Entre Amis: A Place Among Friends

Las Amigas Road winds through vineyards toward the cool waters of San Pablo Bay, past rows of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay shaped by the fog. But the vines are only the latest chapter in a much older story.

Long before the landscape became known for wine, this was a place of gathering, farming and community. The land was home to Indigenous communites including the Coast Miwok, who lived with and cared for this landscape for generations. Over time, Carneros changed as Mexican and later American farmers established ranches and agricultural communities across the region.

By the nineteenth century, Las Amigas Road was part of a working farming district. Families raised grain and livestock, tended orchards and cultivated the land. And there was a school here, a small but telling reminder that this was not simply a landscape people passed through, but a community where families lived, worked and exchanged ideas.

The schoolhouse stood among the farms and ranches of Carneros, connecting the children of the surrounding agricultural families.

It is easy, standing among vineyards today, to imagine how different the landscape once looked. Yet the essential character of the place remains remarkably familiar: people coming together around the land, learning from it, and from one another.

The road eventually became part of the story of modern Carneros winegrowing, as growers recognized what the area's location could offer Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Close to San Pablo Bay, the vineyards in this corner of Carneros experience the cool breath of the water, morning fog and persistent maritime winds. These temperate breezes, along with the site's western sun exposure and gravelly soil, form a trifecta of perfect growing conditions that result in silky Pinot Noirs and balanced, age-worthy sparkling wines.

At Domaine Carneros, our Entre Amis vineyard occupies a piece of this landscape at the western end of Las Amigas Road. Planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in 2017, it is one of our youngest vineyards.

The wines of Domaine Carneros are shaped not only by the vineyard, but by the people who tend it. Allison Wilson, Vineyard Director; Remi Cohen, CEO; and Gita Mallaya, Viticulturist and Sustainability Lead, each bring a different perspective to the vineyards of Carneros, yet all three share the same essential work: listening to the land and transforming it's bounty into delicious wines.

Allison is our grower and steward, with an intimate, season-by-season understanding of how the vineyard breathes and changes. Gita brings that same attention into sustainable farming practice, translating those seasonal changes into vineyard decisions that let each site's personality shine through in the glass. And Remi brings vision and leadership, connecting the vineyard — and the wine — to the bigger story and future of Domaine Carneros.

A bottle of our Single Vineyard Brut 'Entre Amis' is meant to be opened around a table, poured into glasses and shared. But when you taste it, there is something else to share: a sense of place. The coolness of the bay. The character of the soil. The patience of the vines. The work of the people who care for them.

In that way, the history of Las Amigas Road continues.

That is what we hope you find in Entre Amis: not simply a wine from a single vineyard, but a taste of a place, and a reason to gather among friends