Tendril 29 Items

Tony Rynders squeezes a full bladder press of cellar cred into his wholly owned new brand, Tendril Wine Cellars. Tony's professional wine experience began in 1989 in the lab at Mirassou. He then went on to graduate from UC Davis in 1993 with a Masters Degree in Viticulture and Enology. Next, off on a world tour of practical experience in Carneros, Friuli, Tuscany and South Australia. Then, assistant winemaker at Argyle in Oregon and red winemaker at Hogue in Washington. All of this finally prepares him for ten years as head winemaker at Domaine Serene where he collected more 90+ scores from Wine Spectator than any other winemaker over the same ten years. In the same period The Wine Advocate named Domaine Serene one of Oregon's two "Outstanding" producers while Wine & Spirits awarded Winery of the Year for five consecutive years. Amazingly, during this time Tony oversaw the growing of Domaine Serene from a 2500 to a 25,000 case super-premium winery.

At Tendril, Tony has taken a deep breath and scaled way back. While quality is at the uncompromising high level one would expect, quantity is limited to around 500 cases per year and to Pinot Noir only. Similar to Mike Januik's story in Washington State, there's hardly a great grower in Oregon who would not be happy to provide Tony with whatever fruit he desires, and the best possible fruit attainable he does indeed get. Though he managed a large cellar staff at Domaine Serene, Tony and assistant winemaker Samantha Poehlman, also a Domaine Serene alum, perform every task at Tendril themselves. The results have been breathtakingly beautiful.