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Five years ago, on a trip to Jamaica, I had the pleasure of meeting Kevin Boyer. My husband [at the time] worked for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse with Kevin. From the moment I met him, his superior sense of hospitality and his exceptional manners impressed me.
One evening before dinner, Kevin hosted a little soiree in his hotel room with some amazing wines he had brought with him to the island. Let me tell you, after drinking so much rum, it was quite a welcome change to be sipping a glorious Napa Cab….especially in Jamaica.
I was not surprised to learn recently that Kevin had left Ruth’s Chris to pursue his dreams in the wine business. I was also not surprised to learn the very uplifting story behind this endeavor. After all, everything this young man does has an element of class and sophistication and this wine is no exception. Kevin partnered with Tom Steffanci and this is their story. I hope you find it as “InSpiring” as I do.
Winery Notes
The 2007 InSpire is classic Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, big and bold, yet balanced and refined. Ultra-ripe blueberry, blackberry and cassis are evident in the nose along with aromas of vanilla and dark chocolate. InSpire is dense and rich on the palate with excellent structure and an amazingly long, layered finish.
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Winery Story
Kevin Boyer and Tom Steffanci met in Napa Valley of all places during a boring corporate meeting. Tom was actually the bureaucrat that called the meeting Kevin was attending. We escaped to taste at a few other wineries and talked tirelessly about the wines that blew our minds, those we hated and the ones we would make someday if we got the chance. We also talked about what we wanted to do to make a difference and how we each thought we might be able to do something meaningful. A strong friendship ensued and after a lot of talking about creating our own wine, and a lot of time we finally created BOYANCI. In April of 2009 we released our first ever vintage of BOYANCI.
In October of 2009 we launched our second wine called InSpire. The inaugural vintage is a 2007 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. InSpire is the slightly rebellious son of BOYANCI, our flagship wine, InSpire exhibits a youthful exuberance in both its personality and the style of the wine. As you can see, we call out the “spire” in InSpire and include a “spire” on the label to signify the brands desire to reach up and help others. Just as we do with BOYANCI, we give 10% of our profits to Coproveli , a non- profit that builds schools clinics and housing in the most impoverished areas of Peru. It was in Peru while marveling at the wonders of the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu that we decided on the red shape at the top of our Spire.
The Incans inhabitable Peru some 600 years ago and they built all of their doors and windows in this Punko shape with a wide opening at the bottom of the doorway and a narrow opening at the top. Peru is an earthquake prone area and these uniquely shaped doors and windows are extremely strong. In addition to this shape being structurally strong, the Punko also had symbolic meaning to the Incans representing the pursuit of knowledge as the means overcome challenges. A fitting symbol for Inspire …don’t you think?
The red symbol at the bottom of our InSpire bottle is the alchemaic symbol for transformation. To us making great wine is the blend of seemingly opposing disciplines, the scientific and the spiritual. In a word its alchemy which is defined as “a power or process of transforming something common into something special” and that is exactly what wine making is.
In Sept of 2009 Sarah Steffanci, Tom’s sister, joined the company to lead our sales efforts as we launch InSpire and add new states and new customers.
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