Ruth Lewandowski is not named for a person. Evan Lewandowski named his winery after his favorite book in the Old Testament, the Book of Ruth, whose story turns on the cycle of death and renewal. In it, Ruth has three men in her life: Mahlon, Chilion, and Boaz. Each one lends its name to a wine.
Backstory
Evan Lewandowski came to wine through a job at a Salt Lake City wine bar and a stint as a sommelier, then went looking for harvests around the world. He worked at Tenute Loacker in Italy, Torbreck and Cape Jaffa in Australia, L'Ecole No. 41 and Quivira in the United States, Bodega Colome in Argentina, and finally Domaine Binner in Alsace, whose natural approach left a deep mark. In 2012 he returned to Utah and founded Ruth Lewandowski Wines.
Vineyards & Farming
The fruit comes from organically farmed sites in Mendocino County, California, chiefly Fox Hill Vineyard and Testa Vineyards. Lewandowski sees organic practice as the natural outcome of deep vineyard knowledge, the idea that a grower working constantly among the vines, mindful of both the sky above and the soil below, will come to farm them honestly. The long-term goal is ambitious: to one day grow all of his grapes in Utah.
Winemaking
The signature move is logistical and a little improbable. Lewandowski starts fermentation in California, then transports the actively fermenting juice in a refrigerated U-Haul across the desert to his home base in Salt Lake City, where he finishes fermentation, aging, and bottling. The wines are hand-harvested, fermented with native yeast, and made with minimal intervention, then bottled without fining, filtration, or added sulfites, several of them under a Cuvee Zero designation.
The Wines
The core trio takes its names from the Book of Ruth. Mahlon is the bright, crisp white, 100 percent Arneis from Fox Hill Vineyard, full of white flower, lemon curd, almond, and stony minerality. Chilion is built on Cortese, and Boaz is a red blend of Carignan, Cabernet, and Grenache. A multi-varietal blend called Feints rounds out a range that has helped put Utah on the natural-wine map.
