TELOS – In Search of the Lost Blend

In The Lost Blend, American writer O. Henry describes a marathon blending session in which two partners struggle to recreate a mystical libation they had discovered by chance years earlier. The partners succeed, but only when they remember the one, secret ingredient that brought all the elements of the blend together in a single bottle, although not before spending a night in jail for unruly conduct.

Flash forward a century to a gray, January morning in our library room strewn with glasses, flasks, and sticky notes. A solitary winemaker is struggling to craft a singular expression of Livermore Valley. Some blends capture the ethereal, while others display the rock-strewn soils where the grapes are grown. But no combination balances both the ethereal and the worldly in a single blend. Until that is, the winemaker stumbles upon a secret ingredient, creating the perfect marriage of varieties forbidden in the Old World.

This, however, is California, where the Old World mandates don’t apply. More important, this is the Livermore Valley, where a small lot winery like ours has a treasury of exotic varieties to choose from. From these fertile grounds, TELOS is born, and the secret ingredient is now locked away for future years. TELOS 2010, a forbidden marriage of Cab, Syrah, and the secret ingredient.

2010 Vintage DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, 2014