Not every winemaker follows a typical path, with some taking a more angular, exceptional path into the age-old art.
Sagie Kleinlerer grew up in New York City, the son of an Israeli mother and a Polish, Holocaust survivor father, Nitza and Sacha. Following the war, Sacha moved to France, where he earned his university degree, before moving to Texas in the early 1960s to pursue a job as part of a program for survivors. Sacha would then move to New York City in the latter part of the decade. Nitza arrived in New York from Israel for a year of work and travel, was set up on a blind date with Sacha, and ended up staying, marrying Sacha in 1972 at the Park East Synagogue. Sagie was born in 1977 in New York City.
But Sacha’s French stopover would leave an indelible mark on the Kleinlerer home, and a young Sagie would be raised with the French culture of having wine at the ready in his house and enjoying an occasional sip or small glass with his parents and sister.
While Kleinlerer, 48, is a first generation American, he grew up tasting all sorts of wines in his home, where wine was not taboo. Following 13 years of schooling in the Modern Orthodox, Upper East Side Ramaz School, Kleinlerer dipped his toes into wine education as a student at
Boston University. Enrolling in a wine class as a college senior, in which the instructor was the only one tasting the wines, he dropped out of the class but not without realizing he was still thirsty for more wine knowledge.
After graduation, and beginning a career in marketing and advertising, he took a six-nights-a- week wine class in a NYC wine shop, tasting through many wines and growing his passion for wine. To this day, he vividly remembers his first taste of a German Riesling, and Italian Barolos and Barberas, an experience that set him on the path to a deeper appreciation of fine wine. His passion for Israeli wine was ignited on a 2002 visit to Israel, when he first tasted a Tabor Sauvignon Blanc and discovered a world of modern Israeli winemaking that deepened his connection to his homeland.
Seeing layoffs all around him following the devastation of 9/11, and with a new uncertainty in his career, Kleinlerer decided to enroll in law school.
Following his graduation, and with the intent of making aliyah to Israel, he began working in the New York office of a large Israeli law firm. However, in 2010, while attending a copyright law conference, he “met a very cute girl who is now [his] wife,” followed her to California, and continued working as a lawyer. Over the subsequent years, he continued tasting and collecting wines. But the interest in wine remained, and on weekends he would volunteer in wineries in Sonoma, and his (then still) girlfriend, Sophie, would remark to him about how much happier he seemed on weekends, and that maybe wine was something which he should give more consideration.
Following his father’s passing in 2011, Kleinlerer decided to take a break from law and on a whim, ended up going to a winery for a tasting, and “talked [his] way into a job at Larkmead Vineyards, a historic
Calistoga winery,” where over four years, he spent a great deal of time in the cellar talking to the winemaker, picking his brain. During this time, he earned his Certified Sommelier pin from the Court of Master Sommeliers. After a few years and tiring of the long 90-minute commute to work, he had dinner with Jeff Morgan and his wife, Jodie, the owners of Covenant Winery, who offered Kleinlerer a position as general manager in their very well-regarded kosher winery in Berkeley, California. Kleinlerer had met Jeff in a wine business class that Morgan taught at the Culinary Institute of America in 2011. A proud Jew and Zionist, Kleinlerer relished the idea of this new opportunity representing a kosher winery, accepting the position in January 2016. Kleinlerer would be named managing director in November 2019.
Around this time, he would begin his coursework for the WSET (Wine & Spirits Education Trust) Diploma, which focuses more on the academic side of wine, differing from the more service- based Court of Sommeliers coursework. The first Diploma unit covers the area of winemaking, so Sagie decided to purchase some Chenin Blanc from Covenant to try his hand at creating a barrel of skin contact Chenin Blanc (the very same Chenin Blanc used in the Covenant Double Edged Sword brandy).
In early 2020, with the onset of the global pandemic, Kleinlerer offered his first 19 cases of Chenin Blanc for sale, and “courteous and gracious friends bought basically all 19.”
Several months later, though, Kleinlerer would start receiving texts and calls asking for more, of which he had none. The irony of “skin contact” wines during the long non-contact pandemic was not lost on Kleinlerer, who made each wine by hand, and took great satisfaction that “a part of [him] was with his friends during their joyous moments” even though he was not with them personally, a point that he considers the “greatest part of being in the wine business.”
In 2020, looking for his own grapes, Kleinlerer found an organic vineyard in Clarksburg to purchase Chenin Blanc and a Pinot Noir from a sustainable vineyard in Russian River Valley. Today, all Kleinlerer’s grapes are sourced from organic vineyards, as he feels strongly on the importance of vineyards “which take care of the earth,” saying, “You can’t simply take away things from the earth, you need to give back.”
After the first vintage in 2020 in which he filtered his wines, Kleinlerer chose to make all his wines unfined and unfiltered, which leads to some “schmutz” or cloudiness, but adds to the texture and palate of the wines. “The Skin Contact Chenin Blanc is how sommeliers discovered my wine because it is a slightly different, yet wonderfully exotic wine that pairs with a range of foods,” Kleinlerer said. “The resulting wine balances high acidity, fresh citrus and green apples, an herbal, slightly vegetal flavor, and yet maintains elegance and structure, even with 30-plus days on the skins.”
In 2022, Kleinlerer produced a Rosé from Pinot Noir, with which he was incredibly happy, but found it to be a “not wise financial decision,” as Pinot Noir is quite expensive to source. So, in 2023, he sought out a different grape and found Cinsault.
