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Accenti (Italian, n.m.)

[atˈtʃɛntee]

: accents

Sensations from Far-Flung Destinations

Focused on regeneratively farming tiny vineyards in Napa Valley and minimalist winemaking, James and Lorenza Allen channel their global experiences to make wines with balance, substance, and soul. They believe the accents of wine are best revealed by understanding its roots.

Wanderlust drove both curious minds to a combined six universities and twenty wineries across fifteen regions in seven countries, where they learned from the wisdom of winemaking masters and honed their individual styles. These years of education and travel were punctuated by their paths crossing in France and then India. Friendship led to romance and a wedding on the vineyard one warm harvest evening. Since then, they’ve collaborated on every grape, wine, and label.

Lorenza and James farm four vineyards around Napa Valley - no tractor, no irrigation, and no disruption of the soil. They treat each vine like a bonsai and use cover crops to replenish the soil each winter. To combat climate change they employ regenerative and organic methods as well as lightweight glass, carbon-capturing natural cork, and good old-fashioned activism.

To keep the spotlight on the vineyard, they’re guided by the philosophies of spontaneous fermentation, low-extraction, moderate oak, and a generally light touch. Well-farmed fruit and careful winemaking are the keys to quality and sense of place, the Holy Grail for craft wine.

The wines labeled ‘ThereAfter’ are the results of experiments from James and Lorenza’s first vintages together with the vines and the wines - when they discovered the best approach for each vineyard and wine while working for other great wineries.

Accenti took shape years later, as the wines started to clearly reflect their influences and distinctive style. These wines tell the story of an Italian and an American using knowledge, curiosity, and respect for nature to make wine that sends you somewhere.

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THE TEAM

Lorenza Bazzano Allen

Lorenza was born in the tiny village of Turin, Italy - the third biggest city in the country. There wasn't much winemaking in her family, but her dad gave her a glass or two of Moscato on special occasions (every Sunday).

When it came time to decide what to do after high school, she met someone from the agriculture school in Alba by chance. He told her of a magical career called 'winemaking'. This led her to a bachelor's degree in Viticulture and Enology on the doorstep of Barolo and Barbaresco.

Afterwards, she was thirsty for more. So, she joined a master's program in France. It was there, in Montpellier and Bordeaux, that she and James shared some great lectures and bottles of wine.

She then moved to Portugal to study in Lisbon and finish her thesis in the vineyards there. The culture of wine and fish never left her heart. She still eats canned fish with a bottle of crisp white every week.

When she graduated with her master's degree, she headed Down Under to work in Australia... and got stuck there for three years. She loved the people, the culture, and the wine, not to mention the wombats.

She eventually came to California, where she reunited with James and worked at Failla. During that time, their wine project started to take shape, and they eventually struck out on their own to focus more on Accenti.

Lorenza loves to invent new recipes in the kitchen and find new ingredients to work with. She's also completely obsessed with campervans and travel to warm places.

James Allen

James always had a thing for plants. He started working at the Missouri Botanical Garden in high school trimming hedges and proofing scientific papers for new plant discoveries. On weekends he would homebrew Belgian beers with his older friends.

In college he majored in Horticulture, but didn't see himself working in a greenhouse or breeding new ornamentals. When Colorado State hired a new Viticulture professor from Germany, he was intrigued. The idea of growing something that could be transformed into a beverage that reflects such a complex sense of place was mind-blowing.

After his first internship in California, he went on to work for wineries in New York, New Zealand, Washington, Australia, and Germany. In Australia, he learned of a French master's program for international students that has professors from wine schools around the world. He got in and met Lorenza in his first week there.

They were close friends, but parted ways as he went on to study in Germany and she went to Portugal. When he moved back to California for his thesis and joined the team at Failla, they kept in touch.

There was a lot of luck and instant love that happened when Lorenza came to California for a harvest and they were married less than three months later. Since then, they've made nearly every farming and winemaking decision together.

