November is a special time around the Gabriel house. Harvest has wrapped, Italian Wedding soup is on the stove, we celebrate Kyle's birthday, and Home Alone is on repeat.
It's also the time that we get to curate some holiday gifts for you, our loyal Paper Planes community. This year is extra special, because in addition to some awesome gift sets, we also have a brand new release, our 2022 Valdiguié, previously only available to Flight Club members. With less than 25 cases remaining, we expect this wine to go quick, so snag a few bottles if you want them to last past December.
Thank you, as always, for supporting our family-run business and building this vibrant community with us. We're now hosting private tastings, so give us a buzz if you are in Napa and want to sit down and taste through our current releases.
Lastly, if you know us you know that wine and music goes hand in hand. So, we've made a special playlist for you to enjoy this Thanksgiving + beyond. Click HERE to open on Spotify!
Sending our best to you and yours this holiday season!
Flight School is Named One of NY Times Top Canned Wines
Thank you to Wirecutter for naming our Paper Planes Flight School cans as one of the best canned wines!
The beauty of boxed and canned wine is its convenience. Forget the fuss of storing a bottle or resealing a half-finished one. Leave them all in the cellar. The future is now, and may we all enjoy it with a can of red, white, or rosé.
The pushback against “new” ways to enjoy wine is real, but the arguments seem to be a matter of aesthetics. Cardboard box over glass bottle? A $5 price tag instead of $50? Slurping wine out of—gulp—a plastic bag? Wine doesn’t have to look good to taste good—though many of the can and box designs have a made-for-Instagram feel to them. And as long as you’re not looking for the depth of flavor you’d find in a 50-year-old bottle, the taste of these wines will suit most drinkers.
As Wirecutter staffers bounce around beaches, parks, and BBQs enjoying what’s left of the summer, these are the favorite boxed and canned wines they’re bringing with them.
Paper Planes Flight School Rosé of Pinot Noir ($30 for four cans at the time of publication)
One factor separates the drinkable wines from the excellent in my price range (as close to $20 a bottle, or under, as possible): Can it be traced to a specific farm and varietal? Or is it an anonymous blend of whatever’s left in the tanks? This rosé of pinot noir is the former, and it’s great! As it should be for a $30 bottle (split into four cans). Flight School is perfect with a side of soda and some salted almonds, as a lightweight addition to the beach cooler. I wish more makers would put high-quality wine into cans like this—and that someone would give me a trunkload of this stuff ’cause I can’t pay $30 every time!
You can view the full list here.
The 2020 Paper Planes Rosé is Here!
Friends,
Kyle and I are so excited to announce the release of the 2020 Paper Planes Rosé.
While every vintage holds a special place in our heart, 2020 will always be a particularly memorable year in our minds. We put so much love into this bottle - and it is without a doubt one of our favorite vintages to date.
While 2020 was a challenging year for all of us in many ways, walking through the vineyards was always a welcome reminder that life goes on. As harvest approached for in August, we anticipated a difficult year logistically with new protocols to keep everyone safe. We had one epic day bringing in fruit for our 2020 Paper Planes rosé before the fires broke out in Napa and Sonoma counties and foiled the rest of our harvest plans due to smoke effects. So here we are - one unicorn wine from the only fruit we picked this year - and it is really special.
The aromatics on this wine are out of this world - freshly zested lemon, peach blossom and white flower. It's simultaneously super tart and fresh while also being really substantial and complex with a long finish. It reminds me of walking into the walk-in fridge at a really nice French cheese shop.
We source our grapes from a single vineyard in the Chalk Hill sub AVA of the Russian River Valley, called the Windsor Oaks Vineyard. This is the sixth year that we've sourced fruit from this special vineyard, and the second year that it has made up 100% of the blend.
Thank you for supporting our small family business and allowing us to do what we love.
xo Laura, Kyle and Noah
Nice Things That People Have Said About Us
We don’t make wine for the critics, but it still feels good when they have nice things to say about us! Here are a few of the mentions we received on our wines this year!
Paper Planes, 93 Points, Wine Enthusiast
https://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/paper-planes-2017-rose-of-pinot-noir-russian-river-valley/
Flight School, Editors Pick, Wine Enthusiast
https://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/paper-planes-nv-flight-school-rose-of-pinot-noir-sonoma-coast/
Flight School, Top Canned Wines of the Year, Wine Spectator
https://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/24-Top-Rated-Box-Can-Wine-Score-Reviews
Round Up of Where to Find Us: Spring 2018 Edition
Here's a quick roundup of all our friends who are carrying Paper Planes as of Spring of 2018.
