and new furniture, including select items designed by Polenske, and has featured works by

Alexandra von Fürstenberg Alexandra von Fürstenberg (; born 3 October 1972) is a Hong Kong-born American heiress, socialite, entrepreneur and furniture designer based in Los Angeles. She is the youngest daughter of American billionaire and DFS Group co-founder Robert W ...

Jedd Novatt Jedd Novatt (born 1958) is an American sculptor who creates dynamic, non-representational compositions of geometric forms. He is best known for his 'Chaos' series of works in either welded steel or bronze. Life and work Born in Brooklyn, New ...

Greg Lauren Greg Lauren (born ) is an American actor, painter and fashion designer. He is the nephew of fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Early life Lauren was born Greg Lauren Dana Smith in New York City, into a family of Belarusian-Jewish descent, and is t ...

, and

David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon (born 3 November 1961), styled as Viscount Linley until 2017 and known professionally as David Linley, is an English furniture maker, a former chairman of the auction house Christie's UK ...

. They host

trunk show A trunk show is an event in which vendors present merchandise directly to store personnel or customers at a retail location or another venue such as a hotel room. In many cases it allows store personnel to preview and/or purchase merchandise befor ...

s by

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

fashion lines. Selected artworks are on display inside and outside at Ma(i)sonry's

sculpture garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by a ...

. An additional sculpture garden is located at Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley, called the Ma(i)sonry Sculpture Gallery, and with additional gardens at MacArthur Place in Sonoma and Solage in Calistoga. Ma(i)sonry offers visitors the opportunity to

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

wines from nineteen vintners, including Bespoke Collection brands – Blackbird Vineyards and Recuerdo Wines. They also have a wine flight and

food pairing Foodpairing, or the non-registered trademarked term food pairing, is a method for identifying which foods go well together from a flavor standpoint. The method is based on the principle that foods combine well with one another when they share ke ...

program, which Bespoke Collection wine with food from

Thomas Keller Thomas Aloysius Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Founda ...

's restaurant

Addendum An addendum or appendix, in general, is an addition required to be made to a document by its author subsequent to its printing or publication. It comes from the gerundive , plural , "that which is to be added," from (, compare with memorandum, ...

. In 2011, Ma(i)sonry held a series of winemaker dinners with boutique wines and food catered by

Cindy Pawlcyn Cynthia Pawlcyn (born Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American chef and cookbook author known for the restaurants she opened in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Napa Valley between 1983 and 2008. Pawlcyn was an early advocate for using local, su ...

. Blackbird Vineyards winemaker, Aaron Pott has produced wines for Ma(i)sonry, including a

Marsanne Marsanne is a white wine grape, most commonly found in the Northern Rhône region. It is often blended with Roussanne. In Savoie the grape is known as ''grosse roussette''. Outside France it is also grown in Switzerland (where it is known as ' ...

Tempranillo Tempranillo (also known as Ull de Llebre, Cencibel, Tinto Fino and Tinta del Pais in Spain, Aragonez or Tinta Roriz in Portugal, and several other synonyms elsewhere) is a black grape variety widely grown to make full-bodied red wines in its ...

Sauvignon blanc is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in ...

and a proprietary red blend. All of the wines are produced from Napa Valley fruit and are made under the label Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley. Ma(i)sonry has a

wine club A wine club is a developing extension of modern wine culture. Wine clubs are designed to provide customers with a series of wine bottles on a monthly or quarterly basis that they would otherwise have to find and purchase on their own. Wine clubs o ...

called Medallion, which gives members first access to new boutique wines, special event access, and complimentary tastings at the tasting room. Ma(i)sonry has partnered with the ''

Robb Report The ''Robb Report'' is an American, English-language, luxury-lifestyle magazine featuring products, including automobiles, aviation, boating, real estate and watches. Founded in 1976, it is currently owned by Penske Media Corporation. It also dist ...

'' for Auction Napa Valley live lot packages. In 2013, Ma(i)sonry opened its first tasting room outside of Yountville, on the top floor of

Restoration Hardware RH (formerly Restoration Hardware) is an upscale American home-furnishings company headquartered in Corte Madera, California. The company sells its merchandise through its retail stores, catalog, and online. As of August 2018, the company operate ...

's Gallery at the Historic Museum of Natural History in Boston, Massachusetts. Ma(i)sonry was chosen as one of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' must-visit places in a one-day visit to Napa Valley, in 2010. It was awarded the 2013 Best of Wine Tourism for Napa Valley for Art & Culture.

History and architecture

The building that houses Ma(i)sonry is one of two buildings in Yountville listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. It was built in 1904 as a house for Charles Rovegno, a farmer. It has two stories and totals 3,000 square feet. The building was the Burgundy House Inn starting in the 1970s, until becoming Ma(i)sonry in 2007. The building underwent eighteen months of renovations by architect Douglas Thornley and the Roche + Roche

Landscape Architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

firm. Roche + Roche created five outdoor spaces for wine tasting in a garden setting, which includes a

fire pit A fire pit or a fire hole can vary from a pit dug in the ground to an elaborate gas burning structure of stone, brick, and metal. The defining feature of fire pits is that they are designed to contain fire and prevent it from spreading. Some rece ...

and a

redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affini ...

table that is five inches thick and 36-feet long. Polenske describes the exterior as a "living gallery." The space takes influence from Belgian designer and

antique dealer An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

Axel Vervoodt's castle. There is also a private tasting room that overlooks the gardens.

Recuerdo Wines

Recuerdo Wines is a line of wines based in

Mendoza, Argentina Mendoza (, ), officially the City of Mendoza ( es, Ciudad de Mendoza) is the capital of the province of Mendoza in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern si ...

. The wines are produced through The Vines of Mendoza and created by winemakers Santiago Achával and Pablo Martorell. Recuerdo focuses on

Malbec Malbec () is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The grapes tend to have an inky dark color and robust tannins, and are known as one of the six grapes allowed in the blend of red Bordeaux wine. In France, plantations of Malbec are n ...

wine. They also produce a

Torrontés Torrontés is a white grape variety, mostly produced and known in Argentine wine, producing fresh, aromatic wines with moderate acidity, smooth texture and mouthfeel as well as distinctive peach and apricot aromas on the nose.Robinson, Jancis ''V ...

. Recuerdo wines are sold at Ma(i)sonry and at The Vines of Mendoza. They also sell their wine online and through their wine club, Recollection. The wine club provides members with early purchasing of new releases, events and travel opportunities to Mendoza.

Winemaking

Recuerdo's Malbec grapes are grown in the Uco Valley. The vineyard is located at 3,700 feet. The Torrontés comes from the La Rioja Province.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Official website for Bespoke CollectionBlackbird Vineyards official websiteMa(i)sonry Napa Valley official websiteRecuerdo Wines official website
Shops in the United States Retail companies based in California Companies based in Napa County, California St. Helena, California Yountville, California National Register of Historic Places in Napa County, California