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Kukkula Wines
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Kukkula aato nv

Aatto

Aat­to is prob­a­bly our most unusu­al, exot­ic wine, both aro­mat­i­cal­ly and in the fla­vor profile.

It’s made up of most­ly Counoise and Mourve­dre, with small amounts of Grenache.

2018 Aatto
2017 Aatto

Vivid ruby-red. An expan­sive bou­quet evokes ripe red fruits, san­dal­wood, vanil­la and pot­pour­ri. Sweet, seam­less, and pen­e­trat­ing on the palate, offer­ing ener­getic rasp­ber­ry and cher­ry cola fla­vors sharp­ened by a smoky min­er­al qual­i­ty and a touch of white pep­per. Fin­ish­es long and spicy, with sneaky tan­nins lend­ing shape and dis­creet grip. 40% new French oak pun­cheons. 93 pts

Josh Raynolds/​Vinous

— Vinous/Josh Raynolds September 2021

Technical Details

  • Vintage 2018
  • PH 3.79
  • TA .58
  • Alcohol 15.8%
  • Production 210 cases

Finnish for, ​“eve”, as in Christ­mas Eve. My dad’s name; he was born on Christ­mas Eve (Joulu Aatto).

My dad was a dream­er, like me. I guess I got his rest­less DNA. He was born in Fin­land in 1932, was essen­tial­ly orphaned by the time he was 10, jumped on a ship with one of his broth­ers to Cana­da in his ear­ly-20s, met my mom, had kids, and ulti­mate­ly moved us to South­ern Cal­i­for­nia. The land of opportunity!

Although he real­ized some of that oppor­tu­ni­ty, he nev­er quite got a hold of the reins the way he envi­sioned. He inspired me to real­ize that dream. I feel total­ly priv­i­leged to be here today, and because of that I give my dad a nod, an acknowl­edge­ment that I’m here because of his dreams.