Wine and friendship that sparkle The story of Las Amigas Cuvée

Hector Antuna

Miriam Puentes, co-owner of Honrama Cellars (top) and Lola Llamas, co-owner of Llamas Family Wines (bottom) with bottles of their first collaboration, Las Amigas Cuvée, in 2020.

Wine

and friendship that sparkle

JESSICA ZIMMER

Las Amigas Cuvée, the first collaboration on a limited edition Napa Valley sparkling wine, is now available from Honrama Cellars, Llamas Family Wines, and third-party sellers. The wine is now also offered at a number of Napa Valley restaurants, including La Calenda in Yountville, Celadon in Napa, and Napa Valley Bistro in Napa.

Las Amigas’s 200-case run is the brainchild of two Latina friends, Miriam Puentes, co-owner of Honrama Cellars and Lola Llamas, co-owner of Llamas Family Wines, both in Napa.

“Our slogan is two families, two brands, one dream,” said Llamas.

Puentes said the wine comes from grapes picked in 2013. The cuvée is a 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay blend from grapes grown in Napa County. Both varietals are grown in the Los Carneros AVA.

“This is a well-balanced, crisp, and refreshing wine with notes of pear and honeydew. It goes well with many different entrees, including mole, fried chicken, truffle popcorn, and shrimp ceviche,” said Puentes. Llamas said the cuvée, which has an ABV of 12%, is light and not “super sweet.” “Schramsberg Vineyards fans say it reminds them of those sparkling wines,” said Llamas. Llamas and Puentes said they are the first Mexican-American vintners in Napa Valley with their own wine brands who joined forces to create a sparkling wine separate from each of their portfolios. “(Our effort) is bridging our wineries together. We started this project together because we both own micro-wineries. We share the vision of scaling our wine companies. We also believe in building a legacy for the future of our children and our loved ones,” said Puentes. She added making the cuvée has been like “sailing a ship with two captains.”

Photos by Evan Roscoe

Juan Puentes (left) and Miriam Puentes (second from left), co-owners of Honrama Cellars, with Lola Llamas (second from right) and Oscar Llamas (right), co-owners of Llamas Family Wines, all holding glasses of Miriam and Lola’s first collaboration, Las Amigas Cuvée. A bottle and a glass of Las Amigas Cuvée, a sparkling wine created in 2020 by Lola Llamas of Llamas Family Wines and Miriam Puentes of Honrama Cellars.

Las Amigas Cuvée Las Del Vino lasdelvinonapavalley.com Honrama Cellars honramacellars.com Llamas Family Wines. llamasfamilywines.com

“We even have both our wineries’ logos on the label. This has been a journey, from our first step of acquiring the grapes to now, when we’re developing fun, welcoming events for guests,” said Llamas.

A friendship that started with MAVA

Llamas and Puentes’ friendship began in 2015, when they met through the Mexican American Vintners Association (MAVA). Their wineries had joined MAVA before that year. Soon Llamas and Puentes were traveling to Los Angeles and San Diego together for wine-related events. They also regularly teamed up to put on MAVA’s annual harvest festival.

“Over the course of these six years, we’ve found we had so much in common. During the pandemic, we started spending time together by taking walks and bike rides,” said Llamas.

On their travels, the two women would talk about the wine they were creating. In early spring 2020, Puentes told Llamas her husband, Juan Puentes, could offer them a batch of wine from an unrealized project.

“That’s when Lola and I decided to take our first step in making sparkling wine together. We both loved bubbly wine, but were new to the processes involved. Our baby steps involved figuring out the dosage (the amount of sugar that must be added to sparkling wine) and how frequently to riddle the bottles (regularly twist them back and forth to make sure the wine is freed of sediment),” said Puentes.

At the same time, Llamas and Puentes began promoting the wine.

“We did an Instagram launch for our brands (Honrama Cellars and Llamas Family Wines) in late May 2020, titling the project “Las Del