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Ruth Lewandowski

MontepulciaNONO Lot 2 NV

Price: $26.95
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Tasting notes

It looks dark and forbidding in the glass but drinks with surprising freshness: deep earth and chocolate on the nose, then blackberries, brambly herbs, and a snap of acidity on the palate. The multi-vintage blend across Fox Hill lots means it delivers a consistent house style that was literally born as a pizzeria keg wine, and you can taste that intention in every glass.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
EarthDark ChocolateBlackberrySpice
  • Style: Dry, medium-bodied red; inky ruby; earthy, dark chocolate, blackberry; 12.9% ABV; multi-vintage NV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Montepulciano; organically farmed; Fox Hill Vineyard, Talmage Bench, Mendocino; sandy rocky clay loam, sandstone, quartz; 650ft elevation
  • Winemaking: Native yeast fermentation; stainless steel ferment and aging; zero additions, no SO2; unfined, unfiltered; multi-vintage blend
  • Serving: Serve at 55-58F; slight chill enhances freshness; no decant needed
  • Pairing: Pizza, red-sauced pasta, meatballs, Italian sausage, salumi, aged pecorino
  • Similar To: For fans of carbonic Gamay and light-to-medium Italian reds who want an honest, high-acid table wine

MontepulciaNONO Lot 2 is a non-vintage red wine made from 100% Montepulciano grown at Fox Hill Vineyard on the Talmage Bench in Mendocino County, California. The wine blends multiple harvests of Fox Hill Montepulciano into a single bottling, a format originally designed for kegs served at Pizza Nono, a pizzeria in the Ninth and Ninth neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah. Fox Hill sits at approximately 650 feet elevation on uplifted former Russian River riverbed soils dominated by sandy, rocky clay loam with significant concentrations of gravel, quartz, and sandstone. The vineyard is organically farmed and has been CCOF certified since 2024.

Winemaker Evan Lewandowski ferments and ages the wine entirely in stainless steel with no additions: no sulfur, no fining agents, no filtration. The result is inky and dark in the glass with an aromatic profile of earth, dark chocolate, and high-toned blackberries. On the palate it turns lighter than the nose suggests, with brambly herbs, a distinct earthy character, and enough acidity to keep the wine fresh despite its concentration.

The NV format is intentional: by blending across vintages from the same vineyard, Lewandowski maintains a consistent style from lot to lot while the wine remains true to the Fox Hill site. This is the same table-wine philosophy that inspired its origin as a keg wine, now bottled. Serve slightly chilled, around 55 to 58 degrees Fahrenheit, for maximum freshness.

This is a pizza wine by design: Neapolitan margherita, red-sauced pasta, meatballs, Italian sausage. The sharp acidity and earthy tannins also work well with salumi and hard cheeses like aged pecorino or Parmigiano. Serve slightly chilled to amplify freshness against rich, saucy dishes.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Montepulciano
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, NV
Alcohol:, 12.9%
Country:, United States
Region:, California
Appellation:, Mendocino AVA
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

FedEx and other carriers we might occasionally use can only deliver wine to customers who are 21 years or older. Someone must be at the address to receive the package, carriers don't just drop a package and leave. They must ensure the person receiving the wine is 21 or older.


Re-shipping a Package

If a package is returned to us after three failed delivery attempts, we can only re-ship the wine upon payment of a re-shipping fee, to be determined based on the shipping address and number of bottles. Shipping wine is extremely expensive. We are sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Please make sure there's always someone at the address you enter as your shipping address.

If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


Re-routing a Package

If you'd like to reroute a package after it's been shipped, we can do so for a $20 re-routing fee. We cannot re-route a package across state borders. For any change of address, please contact us as soon as possible, ideally within 1-2 days from placing the order or we cannot guarantee we'll be able to reroute or change your order's shipping address.


Canceling an Order

If you'd like to cancel an order after it's been shipped, we can do so upon payment of a small cancellation fee – the amount depends on the size of the order. Carriers charge us a lot of money to recall a package en-route.