James is also completely obsessed with music, having played piano, trumpet, guitar, bass, and hand drums over the years. He still plays in the occasional band and jam session. You might even see him busking on the street if Accenti is having a slow month of sales.

Monty

From the golden streets of Bakersfield, CA, Monty moved up to Sonoma County in 2020 to help with the farming and winemaking at Accenti. He was named after the city of Montpellier in Southern France, where James and Lorenza met.

If you like Where’s Waldo, you’ll enjoy looking for Monty in our vineyards. He’s exactly the color of dry-farmed cover crop and native California grasses during summer months.

VINEYARDS

Farming with foresight

Great wine starts in the vineyard, right? Well the vineyard is more than just vines. Being good stewards of the vineyards and the ecosystems within them is our top priority. Things tend to go more easily with the winemaking afterwards when the vineyards are balanced. We spend a lot of time thinking about the environment surrounding the vineyards - the flora and fauna, the life underground, and the climate that the vines bask in throughout the season.

Humans may be able to turn on the A/C or put on a jacket, but the vines are fully intertwined with their community through all the weather and stress. Cover crops, careful pruning, and nourishing the living soil are great ways to help the vines handle whatever nature throws at them.

We farm three tiny vineyards around Napa Valley; two in St. Helena and one in Calistoga. They all present different challenges, but we stick to organic and regenerative methods through it all. Over the years, as the soil and ecosystem around the vines has become more diverse, we’ve noticed the wines getting more distinctive and lively.

Partnerships with other like-minded growers around Northern California give us even more interesting variety to play with. These experiments give us insight into our own farming and allow us to present more delicious and accessible styles from outside the Napa kingdom.

WINEMAKING

Ingredients: grapes

Our combined experiences and educations have taught us how to use any technique or additive imaginable. However, the best tool of all is attention to detail…or maybe a forklift. Wines that are carefully grown and then carefully made don’t need much of anything.

Spontaneous fermentation, low-extraction, and moderate oak influence are trademarks of our style in the cellar. We don’t add stuff like yeast, bacteria, tannins, or enzymes to the wines because we believe that well-farmed fruit and careful winemaking removes the need for additives.

Each lot remains on its lees until it is bottled, allowing us to use little to no SO₂. We constantly experiment in the vineyard and cellar to find new ways of revealing the vineyard’s best characteristics.

Nuance, balance, and distinction are the holy trifecta of good wine for us. If you take a sip and feel a sense of nostalgia for places you’ve never been, we’ve done our job right.

ART

Label Art by William Horton

In the late 1800s, the literary scene of London was full of mysticism. A shy, young literary named William Horton was drawn to it.

A popular magazine called Savoy sponsored and showcased the work of many of these strange writers and artists. Horton became one of their regular illustrators for a few years, adding visual embellishments to the work of W.B. Yeats and Edgar Allen Poe.

The peak of his career came in the early 1900s as the top arts and design magazine in England featured a number of his illustrations. The critical reception sheds light onto his mysterious work:

In their particular style they are decidedly of the best order, Mr Horton’s line being clear, precise and definite, and expressively decorative. It is a style of drawing which Mr Horton has always practiced successfully in his illustrations. It may be said to owe its inception partly to the genius of Aubrey Beardsley, and partly to Mr Anning Bell. Mr SH Sime has used it often admirably, and sometimes carelessly, in his designs. Mr Horton is always careful, but the patience with which he elaborates in places is always cleverly relieved by empty white spaces. In the management of these white spaces the artist shows cunning, and in the economical use of his line. It is a pretty and effective method of making a decorative drawing; and Mr Horton’s work is an example of sound and pure line work in a class of designing which depends entirely upon the purity and vigour of the drawing of single lines for its success as a method of artistic expression.

We were immediately struck by his illustrations. Our wines show a similar unique and precise style, while holding deeper mysteries that unfold with time.

Many thanks to Mr. Horton for making just enough surreal art to inspire the labels of our wines.