What's So Funny About Hobo Wines?
What's So Funny About Hobo Wines?
Meet Our Wine of the Week
We'll forgive you if the name Kenny Likitprakong doesn't ring a bell, but he's become one of our favorite producers as the brainchild behind The Hobo Wine Company, a unique concept where the company doesn't own any single vineyard, but sources grapes from over 40 distinct vineyards whose beliefs align with the former beach bum.
Kenny began his winemaking career managing the organic vineyards at UC Davis, before stopping over in France to learn more about the natural winemaking process. That pushed him to start making wines under the Banyan moniker with his father, wines that were exclusively made with white varietals that were perfectly attenuated for Southeast Asian cuisine before branching out to start The Hobo Wine Company.
Likitprakong idolized the likes of Woody Guthrie, Richard Hugo, and Bruce Springsteen, and relished the concept of the traveling vagabond, and rued their disappearance. The Hobo Wine Company became an homage, as Kenny would later say "Like all good heroes, I figured they deserved their place in history and on wine bottles."
To go with Hobo Wines and Banyan, Kenny created the Folk Machine line later in 2005 to highlight both Pinot Noir and more eccentric and esoteric wine varietals that he had a particular taste for.
We're super excited to have some of his more unique wines in the Folk Machine line, and this week we're having a sale on the whole line.
You'd probably notice the Gamay Rose first. It's hard not to, with a label that comes across like a David Hockney painting crossed with the Caterpillar scene in Alice in Wonderland . It's also a heck of a good wine.
And if you want something completely different, something you've probably never had before, then the Film and Camera Valdiguie is the one for you. Valdiguie is a varietal that Kenny has championed for a long time, and was long called "Napa Gamay" before genetic testing proved it to be a whole different grape.
To round out the more out there options, we have Parts & Labor, a vintaged red blend from Folk Machine that always has slight tweaks to the overall mix, but this year is 58% Redwood Valley Carignane, 26% Potter Valley Syrah, 11% Arroyo Seco Grenache, and 5% Redwood Valley Barbera. It's a blend that features a lot of character with little fuss.
Not to be forgotten is the Central Coast Pinot Noir, a bottle that exemplifies what California has to offer, with rounded cherry fruit and soft structure that make it the easy pleaser of the bunch.
For the curious, we'll have the wines open for our tastings this week, so feel free to come on by and try for yourself.
Folk Machine Gamay Rose - 16.99
Folk Machine Film and Camera Valdiguie - 24.99
Folk Machine Central Coast Pinot Noir - 19.99
Folk Machine Parts & Labor Red Blend - 19.99