Northern California
- Acme Wines (St. Helena)
- Angele (Napa)
- Bay Grape (Oakland)
- Big Bottom Market (Guerneville/Sonoma)
- Bistro Don Giovanni (Napa)
- CIA at Copia (Napa)
- Castro Village Wine Co. (San Francisco)
- Mustard's Grill (Yountville/Napa)
- R+D Kitchen (Yountville/Napa)
- Robin (San Francisco)
- Sonoma's Best Wine Merchant (Sonoma)
- St. Helena Wine Center (St. Helena)
- V Wine Cellar (Yountville/Napa)
Southern California
- Bar & Garden (Culver City)
- Bar Covell (Los Feliz)
- Black Cat (Silver Lake)
- Ester's Wine Shop (Santa Monica)
- Everson Royce (Pasadena)
- Highland Park Wine (Highland Park)
- Jayde's Market (Beverly Hills)
- Rustic Canyon (Santa Monica)
- Silverlake Wine (Silver Lake)
- Soho House West Hollywood (Los Angeles)
- Wally's Wine (Beverly Hills)
If none of these fine restaurants or retailers are in your hood, you can always order online.
What Are You Doing Next Month?
We have some killer events coming up and we'd love for you to join us!
Paper Planes x Martha Oakes Event
Wednesday March 21st 6-8pm
Batch / 1648 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco
Come hang out with Kyle and sip Paper Planes at one of San Francisco's coolest new shops located in an old firehouse as they unveil a new art collection by Sonoma based artist Martha Oakes. This event is complementary, but please RSVP here to secure your spot.
Bay Grape Tasting
Tuesday April 3rd from 6-9pm
Bay Grape / 376 Grand Ave, Oakland
Kyle and Laura are pouring at the awesome Bay Grape wine shop in Oakland. Come on by to hang out and taste three killer wines for $15. Tickets at the door, no need to RSVP.
Mr. Pink Party
Saturday April 14th 1:30-4:30pm
Compline / 1300 1st St #312, Napa
Spend your afternoon listening to sounds by DJ Vitamix at this all you can drink pink party with us and several other amazing producers including Scribe, Scholium Project, and Lorenza. That's right, unlimited wine for just $35! Purchase your tickets here.
Wall's Wine All Stars of Napa and Sonoma Tasting
Sunday April 15th 2-5pm
The Olympic Collection / 11301 W. Olympic Blvd., 3rd Floor, Los Angeles
This tasting is going to be LEGENDARY! Join Kyle and many other incredible winemakers curated by Wally's Wine Shop for an afternoon of Napa and Sonoma all stars. Taste wines by the likes of Crocker and Starr, Raen, Mayacamas, Paul Hobbs, Senses, Dominus, Frog's Leap, THE LIST GOES ON. Tickets are just $75 to taste from over 50 producers. Get your tickets here.
Flight School Pop Up at the Pine
Tuesday April 17th 5-7:30pm
The Pine / 410 Petaluma Blvd S Suite B, Petaluma
Slay tax day with a special Flight School popup at Petaluma's coolest salon. Snack on cheesy bites and drink Flight School to celebrate your taxes being done. Hooray! This event is complementary, but please reply to this email to secure your spot.
Boss Ladies Magazine Release Party
Thursday May 3rd from 7-9pm
Heath Ceramics Factory / San Francisco
We're celebrating the launch of the latest issue of Boss Ladies Magazine at what is sure to be an incredible event in San Francisco. Come sip Paper Planes, meet some awesome people and listen to the founders of Heath Ceramics and Cuyana talk about business and life. Tickets are complimentary, but please reply to this email to grab a spot before it's sold out!
All of these events are either complimentary or discounted to our Flight Club members. Join us today for special pricing on these events + many more to come!
2017 VINTAGE NOW AVAILABLE + FLIGHT CLUB
Hey, it's been awhile! 2017 was a doozy but we're more proud of this vintage than ever before. We can't wait for you to try it.
This vintage is fresh, crisp, lively, and overall awesome. Perfect minerality is balanced by tart citrus, great texture, and mouth-watering acidity.
Vintage 2017
Production 487 Cases
Varietal 100% Pinot Noir
Appellation Russian River Valley, Sonoma
Announcing Our First Ever Wine Club
We're thrilled to announce the creation of our first wine club. Join today and receive two shipments per year (choose either 6 or 12 bottles per shipment). You'll never be without Paper Planes again. Click through for all the details. ⚡️
10% off every order
Shipping included on club orders
Super secret access to pre-release wines
+ lots of other awesome things
Paper Planes x Valleybrink Road
A few months ago we celebrated the launch of our dear friends Valleybrink Road Flowers at Hotel Covell on a beautiful Spring afternoon in LA, surrounded by inspiring entrepreneurs and just generally awesome people. Resident Paper Planes photographer Peter Hughes captured the day.