Cinsault (pronounced sahn-soh) is most used as a blending grape, often from the Southern Rhône. It produces generous yields and can add aroma and freshness in a blend. It is most often blended with Grenache, used in Provencal rosé, and the red blends of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Fun fact: Domaine Raymond Usseglio & Fils, which now produces top-end kosher Châteauneuf- du-Pape, is one of the world’s leading growers of Cinsault. Cinsault is also well known in South Africa as Hermitage, and the parent along with Pinot Noir of Pinotage. Only 121 acres of Cinsault are planted in California, with most of it used in blends. Kleinlerer decided to choose Cinsault for his ‘23 Rosé and loved the results. The Rosé, along with the Chenin Blanc and Pinot Noir, found their way into restaurants in the Bay Area, including Michelin star eateries.
Producing the Rosé of Cinsault in 2023, Kleinlerer decided that he would buy an additional half ton (an admittedly miniscule amount) of Cinsault to produce a varietal red wine, something of a unicorn in the wine world.
With the Cinsault Red, Kleinlerer has produced four vintage wines from 2024: Pinot Noir, Skin Contact Chenin Blanc, Cinsault Red, and a Rosé of Cinsault.
The Kleinlerer, Cuvée Sacha & Nitza, Rosé of Cinsault, 2024 is Kleinlerer’s third vintage of Rosé, named for his father, Sacha, and his mother, Nitza, as Rosé has elements of both red and white wine. “Our home was a blend of cultures, fiercely passionate personalities, varied interests, and warmth towards all,” Kleinlerer said, adding, “I am neither 100% my mother, nor my father, but proudly have aspects of both of their personalities and traits in me.”
Kleinlerer set out to make the Cinsault red as a “pure experiment,” figuring if it failed, he would drink it on his own. From the moment it was done fermenting, Kleinlerer had “fallen in love” with the wine, finding it was getting better and better in the barrel.
Light, fruity, and approachable, this is a fun, chillable red wine. “This is a wine I want to take on a picnic on the Great Lawn in Central Park. This is wine to drink poolside, or on the beach. I want salads and goat cheese with this,” said Kleinlerer. “At the end of the day, wine is spoiled, fermented grape juice, and it’s a beautiful, magical thing. We all have our distinct reasons for loving wine, and for me, wine is all about togetherness. We celebrate our happiest moments and religious occasions with wine. God chose wine. Not beer.”
The Cinsault Red wine was named “Dancin’ Sophie” after Kleinlerer’s wife, and the name is a play on words on the variety, Cinsault: Dan CIN‘ SOphie. Additionally, after first tasting the wine, Kleinlerer found himself dancing in the cellar.
Kleinlerer also made the meaningful decision to add kosher certification for the 2024 vintage after not having supervision on his previous vintages. Working at the all-kosher Covenant
Winery, the kosher and Jewish communities are important to Kleinlerer. “I realized that by not having a certification, I was going against my own belief system of allowing everyone to be able to come together to enjoy my wine,” said Kleinlerer. “I was leaving out a large group of people who I respect and care about, including family members, and I wanted to be able to share my wines with everybody.”
While Kleinlerer is proudly Jewish and traditional, to receive kosher certification, wine may only be touched from crush to bottling by strictly Sabbath-observant Jews.
Beginning with the 2024 vintage, Kleinlerer ended up “stepping back and doing a lot of pointing,” in guiding the winemaking team at Covenant in each of the steps of his wine production.
Kleinlerer decided to make a varietal Cinsault to offer something different to the wine drinker. California Cabernet Sauvignon, while certainly sought after and loved, is produced in massive quantities. “I wanted something that excites me. Skin contact wines, orange wines, Chenin
Blanc, Rosé of Cinsault, 100% Cinsault red is exciting and fun. While most of my wines are intense and complex, Dancin’ Sophie is the ultimate glou glou (the French onomatopoeia for “glug glug”) or fun and drinkable wine. And Pinot Noir because it is my favorite red variety and I wanted to produce it. It’s a labor of love.”
The 2024 Kleinlerer, Sonoma Coast, Pinot Noir (due out later in 2025) utilizes 25% whole cluster fermentation. The Pinot Noir, as with all Kleinlerer wines, is vegan and produced utilizing “low intervention (minimal sulfur)” methods, produced by hand, using indigenous yeast.
Producing about 200 cases in total, Kleinlerer is certainly a micro-microboutique winemaker, but one who is setting out to capture and rekindle the fascination of the wine drinker. These four kosher, vegan, low intervention wines are a perfect start.
Tasting Notes:
Kleinlerer, Dancin’ Sophie, Lodi, Cinsault, 2024
100% Cinsault, sourced from Bruella Ranch, an organic vineyard in Lodi, California. Fermented with indigenous yeast, aged five months in 100% neutral French oak, unfined and unfiltered. The winemaker suggests drinking this wine chilled. My wine was closer to 60F, lightly chilled.
Light ruby and cloudy in the glass (owing to being unfined/unfiltered), the nose is bright, full of sweet red cherries, raspberry, redcurrant, a bit of baking spice, with a distinctly floral backbone.
On the palate, juicy fresh red fruit, a rich mouthfeel, with soft tannins and bright acidity. A great lighter-drinking choice for your Seder table. Drink now to 2027. $25, 13% ABV, non-mevushal.
