Jonathan LeBars is the owner and winemaker of The Punch House Winery and Tasting Experience in Rogue Valley, Oregon. It’s a beautiful boutique winery located in Southern Oregon, just ten minutes from I-5. Maker of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir all grown in Oregon; he additionally offers a Rosé of Grenache, Sparkling Pet-Nat of Malvasia Bianca, and a GSM red blend, lovingly titled “Princess Magpie and the Starcrossed Kid”. Media Inquiries: info@punchhousewine.com | https://www.punchhousewine.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
The one thing that encompasses The Punch House is that everything is beautifully thought-out with design and intention for people. We think of ourselves as being less in the wine business and instead in the business of people. We hand-craft beautiful and aromatic wines for the people. Making wine that we love to drink and are excited to share with the world is why we do what we do. We pine over the details, not for medals or recognition, but because people deserve the highest quality wine delivered in a beautiful package. It’s genuine and it’s honest.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
That’s easy! We would scale up our operations in order to produce a little more wine. We’d expand our tiny winery and purchase some larger equipment, enough to be sustainable and keep the quality of wine high. Then for each bottle of wine sold, we would give part of the proceeds back to the people. No gimmicks. No questions asked. One for one.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
Sauvignon Blanc. It’s our cult classic wine around here. We get stopped by people saying “Your Sauvignon Blanc is my favorite,” or “I used to only drink red wine until I had your Sauvignon Blanc”. Our Sauvignon Blancs, both the stainless steel fermented Sauvignon Blanc and our French oak fermented Sauvignon Blanc are just beautiful wines. Hugely aromatic with loads of citrus and Lychee. It has a kiss of residual sugar to balance the acidity and create a nice weight on the palate. We make this style of Sauvignon Blanc because Sauvignon Blancs with a lemon rind citrus component is
so French! French winemaking is our guiding light in the cellar. Take a look at this Rogue Valley Savvie wine review.
Bonus Question: Why Winemaking?
Because it’s our way of giving back to the human experience. We, at The Punch House, take something from nothing, and make something beautiful. We create something beautiful that we love and cherish, and we put it out into the world to share with others.