Where to Find Us - So Far in 2016
Here are the fine establishments where you can find Paper Planes so far this year in California.
*denotes where you can find us by the glass!
Restaurants:
Bistro Don Giovanni (Napa, CA)
The Black Cat* (Los Angeles, CA)
Bouchon Bistro* (Yountville, CA)
Cadet Beer and Wine Bar (Napa, CA)
Ninebark (Napa, CA)
Wine Shops/Tasting Rooms:
Acme Fine Wines (St. Helena, CA)
Bar and Garden (Culver City, CA)
K. Laz Collection* (Yountville, CA)
St. Helena Wine Center (St. Helena, CA)
Silverlake Wine (Los Angeles, CA)
V Wine Cellar* (Yountville, CA)
Cheers!
- Laura + Kyle
A Look Back on 2015
As I sit and write this at Oxbow in downtown Napa, I am overwhelmed by the year we've had and the support we've received from family, friends and strangers. Nothing would have been possible without so much help along the way. One year ago, we were punching out thousands of tiny triangles in every label for our first vintage, and the day after Christmas we (along with 12 hardworking friends) hand applied the labels to all 2,160 bottles. From the first bottle we sold in February (I think I was shaking from excitement) to the last in May (still shaking), I've been humbled by the amazing people we've been able to work with. We've formed relationships with every person we've sold to, and it has made Paper Planes more than just a wine, but a living thing that feels like it's really doing what we set out for it to do - encourage spirited relationships and create memories that inspire.
We learned a lot last year, and today, all 362 cases of our second vintage of Paper Planes are bottled, labeled (no punching out triangles or hand labeling required!) and ready to make their debut to the world. I'm inspired by the people we've met along the way. I miss our dear friends in Los Angeles but am so lucky to have the family and friends we have in Napa, and I am proud to be a part of the Napa Community of winemakers and business owners. As I look back on the year full of change that we've had, I want to thank everyone who has touched Paper Planes and our lives. We can't wait to see what 2016 has in store.
Harvesting
After bouncing back and forth between Northern and Southern California, Kyle and I made the decision earlier this year to dive into the wine industry head first and move back up to Napa. It's been an amazing summer getting reacquainted with our buzzing little town, and we are now officially in full harvest mode with our eyes on the prize!
While we live in Napa, Paper Planes comes from just over the hill in the Russian River Valley, where our grapes and facility are based. This harvest has been a fast and furious one, triggered by a crazy heat wave earlier this month that pushed all our grapes into perfect picking conditions practically at the same time. While that made for a hectic couple of weeks, this year is already looking to be another great one, with beautiful color and flavor concentrated into lower crop yields. Paper Planes 2015 vintage will be available early next year!
Can't wait? Neither can we! Sign up for our mailing list [here] to be the first to hear about our pre-order going live in September.
Paper Planes Wine Featured on Q By Equinox
Thanks to our friends at Valleybrink Road for the shout out in your amazing dinner party featured on Q by Equinox!
Paper Planes Wins Gold at The Rosé Competition
Paper Planes is honored to be awarded a gold medal at the Rosé Competition this past week in Healdsburg. Thanks for the love!
For a full list of winners check out the article here.
A Winter Dinner Party
Winter in LA is pretty much just like every other season, which we love because the picnic table in our backyard is the only place we fit when we have friends over! A few weeks ago we took advantage of another lovely 70 degree winter day and had an early evening dinner party to celebrate Paper Planes officially being in bottle!
Photos by our talented friend Peter Hughes.
Oysters with Fresh Lemon
(by the way, shucking oysters is much easier than it looks! We learned from the best at Hog Island Oyster Co. and you can too - HERE)
Whole Roasted Chicken
(Thomas Kellar's Simple Roast Chicken Recipe is super easy and has a very prettyful presentation)
Farmers Market Greens With Radishes + Walnut Vinaigrette
(and prosciutto wrapped dates in the corner)
French Bread
(no Boomer this is not for you)
Paper Planes Wine
(The Secret Ingredient)
Almost There: Blending, Bottling, and the Boring Stuff
Many of you have been asking lately about when you can get your hands on some Paper Planes.
Soon - the answer is soon!!
