Who We Are
Story: Libere volarein
The instance you have poured wine out of the bottle, you have given wine its freedom.
The freedom challenges the wine to express itself, to observe the faces around, and to be a catalyst for conversations. Whereas you, the liberator, are challenged to funnel your emotions to a limited array that facilitates the environment.
We, the winemakers (Richard C. and Max H.), had the great challenge of liberating our idea into wine. Our common idea of liberation? Making wines that would echo our friendship and help others strengthen theirs and to make new ones. Making wines that would be a portrayal of our philosophy: logic and art. Making wines that tackles social issues. Making wines that taste just darn good.
We can tell you about friendship. Meeting each other on the first day of the Viticulture and Enology graduate program at University of California, Davis, we quickly forged a bond. Our first conversation was about our love for soccer. We then figured that in our cohort, it was just the two of us who actually played and loved the sport. Hence, the coat of arms of our wines being the combination of the American bald-eagle and the Japanese Yatagarasu (Eight-Span Crow) creating the Yata Eagle.
Yata Eagle will guide us in making great wine, making new friends, and finding out more about each other. Here is a list of what we’ve considered to be important in our friendship so far:
- Studying for exams in bars while drinking
- Forming our own intramural soccer team and guiding our team to be a formidable force (but damn you, La Gacha)
- Leaving the path in a state park to go explore but to only find another path quickly
- Jogging on a dog beach
- Sending each other memes
- Binging “New Girl”, “West Wing”, “How I Met Your Mother” together
- Betting exam scores to get a free dinner
- Making wine together
Let friendships be made. Let freedom reign. Let the wine out of the bottle. Let the bird out of the cage1,2. Let us give you wine.
- West, Kanye. “Waves”. The Life of Pablo, GOOD Music and Def Jam, 2016, track 10
- Angelou, Maya. “Caged Bird”. Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing?. Random House, 2013
Richard, S.
Richie Richie Richie, can’t you see. Sometimes you hypnotize bread.
Max, H.
Winemaking serves a different purpose to me than what wine serves. Though I have great vision for what wine can be, the dream is marred by the environment it is commodified in. Issues like labor, international tariffs, environmental damages, wage inequality, Neo-liberal policies all impact the wines we consume. To afford the freedom to consume wine and to make wine in peace is a goal that I strive for but I believe I cannot do so until the conditions are right. Until then, I will struggle and hopefully lay the foundation in which we can all force a change together.
Who We Are For
We are going to be transparent with our funds from wine sales. We will recycle the cash and put it back into winemaking. However, we are not taking salary from this. The surplus value of our products will be used accordingly: to build a community that actually helps change the system. Though we do agree that there are a lot of injustices in the world that needs to be addressed, a lot of the charities and NGOs in our minds are bandaids rather than treating the cause. We think the best action (though it may be labeled as small and insignificant against such a immense power of capitalism) is to strengthen the communities we have in terms of rights, access, and recriprocity. A network could then be established within different communities and we can then start building our struggle in a way that can develop into a force.
We believe the majority of people domestically and internationally are exploited, which leads to class struggles, racism, environmental damages, corruption, abuse of art, and the impedement of human history realization. The people have voices to be heard and more importantly, realized. Our liberation is tied with your liberation. So we shall struggle together and break free together.
