It’s time for something extraordinary. A white you can’t afford to miss.

Why? Well…read on.

Agent Noir has been at it for 3 decades in this fine wine business. Yet rarely, when the next jaw-dropping deal is on the table, does he have trouble handling himself. Rarely.

Like when recently appointed superstar winemaker of Ridge Monte Bello calls with an opportunity to help find the last few bottles of HIS OWN passion project new homes.

Seriously, if you need to read any further before grabbing all you can afford, it’s time to examine where your vinous priorities lie in life. If you already did that, go on and read up.

AESOP is a fable in wine, as the name suggests.

And Trester ‘Tres’ Goetting could as well be the greatest of all names to watch, as he quietly slipped into the shoes of - gulp - the legendary Paul Draper at Ridge Monte Bello. After two decades of winemaking at some names you may recognize such as Ladera, Krupp Brothers, and Robert Biale… he seized the opportunity of a lifetime at Ridge. Which sure truncated his ‘free time’ for the AESOP project, and that’s when we came in and begged for every bottle they could spare.

To put the legacy he has taken over in perspective, we quote a recent San Francisco Chronicle piece “as I reflected on Draper’s career, it struck me that few California wineries have ever achieved the sort of transparency that he modeled and that Ridge - now under winemakers John Olney, Shauna Rosenblum, and Trester Goetting and viticulturist David Gates - continues to espouse…” and more on that here.

Back to this white AESOP’s fable…

You have to taste this roughly equal parts Grenache Blanc, Bourboulenc and Picpoul blend to believe it. A complex, highly perfumed bouquet evokes ripe citrus and pit fruits, along with suggestions of honey, vanilla, pungent flowers, and minerals. Palate-staining, gently sweet pear nectar, tangerine, and marzipan flavors pick up a vibrant citrus pith quality on the back half that adds nervy lift and cut. Plays richness of energy with a deft hand and finishes with impressive definition and floral-driven persistence. All that for

Sadly, just a few cases of this SUBLIME Dry Creek white are all we could grab for ya.