Budbreak Project

Resource Sharing Initiative

We were founded on the principles of zero-zero winemaking -- nothing added, nothing taken away. The goal was to allow for the purest expression of place; to make wines the way they want to be. In an industry dominated by rules, ceremony, and exclusivity, we wanted to break with tradition and celebrate experimentation. We’ve learned that this approach cannot be applied to winemaking alone. 

Budbreak Project is a partnership with creative, driven and committed aspiring winemakers who need a supportive place to make and launch their first commercial vintage of wine. We open our winery and ourselves up to learning and development, while offering our partners’ business and technical resources to accelerate their ability to make wine. These resources include financial backing to purchase sustainably-farmed fruit for their cuvées, use of our facilities, technical knowledge, connections to branding and marketing resources, sales platforms and ongoing mentorship. Our vision is a symbiotic trade of diverse perspectives and approaches, an essential part of our winemaking approach moving forward.  

The goal is to break down the barriers to entry for aspiring winemakers that may not normally have immediate access to a functioning winery. Read more about our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging on our Accountability page.

If you are an aspiring winemaker and interested in participating in Budbreak Project, email us.

Budbreak 2020

Brendon Pineda came to us with years of experience in wine and spirits retail and a clear vision about who was being left out of the fine wine conversation. He wanted to help change the narrative around the lack of diversity. He recognized his peers weren’t reaching for wine bottles on the shelf. He wanted to figure out a way to attract members of his community to wine in a welcoming, less intimidating way. As a lover of Sangiovese he looked to produce a natural version of this wine that was approachable and fun -- a crushable wine to share and drink with his friends. A wine for the non-wine drinker. His first bottling, an organic carbonic maceration Sangiovese, is just a piece of his newly launched lifestyle brand, Hidden Society. Founded along with his wife Ariana, Brendon describes Hidden Society as a movement. It’s driven by the desire “to empower, educate and inspire those who come from all different backgrounds", and to “be a voice for the voiceless, representing societies that feel hidden and marginalized”. Brendon worked alongside Alex Pomerantz, our winemaker, to create his first cuvée, the 2020 Hidden Society Sangiovese. The result is a wine with notes of cherry, dark red fruit and tangerines that we’d be happy to crush anytime. 

We are humbled and grateful to Brendon for sharing his vision with us.