Justin and Philippe were bought together my their mutual friend, the visionary Sasha Verhage, who told Justin that Philippe wanted to work with him using ‘heritage’ Zinfandel, not repeating his work in the Rhône. They produced four remarkable vintages (2016-2019) before Philippe’s tragic passing.

When asked about the Downstream name, Justin says, “We’d been thinking about what to call it for forever, but nothing was sticking. And then I had a dream: I was driving down the 101, past Atascadero, about to get off the freeway to go to In-N-Out Burger, and it hit me.” In his dream, he exclaimed: “Downstream! We’re going to call it Downstream! I can’t wait to call Sasha and tell him that I found the perfect name: Downstream!” When he woke up, he felt it was the perfect name. And though he says the name didn’t hold a lot of meaning immediately after the dream, Smith now sees parallels between the name and his creative intentions. Smith’s portions of the proceeds from Downstream will be donated entirely to local charities. “I’ll be sending that money downstream,” he says.

This is a California Legend, already one of the most exclusive and sought after wines of Central California. With barely a few hundred cases to be produced each vintage, it’s well on the way to being a serious collector’s item too!