Forager
Jonathan Pey, who was enchanted by the beauty of wine during his teenage years while living with his family in Paris, France, returned to the United States to obtain a bachelor's degree in agronomy. He then worked as a French wine importer, further deepening his knowledge of wine. Through the opportunity to collaborate with Robert Mondavi, he delved deeply into Napa Cabernet and founded TEXTBOOK in Napa Valley in 2004. This wine quickly earned praise from critics and garnered enthusiastic fans. Although it was sold to an international wine group in 2019, he still serves as their advisor.
FORAGER
ORAGER began amidst the confusion of the 2008 financial crisis when a nearby winery canceled a grape contract with a contracted farmer one week before harvest. Despite not knowing what to do with the finished wine, FORAGER agreed to purchase the grapes to assist the struggling farmers. Today, they aim to produce delicious wines that maximize the uniqueness of the land and focus on small-batch production.
| Country | America |
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| Region | Oregon, California |
| Forager_Catalog_2026 (PDF) |
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From this Winery
Excellent low-yielding sites, classic low-impact winemaking techniques, and careful maturation in top new French oak, capture the typicity of these sites – and the purity of this red grape variety. FORAGER speaks to how growing, gathering, and judiciously blending small lots of delicious Pinot Noir can deliver serious flavor and interest.
Cork forests sequester about one ton of carbon per year, so we have adopted carbon-neutral and FSC-certified natural corks. We also moved to FSC-certified recycled paper and compostable inks, as well as a lighter weight (467 grams) recycled glass bottle. Please recycle if available in your area. Our new label features original art by the late Helen Steele, renown northern California artist. We interpret her piece as a family slowly foraging along the Sonoma coastline, perhaps finding mussels, clams, seaweed and other bounty from the sea.
HIGHLIGHTS
FORAGER is the expression of low-yielding sites combined with classic low-impact winemaking techniques and gentle French oak maturation, which captures the essence of the vineyard and the purity of Pinot Noir. FORAGER speaks to how growing, gathering, and judiciously blending small lots of delicious Pinot Noir can deliver serious flavor and interest.
BACKGROUND
FORAGER, now in its 16th vintage, is made by Farmer, Winemaker, Vigneron, and ‘Chief Foraging Officer’, Jonathan Pey. Born in New Jersey and raised in France, Jonathan has been studying, selling and making wine for 4 decades. He has worked vineyards from the Napa Valley to the Douro in Portugal. Surrounded by industry icons he developed a preference for minimal intervention in the vineyard and winery, creating vibrant, expressive wines, with bountiful aromatics and complex fruit, intricate structure and finely-honed ‘sense of place’.
PACKAGE
Cork forests sequester about one ton of carbon per year, so we have adopted carbon-neutral, natural corks. We also moved to FSC-certified recycled paper and compostable inks, as well as a lighter weight glass bottle. Please recycle if available in your area. The label features a Polaroid of Oregon’s famously foraged Chanterelle mushrooms, which pair deliciously with FORAGER Pinot Noir.