Soma Vines
@somawines.selections
Daisy Merrick, formerly of Chambers Street Wines, founded Soma Vines as a import and distribution company in Berlin in 2018. In 2020 she partnered with Antoine Lucchesi, who most recently was working at Domaine Brand, to create a negociant project. They have plans to own their own vineyards in the near future. Daisy’s sister (who works in the industry here in Brooklyn) designed the labels.
Daisy and Antoine are very grateful to their friends at Weingut Mann, who let Soma Vines use their cellar in Rheinhessen. They purchase grapes from winemaker friends in Alsace and Rheinhessen, starting in 2022 they started buying only within Germany. The purchased grapes are certified organic and some friends use biodynamic practices. All wines are native yeast fermented, unfined, unfiltered, and there is no additional SO2. Zero zero on all cuvées.
Weingut Mann
Weingut Mann is a small winery from Eckelsheim in “Rheinhessen Switzerland”—a little-known circle of wine villages fanning out south of Wöllstein that have steep hillsides and forested summits. Andreas Mann cultivates around 10 hectares of vineyards and tries to do it as holistically as possible. His wines are always a representation of nature, and the character of each wine is created in the vineyard.
Weingut Schmitt
Bianka and Daniel Schmitt are two talented young winemakers making biodynamic wine “just from grapes” in the Rheinhessen region of Germany. The wines are pure and fresh, full of personality and life. Rheinhessen is the largest wine growing region in Germany, and has been largely associated with bulk production. However, in recent years, the region’s reputation has begun to shift as a new generation of younger, more innovative growers are reducing yields and honing in on the largely undervalued terroir of this region. Bianka and Daniel epitomize this new wave of German winemakers, working hard to produce wines of the highest quality with as little intervention as possible.
The Weingut Schmitt winery has been in the family for over 200 years. Bianka and Daniel have been working their 16 hectares biodynamically for over a decade and are one of only 80 producers in Germany to be Demeter certified. They work with amphorae as well as used oak barrels and release a ‘Natur’ line that contains no added sulphur.