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We hope you enjoy sharing these wines with your friends and family! Help the Cal Alumni Association (CAA) introduce alumni-connected wineries to fellow UC Berkeley alumni, friends, family, and wine aficionados. Spread the word about The Graduate Wine Collective and direct your friends to thegraduatewinecollective.com for more information. New members will receive a Cal-branded wine glass when they sign up for their first Graduate Wine Collective shipment.

Every Sip Supports Your Cal Alumni Community

Your Graduate Wine Collective membership supports the work of the Cal Alumni Association (CAA). CAA provides Cal graduates with rewarding connections to the university, fellow alumni, and current students. With a mission of advancing and promoting the interests of the university, CAA is committed to providing essential programs and services designed to keep alumni of all ages and interests connected to the university and to each other. Thank you for your support!

Featured Wines

This summer wine shipment offers something for every palate. Enjoy a striking berry and mocha zinfandel, a fruity and perfectly balanced sauvignon blanc, a cherry and clove barbera, and a vermentino with aromatics of citrus blossom, passion fruit, and honeysuckle. Enjoy—and Go Bears!

Acorn Winery

Bill Nachbaur ’66, J.D. ’69, founder and owner
Sonoma County, CA

After receiving both his undergraduate and law degrees from UC Berkeley, Bill Nachbaur worked as a lawyer for 16 years in Washington D.C. and San Francisco. He then immersed himself in viticulture courses at Santa Rosa JC while looking for the ideal vineyard. In 1989, he found the perfect site in Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley. It included a historic 1890s vineyard and room to plant more vines, and it was about two miles from where his great-great-grandparents settled in 1868. Nachbaur and his wife, Betsy, named the property Alegría (happiness and joy). A few years later, they founded Acorn Winery.

Nachbaur farms the vineyards sustainably, with cover crops to add biodiversity. Growing great grapes is his daily obsession; he likes to say that his wines are made in the vineyard. His insatiable curiosity led him to plant more than 111 varieties, giving Alegría Vineyards exceptional diversity.

2018 Heritage Vines Zinfandel

Tasting Notes

Striking black raspberry and dark cherry aromatics with seductive hints of toasty mocha and freshly ground black pepper. A bright, rich entry envelops the palate with juicy loganberry and boysenberry, with traces of blueberry and white pepper. As the wine opens and the luscious flavors expand and linger, creamy Dutch cocoa, dark roasted coffee, vanilla, and white floral notes emerge.

Longfellow Wine Company

Mark Smith ’96, owner
Napa, CA

Longfellow Wines was named after the village of Longfellow in Columbia, Maryland, where Mark Smith and his friend Craig Whitney grew up. After attending grade school together and then rival high schools in Baltimore, Smith and Whitney attended the University of South Carolina. They later both wound up in Northern California after graduate school. While Smith was attending the Haas School of Business, he and some fellow Haas classmates co-founded MyPoints.com with the mission of pioneering direct marketing and internet loyalty solutions. During this time, Smith and Whitney took frequent trips to Napa, where the idea of starting a winery began to grow. In 2001, they founded Longfellow Wines. Today, Longfellow represents their long friendship and their passion for producing the highest-quality wines. Wine has become an important part of their lives and a common thread that has brought their families and friends together.

2020 Sauvignon Blanc

Tasting Notes

An elegant and seductive perfume of white peach, ginger, and dried sage ascends to a rush of Asian pear, lemon marmalade, and tropical lychee flavors. Crushed chalk minerality and brioche-like toastiness emerge, and the wine opens. Delightfully balanced with bright acidity and a rich, full-bodied mouthfeel. A sauvignon blanc that will age beautifully.

Urban Legend Cellars

Marilee Shaffer ’94, co-founder and co-owner
Sierra Foothills, CA

When Urban Legend founders Marilee and Steve Shaffer wanted wines that were perfect complements to local food—diverse flavors, honest ingredients, a sophisticated yet approachable style—they said: “We’ll have to make them ourselves; we’ll make them where the food is created—in the city; and we’ll do it together.” It’s not a traditional strategy; this is disruptive winemaking. This is Urban Legend.

Today, Urban Legend handcrafts wines that uniquely salute the varied flavors of California and our home: the East Bay’s diverse locales. Critics and consumers alike are impressed with our fidelity to variety, expression of place, food-friendly style, and consistency of quality.

Ultimately, Urban Legend believes that wine should be seriously enjoyable and made to complement good food, good times, and living well. So, rules be damned. Trust your palate. Not someone else’s. It’s your tastes that drive their choices—and why they’re so meticulous about their craftsmanship. They’re doing something remarkable with wine here. They’re listening. It’s all about you.

2018 Barbera

Tasting Notes

This barbera is loaded with cherry and cassis aromas with a sprinkling of clove. In the mouth, it’s full of darker cherry and cola flavors with nutmeg on the finish. With firm acidity and moderate tannin, flavors deepen, and it keeps improving with time.

Migliavacca Wine Company

Vincent Traverso ’05, winemaker
Napa Valley, CA

Migliavacca … a legacy as storied as Napa itself. In 1866, Napa City (as it was called then) was a humble river town with a nascent wine industry. Giacomo Migliavacca and his downtown winery ruled its proliferation for the next five decades: the city’s first self-made millionaire, the county’s first patent holder, and the state’s largest wine producer. Nearly a century after its disappearance at Prohibition, more than 150 years since its founding, the Migliavacca family offers you this revival of Napa’s history. Katie Migliavacca and Vincent “Vin” Traverso ’05 met in 2016 and continued the Migliavacca tradition. Traverso serves on the board of directors for both Napa County Landmarks and the Treasure Island Museum. He also practices preservation in his other business endeavors as a restorer of stained glass windows, a revitalizer of the historic Kingfish Pub & Café in Oakland, and a principal in his current preservation project, Kasper’s Original Hot Dogs, also in Oakland. Vin calls winemaking ‘his day job’ and historic preservation ‘his vocation.’

2019 Vermentino

Tasting Notes

Not your typical Napa Valley white wine … somewhere between those unctuous chardonnays and acid-driven sauvignon blancs. With aromatics of citrus blossom, passionfruit, and a hint of honeysuckle. Pair it with grilled shrimp or pan-roasted chicken. Its bright-but-balanced acidity carries the palate’s length, complementing mandarin orange and fuji apple flavors.

Contact: thegraduatewineclub@alumni.berkeley.edu

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