Nestled in the shadow of the Sainte-Victoire massif, the Château Pigoudet vineyard is the northernmost in the Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence appellation. With its 40 hectares of
vineyards, facing due south at an altitude of 400 meters, it enjoys an exceptional location that greatly contributes to the success of its harvests. For several years, Château Pigoudet has restored its focus on nature and the environment and has embarked on a sustainable viticulture approach that emphasizes the use of “organic fertilizers” and advocates for the sparing treatment of vines on a case-by-case basis.
Cabernet Sauvignon
KHK
On tasting the jaw-dropping 2023 earlier this year, we collectively decided: “yeah, it’s time to go public…..well, sort of quietly anyway….” A pristine Yountville vineyard, created by three old friends and partners with vast and deep wells of fine food and wine careers, and a mission to make a seriously elevated, yet wildly accessible 100% Napa Cabernet. It CAN be done, good people, it CAN. Well, a few hundred cases anyway!
Our semi-inaugural 2023 Napa (past vintages were previously only sold through a handful of our restaurants around the country) shimmers in a style that rocks with burgers to bourguignon, thanks to the talented Thomas Rivers Brown (yes, we DO have a lot of Keller’s and Thomas’ at our table!)
“The fact is, Napa Valley wine is expensive to make, but what KHK have imagined with their terroir, lifetime experiences and feet-firmly-rooted-in-reality philosophy is, for me, a rare opportunity to make an extremely high-quality, classic Napa Cab that is absolutely within reach. I’m thrilled to be creating it with them.” – Thomas Rivers Brown, Winemaker
If you’ve just found us, well, hello and welcome to a VERY small, wildly devoted tribe. Not just the good people who collect/drink (well, mostly drink) our wine, but those of us who make it. Here’s our story in a nutshell, with plenty more detail below. But quickly: the core of our philosophy.
It’s almost a trope in the wine business (of which we’ve been in for several generations) that the wines you remember most vividly are actually formed around the occasions of drinking them. Circumstance is everything. “There are no great wines – only great bottles” as the saying goes, and damn if it isn’t true. That’s why that $8 carafe of Chianti you had in Tuscany at that one osteria, or the $10 glass of Chablis at L’Assiette in Paris is JUST as burned into your cortex as that mind-bending 1989 Chateau Haut-Brion you had at that once-in-a-lifetime French Laundry experience. It’s an extremely pleasurable and satisfying mini-brainstorm that locks the moment in your cells and heart forever (probably why we’re always chasing it!). These disparate wine experiences arrive at the same point: formative, thrilling, breathtaking even, but always unforgettable. Our Cabernet might tumble your soul, set your skin a-tingle, or it might just be the perfect companion to glide through a quiet (or, hell, raucous) Friday night at home. That’s how we drink it, envisioned it, and priced it(!), so we’re extremely grateful and kids-on-Christmas-morning stoked to offer (more or less for the first time outside of our restaurants and friends/family) a few cases (finally!) to you. Here is some data points:
KHK is a vineyard partnership and a tribute to longtime friendships between fourth-generation Napan Jim Keller; Thomas Keller (no relation), who lends his chef’s palate and guidance; and the Hall family, of Hall’s Chophouse fame. We all share deep roots in wine, food, and memorable experiences—and our vision for the perfect, everyday Cabernet has come together.
Staying true to our homegrown Yountville roots, we source primarily from a unfortunately-shall-have-to-go-nameless vineyard (lawyers, you know), meticulously farmed by the legendary Bettinelli family. Our Cabernet is augmented by another vineyard extremely close to us, the vaunted Shifflett vineyard carefully and beautifully nestled in between Yountville AVA and Oak Knoll District AVA, just south of Yountville.
Winemaker: Thomas Rivers Brown. Thomas brings decades of much-admired excellence to the raw material, but he also brings his sensibility and passion for the wines of Burgundy, Barolo and beyond (indeed he is a blast to drink with!). Thomas is driven to create a wine that has broad appeal and that is EVERYTHING to us.
Our KHK Cabernet is priced at $79—not $250 or $450—because we believe great wine can be accessible without compromising quality. We wanted to create a bottle that fits naturally at the table while still meeting the highest standards.
