CUTTER PAUL

I truly believe life is a gift and that beautiful opportunities cross our paths daily if we are present enough to acknowledge them. This mindset has taken me on many wonderful adventures in this life. I’ve always admired the Artisan and Maker. Perfecting a craft with soul and purpose with two hands and basic tools. Looking up to those who chose to do things the ‘ol fashioned way, because the quality was better and they gave a damn about craft over mass production.

Winemaking was the first craft that encaptivated me in this way. I fell in love with the concept of Terroir and the soil to bottle process. Opening a bottle of wine is no different than opening a book… every vintage has a story of people, momma nature, broken tractors, late night pressings, and the hands that guided the process. This love has taken me to numerous parts of the world working harvests with different wineries and learning different aspects of the craft in the process.

Along this wine journey I met a hatmaker in 2017. I approached him to introduce myself and find out where he got the hat he was wearing. When his answer was, “I made it” my interest soared and I had to know more. I made one hat with my first teacher and have worn this hat all over the world in my wine travels and the common question arose no matter the continent, “Can you make me one of those?”

I flirted with the idea of making hats as a business since 2018 but was so immersed in my wine career that it was easy to say “some day.”  Well the idea of ‘Some Day’ abruptly changed on July 23rd 2020 after being hit by a drunk driver and surviving a near fatal motorcycle accident. A cast on both arms and not knowing if I’d be able to use my right hand again really got me viewing life from a different lens.

 One promise I made to myself if my hand worked again was to finally pursue my love for hatmaking. After a long road of recovery, I made it out with two working hands, and Cutter Paul was born.

Take a chance, pursue a dream, go to South Africa on a handshake deal, ride a motorcycle, go shark diving, get a tattoo, be a hugger, TRAVEL, learn an instrument, but most importantly don’t be afraid to go against the grain and live a life worth living.

VAILIA FROM

Desparada wines are guided more by spirit than style. Winemaker and owner Vailia From draws inspiration from travels and expertise from nearly three decades of experience working harvests, restaurant floors, importer relationships, and brokerages. All of her collected knowledge, bold ambitions, and divergent musings—that’s Desparada. Focused on lively Sauvignon Blanc, Bordeaux, and Italian varietal-based wines in and around several amphorae.

DESPARADA

Desparada is the chronicle of winemaker Vailia From’s twists, turns and epiphanies as an explorer in a young and wild land. Vailia works with 20+ of the Central Coast’s finest vineyards, an ever-increasing arsenal of techniques and trials and a whole lot of spark to create inspired, elegant wines free of stylistic constraints and dogma. These are wines of a new world, rooted firmly in the wonder of the old. "An up and coming star in the Central Coast,” writes Jeb Dunnuck in Wine Advocate, saying the wines of Desparada “deliver serious depth and richness while staying pure, classy and very drinkable.”

HERMAN STORY

We're cooks, not chemists. You might be saying, what about terroir? Science? The technical details I read on that one critic's vintage report? Don't worry, that's all part of it. Get grapes from exceptional vineyards, make careful decisions in the cellar, be relentless about quality, you'll be turning out showstoppers.

At the end of the day, we make wines that'll pair just as well with a triple-stacked bacon cheeseburger as they will with an extravagant eight-course tasting menu. Wines you can contemplate at a massive mahogany desk or chug while your friend falls from a keg-stand into an inflatable pool of Jello. Either way, they're a damn good time.

Russell P. From: Who the Hell is This Guy?

Before he was a winemaker, a self-proclaimed black belt, and an internationally renowned runway model, Russell always had a borderline-concerning obsession with great food and wine. After graduating from Cal Poly with a few winery internships (and a bunch of noise complaints) under his belt, he started Herman Story in 2001 with seven humble barrels of Syrah stashed in his employer's cellar.

What started as an homage to his grandfather grew into a lineup of the most boisterous, buckle-up-and-hang-on, Rhône-inspired wines on the Central Coast. Today, after 20+ years and a bunch more noise complaints, Russell hasn't lost a shred of his passion for wine, people, and perfectly seasoned ground beef. Off the clock, you'll find him whipping up salsa verde, floating the Salinas River, or trying to break the world record for longest distance pulling a Learjet 45 by beard.