About Nuggucciet Cellars

Nancy and I have always enjoyed wine and our tastes have changed over the years. In 2007 we decided to take a class at College of the Canyons together. I won the coin flip and I got to choose the first class. I chose Food and Wine Pairing I. Nancy at first complained as she said all I wanted to do was drink wine in class and take a course that was not very academic. Actually she was right, but she had the last laugh. This turned out to be one of the hardest classes we had ever taken. We had to know all the major regions and many sub-regions in France, Italy, Spain and California. We also had to learn all the wine laws in all countries, as well as learn the basics of how all the different styles of wine are made. I thought I had enough after the one class but she chose as her class the next semester the advanced Food and Wine pairing class. Well to make this long story short we completed the Wine Studies Program in 2011 and received our wine studies certificate of completion.

Due to this wine education I was asked to write a bi-weekly wine column for the Ventura County Star Newspaper in 2008. I have been writing it ever since. Nancy and I made our first wine out of some backyard grapes we were able to acquire.  We made about two cases and it was god awful. However we got the bug and we were thinking of doing a barrel of wine at a custom crush facility. We ended up making the wine at Cantara Cellars in Camarillo. We produced both our 2009 and 2010 vintages there.

From one of my early interviews I had met Chuck Ortman a legend in winemaking. We still needed grapes for our 2009 and I had asked him to keep his ears open for us for some Pinot Noir, our favorite varietal. The call came in early summer of 2009. Chuck said he could get us 3/4 of a ton of grapes from Riverbench Vineyards from the famed Mesa Block. We produced 38 cases of 2009 Pinot Noir. Our 2009 Pinot Noir received a Good+ rating and value icon from PinotFile and a 90 rating from PinotReport.

We got our 2010 grapes from Cottonwood Canyon Vineyards also in the Santa Maria Valley.  We have always enjoyed the pinot noirs produced at Cottonwood Canyon Winery and were anxious to make our wine from their grapes. While on our way to pick up the crushed grapes we were informed that fermentation had started on its own with native yeasts. We then waited out the fermentation and the grapes were pressed at Cottonwood Canyon.  We moved the juice to Camarillo from there. We bottled the wine in February 2012 and we are sure this vintage will be as well received as our 2009.  We produced 43 cases.

The name Nuggucciet is pronounced "NEW" GAA" "SHAY" and is named after our two dogs Nugget and Gucci

Cheers!

Russ and Nancy Briley