Heat/Frost damage

We are not responsible for heat- or frost-related issues. We offer ice-packs upon request. Please let us know if you think that there could be heat-related issues. If we don't hear anything from you regarding weather issues before an order is shipped, or if you don't request a hold due to the weather, we are not responsible for heat/frost damage.


Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

3. Please track your package using the tracking service.

4. The carrier will attempt delivery a maximum of 3 times. After 3 delivery attempts, your package will be sent back to our warehouse.**

*Please ensure your email address is correct; otherwise, you will not receive the order and shipping confirmation emails.

**If delivery is attempted 3 times without success, or if you fail to retrieve your package from the carrier depot by the stated deadline, the shipping fee will not be refunded to the customer.

Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Ruth Lewandowski

Ruth Lewandowski Wines was founded in 2012 by Evan Lewandowski, who initially based the operation in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he had relocated to attend the University of Utah. He discovered wine working at The Spotted Frog wine bar, where he met Zev Rovine, then the owner and now a prominent natural wine importer. Lewandowski subsequently worked harvests at multiple wineries across Italy, Australia, and the United States before spending several seasons at Domaine Binner in Alsace, where he trained under Christian Binner in organic and biodynamic viticulture. He also earned a degree from the Walla Walla Institute for viticulture and enology. The label's name is drawn from the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament, whose themes of gleaning and renewal mirror Lewandowski's approach to sourcing from other growers' vineyards.

Lewandowski began sourcing organically farmed fruit from Fox Hill Vineyard and Testa Vineyard in Mendocino County from the label's earliest vintages. In the early years he started fermentation in California and transported the fermenting juice by refrigerated truck to Salt Lake City to complete fermentation, aging, and bottling. In 2018 he relocated the entire operation to California, sharing a facility with Sam Bilbro of Idlewild Wines in Healdsburg. Around the same time, Lewandowski and Bilbro formed a shared farming initiative called Wild Ruth Farming, which oversaw both Fox Hill and Lost Hills Ranch in the Yorkville Highlands AVA.

The winemaking approach at Ruth Lewandowski centers on minimal intervention: native yeast fermentation, no added sulfites on most cuvees, no fining, and no filtration. Vinification methods vary by variety and are chosen to reflect what each grape does naturally. For MontepulciaNONO, the wine is fermented and aged in stainless steel with zero additions, then bottled unfined and unfiltered. The NV format for this wine deliberately blends multiple vintages of Fox Hill Montepulciano to achieve a consistent, site-expressive style.

Wine region

California, United States

Mendocino County is California's northernmost major wine-producing county on the North Coast, sitting above Sonoma County along the Pacific coastline. The county encompasses radically different growing conditions across its sub-appellations: cool, fog-driven Anderson Valley in the west suits Pinot Noir and sparkling wine; the warmer inland Redwood Valley and Ukiah Valley are historically associated with Zinfandel, Carignan, and Grenache; and the Yorkville Highlands in the south is a cooler high-elevation zone. Fox Hill Vineyard falls within the broader Mendocino AVA, on the Talmage Bench southeast of Ukiah, between Hopland and Ukiah.

Fox Hill Vineyard is a 60-acre site on the Talmage Bench, an uplifted former riverbed from the Russian River, at approximately 650 feet elevation. Soils are predominantly sandy, rocky clay loam derived from sandstone, with high concentrations of gravel, quartz, and redvine. The vineyard was planted almost exclusively to Italian varieties by original owner Lowell Stone and includes Montepulciano, Barbera, Dolcetto, Nebbiolo, Arneis, Trebbiano, Sangiovese, and over 25 varieties in total. Fox Hill has been organically farmed for years and received CCOF certified organic status in 2024. The vineyard is now owned by Broc Cellars, which purchased it in 2023, though Ruth Lewandowski continues to source fruit from the property.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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