One of the few gay-owned wineries in the San Francisco area, VOON takes its name from the nickname of founding partner Evan Anderson. He brings imagination and cultural references to the table by taking visual advantage of VOON’s double O’s. An old-fashioned gramophone pops out of the second O on the Sta. Rita Pinot Noir label, while the 2022 Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay label features a Hercules-like god emerging from the second O.
The winery began as Cameron Foxgrover and Anderson’s passion project, but they soon hired famed Latina winemaker Jessica Gasca to craft the wines. Their mission is to vinify selected grapes in small lots from lesser-known wine regions, with Gasca’s low intervention winemaking.
Anderson plans to release lesser-known varietals such as grüner veltliner as well as single vineyard Grenache soon. VOON wines are sold online.
2022 VOON Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay
The chardonnay grapes are hand-picked from an organic vineyard in California’s Santa Rita Hills, nine miles from the Pacific Ocean. They are fermented with native yeast and kept on lees for seven months in neutral French oak. With aromas of pineapple, coconut and apple, a medium body with a long finish, the wine pairs well with many foods from sharp cheese to seafood and poultry.
WHO: VOON Wines
WHAT: Chardonnay
WHERE: Sta. Rita Hills, California
HOW MUCH: $58 [media sample]
RATING: 92