At the end of November we selected our final blend and decided to go entirely with our lots fermented in neutral oak - and it tastes even better than we ever imagined! At the beginning of this project, both Kyle and I wanted to ferment the wine stainless steel to get that wet stone, flinty character that we're both such fans of. Just for fun, We ended up fermenting half in stainless steel and half in neutral oak ("neutral" oak doesn't have any of that oaky flavor - it just acts as a really lovely porous vessel that creates more complexity). In the end, we decided to only use the 8 barrels in neutral oak. Our final product is a wine that is crisp with fresh floral notes and a complex, long finish.
People have asked us what style we are making the wine in (Provence vs. Burgandy) and I always tell them, "neither!" While Paper Planes is dry and has that salmon/peachy color that we've come to love in Provence style rosés, we want to celebrate California rosé and help begin to establish what puts California rosé on it's own level. We did things a little differently than most - and we're excited about that.
After we blended, we cold and heat stabilized the wine to get it ready for bottling. Although we're bottling with a machine, the type of labels we decided on (super pretty die cut/foil stamped) can't be applied by machine, so we've recruited a group of our closest friends and family to help us hand label the day after Christmas. Because nothing says it's the holidays like sitting in a cold warehouse hand applying sticky paper to 2,200 bottles!
Lastly, while the final piece of the puzzle might be the most boring piece, it is the most essential: the license. As soon as we have our final government approval (and we hope it is just days away) our online shop will be live and Paper Planes will be available to all. In the mean time, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know when we're officially up and running.
Rosé Sounds of Fall
Fall in Los Angeles is kind of a joke, but waking up this morning seeing dew on the grass and pumpkins on our front steps made me feel (just for a second) like fall is finally here! Some people might think rosé drinking should be reserved for summers at the pool, but I think there's nothing better than having some friends over in October, snacking on pumpkin seeds and drinking rosé! You'll need music for this, of course, so check out our fall playlist made up of some of our favorite new releases.
Paper Planes Wine Crowdfunding is Complete!
The Paper Planes Wine crowdfunding campaign has ended and we are successfully funded! We raised $12,741 (159% of our goal!!). Thank you so much to everyone who made this happen.
The rosé is currently hanging out in 2/3 neutral oak barrels and 1/3 stainless steel tanks. It's already tasting deliciously with a floral nose, bright and crisp on the palate with a long finish. It's so good that someone (who shall not be named) drank the rest of our samples that we accidentally left in the fridge!
While the campaign is over, Paper Planes is just beginning. We've set our bottling date for December 18th and wine will be available for pre-order starting in January 2015. We can't wait to share it with all of you!
Paper Planes Gets Press'd!
Paper Planes is featured in Grape Collective's article "From Grassroots to Grapes: Crowdfunding Wine." We are thrilled to be the first winery in the Russian River Valley to make exclusively rosé, and we couldn't do it without your help. Paper Planes is all about bringing people together for lighthearted fun, and it all starts with crowdfunding!
Crowdfunding Update - Week One
We are overwhelmed by the amount of support for Paper Planes in week one of our crowdfunding campaign. Thank you for all of the love! If you haven't yet donated, watch the video below and click HERE to visit our indiegogo page which will be live for 13 more days!
What's In A Name? The Story of Paper Planes
When Kyle and I first started talking about making rosé back in 2011, there were a lot of things that we knew from the start. It had to be a rosé of pinot noir. It had to be from Russian River Valley. It couldn't be too feminine, sweet, or fruity. It should be nostalgic and whimsical but not cheeky. It had to be light, fun, fresh, and something that you could bring to a picnic in the park or a cocktail party on New Years Eve. We wanted it to be not just a bottle of wine but a reason to call your friends and get together.
Almost three years later, when we decided to get serious about rosé, all those things stayed true. Our only problem was how to capture those feelings in a word or two. We met with brand consultants and made lists hundreds of words long trying to come up with the perfect name. We found a few that we liked, but nothing that clicked.
The day before our "eureka" moment, we were waiting to board a flight up to San Francisco. I started folding my boarding pass into a paper plane to pass the time. We joked about how I wasn't very good at making them, but how fun they were and their inherent nostalgia. Still, nothing clicked. The next day, while walking to dinner in San Francisco, Kyle shouted out suddenly "Paper Planes!"
At that moment, we knew we found it. Fun, light, whimsical, nostalgic, simple and playful, it hit all the notes we'd been searching for. Coincidentally, 6 years ago, when we first met, "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. was one of the first songs we danced to. So I guess it was meant to be, it just took us a few years to figure it out.
Paper Planes Rosé
Rosé Isn't An Afterthought - It's Our Only Thought.