Eight Arms Cellars

It is rare to find someone who not only makes their own wine, but also designed the beautiful bottles that they come in!
Iain Bolton, winemaker of Eight Arms Cellars, definitely qualifies as a Renaissance man in my book. I have to admit that I haven’t been to an official release party, but does an office party count? Milton would have given up his prized red stapler for a taste of these artisan wines. And lucky me, they were the perfect accompaniment to Friday’s Beer (and Wine) Bash. Eight Arms put their marketing genius to work in celebration of their latest release. Where else can you taste wine and then throw down your best target practice at an Octopus inspired «Ink Spitting» contest? I hear the winner got a whopping 18 feet!
Being able to talk to winemakers is always a treat. It truly is a craft that takes years of know-​how, science, and a highly developed palette. You can pick up these wines at more than a couple local places:
Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, SF
New Russian Hill Market, SF
Wine on Piedmont, Oakland
Du Vin Wines, Alameda
Wine Mine, Oakland
JV Wine & Spirit, Napa
Swirl on Castro
…or you make your purchase online at
. Be sure to check out their Go Green Drink Red/​White program. I was really impressed to learn that this is one company that is «committed to sustainable practices and a portion of the sale from each bottle is donated to help combat global warming.» That’s a glass of wine that you can feel more than good about drinking!
If I had Eight Arms myself, I’d hold on tight to a case or two (and maybe lay some down to cellar for a few years).

A small artisan micro-​winery whose vineyard selections, varietal buys, fruit sorting, fermentation styles, tonellerie, and aging strategies are at the leading edge of the wine industry.
On the downside, it is hard to find in stores. I have seen it once at JV in Napa, and once somewhere so obscure that I can no longer remember. I’ll just go direct in the future.

Both 8 Arms wines, The Stagecoach Vineyard Syrah and Alexander Valley «Octopod» are phenominal wines. The Stagecoach is more of an Australian «Shiraz» style with wonderful complexities synonymous with high end wines from the Barossa Valley at twice the price or more. The Octopod is more of a California-«esque» Syrah, which is by no means a negative, just different. Both wines are very approachable from just opening but the subtle complexities will be anything but subtle if you allow these wines to decant. Both wines will age wonderfully.

I just went to their 2006 release party. They released exactly one wine! It’s the Stagecoach Vineyard Napa Valley syrah
. The wine is exceptionally good, and it seemed to be fairly priced @$ 35. (That’s over double what I usually spend for a bottle of wine, but I bought two.) There were also barrel tastes of the 2007 Stagecoach and another 2007 syrah, this one from Alexander Valley. I’d never had this guy’s wines before, but he clearly knows what he was doing. The wines were clean and dense. Remember that you heard about it here first!