Failla Wines

Winemaker and Owner, Ehren Jordan, cut his teeth in winemaking back in the early 1990s whilst working harvest in the Northern Rhône with Jean-Luc Columbo. After two years in Cornas, Ehren found himself in Napa Valley as a cellar rat at Joseph Phelps followed by his big break working alongside the famed Helen Turley at Turley Wine Cellars.

In 1998, Failla Wines came to life from Ehren’s passion for Syrah and love of elegant Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. His curious mind sent him on a search for unique sites with varying climates (think cool, cooler and cold), soils, clones and rootstocks. Planted in 1997, Failla’s Estate Vineyard sits between 1000-1400 feet elevation on the West Sonoma Coast.In 2011, Ehren purchased another site, Olivet Ranch, in the heart of the Russian River Valley which is organically farmed like all the vineyards he works with and owns. In addition to their own sites, Failla purchases fruit from some of the most highly regarded vineyards in California, with Hirsch and Platt on the West Sonoma Coast to Savoy and Ferrington Vineyards in the Anderson Valley. Not to be forgotten are his roots from Turley and years of making Zinfandel, Ehren crafts a juicy, yet elegant expression from the Grist Vineyard in Dry Creek Valley and his Day Zinfandel from Russian River Valley is yet another balanced version of this brightly fruited variety.

Ehren has a cellar full of toys and loves to experiment with concrete eggs and amphora along with the classic use of (mostly) neutral French oak, all of which aid in retaining acidity in the wines and allow for each of the individual sites to express themselves.