For years, our wines were only sold in top-tier restaurants across the country, crafted by Thomas to specifically to hit that emotional and pricing sweet spot for people of every stripe. In 2023, we were incredibly fortunate to have not only head-spinning quality, but a bit more yield, too. It’s the finest we’ve made yet and we decided to share a bit of it going forward. You’ll dig it, promise.
Lastly, but possibly most importantly, we’re all about food, so we make a wine with BALANCE, harmony, complexity, generosity, length and warmth. A wine to drink effortlessly with abandon, or to drink with attention and intent. That’s the holy grail for us.
Mandrake Wine
Wine Inspired By Aphrodite. In Folklore dating back to pre-biblical times, the mandrake root was imbued with all manner of magical powers. It was known to be an antidote against enchantments, to make the barren fertile, and, most commonly, to have power as a love potion. Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of Love, was sometimes known as the “Lady of the Mandrake” for the root’s association with life’s carnal pleasures. Our wines pay homage to this sensual goddess, this magical root, and the tradition of winemaking that is as old as these two legends.
Harper Oak
Located north of Healdsburg and east of Geyserville, the Alexander Valley stretches 25 miles from north to south with the beautiful Russian River meandering through. The vineyards selected for Harper Oak Cabernet Sauvignon, found in Jimtown are adjacent from some of the most iconic producers of Alexander Valley.
Sitting on a bench above the Russian River at an altitude of nearly 300 feet, the vineyard is planted on clay and sandy loam soils that range in depth from 18 inches to 5 feet over compacted sandstone, with moderate fertility and good drainage, make it ideally suited to Cabernet Sauvignon.
ESPRIT DE PAVIE
Esprit de Pavie is the creation of Gerard Perse, the visionary owner of Chateau Pavie in St Emillion, having produced no less than five 100 point wines at the Pavie estate. He and his team could have sat smugly on their laurels, instead they set out to make a more democratic bottle of Bordeaux for wider enjoyment, Esprit de Pavie is made from young vines from all of Perse’s estate’s, including Pavie, this is definitely a smart case of wine to add to the cellar, given the provenance and price, it’s a Bordeaux to snap up for fun and future.
PAVIE
Château Pavie is a Bordeaux estate in Saint-Émilion known for its Merlot-dominant grand vin. It is one of four châteaux with the Premier Grand Cru Classé A status, the highest classification in Bordeaux’s right bank.
The 37-hectare (91-acre) Pavie estate sits on a limestone plateau on a site known to have been planted with vines since Roman times. The current property boundaries were heavily influenced by the land purchases of Ferdinand Bouffard in the late 19th Century. Bouffard bought a number of vineyards and châteaux, laying the foundations not just for Pavie but several of its neighboring estates, although he continued to manage them as separate entities. In the early 20th Century, Château Pavie was divided into three: châteaux Pavie Macquin and Pavie Decesse were created from land from the original estate. Pavie remains the largest of the three and is one of the largest estates in Saint-Émilion.
Château Pavie was named a Premier Grand Cru Classé B at the 1954 classification of Saint-Émilion. Gérard Perse bought Pavie in 1998 (having previously bought Pavie Decesse) and implemented significant upgrades to the vineyards and winery. Many of the vines were replanted, and Michel Rolland was hired as consultant winemaker. Subsequent vintages have been markedly different and have created some controversy. The new wines are known for their riper, fuller and more extracted expressions with high alcohol content. They have been well received by American critic Robert Parker but not so favorably by others, notable in the poor review the 2003 received from Jancis Robinson. In the 2012 review of the Saint-Émillion classification, Château Pavie was elevated to the highest status of Premier Grand Cru Classé A.
The vineyards are planted roughly 60 percent to Merlot, 20 percent to Cabernet Franc and 10 percent to Cabernet Sauvignon. Along with the eponymous grand vin, Pavie makes a second wine called Arômes de Pavie, renamed from Tour Simard in 2005. This is made from younger vines with an average age of less than 10 years, compared to 43 for the grand vin. The total production of the estate is roughly 8000 cases annually.