A VERY special St. Innocent stock-up offer
Pricing is available while supplies last.
OFFER CLOSES END OF DAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18.
ALL WINES ARE AVAILABLE FOR PICKUP starting THURSDAY, September 24
Did you get this page from a friend or a social media link?
Sign up for our newsletter to never miss info on our Friday offers or upcoming classes and events.
Drop the mic.
Hi everyone –
A very special offer has landed in our laps, and it’s an opportunity to stock up on two of the best affordable wines made in the Willamette Valley, by the top winemaker of the region.
Mark Vlossak is number one. Simple as that. This was proven to me, yet again, in June when we took a group there for a tasting and dinner with Mark, who walked us through current and past releases while his wife presented some of the best food-and-wine pairings I’ve ever had.
Mark Vlossak, March 2025
What’s so special about these wines?
The Freedom Hill Chardonnay and the Villages Cuvée Pinot Noir represent the “welcome to St. Innocent” wines. In other words, affordability (extreme affordability in this offer). But for Mark and his team, the “welcome” wines are far from being the bottom rung, the leftover grapes, or the afterthought. In fact, Mark has a long history of putting everything he can into these wines FIRST, and it shows from the first sip to the last.
Let me detail these for you.
2022 Freedom Hill Vineyard Chardonnay
This is the current vintage. Mark believes in elevage, the coming together of flavors and aromas that are only possible with aging. Last week I shared a bottle of this wine with a winemaker in Bordeaux, and he compared it to the best of Village-level or even Premier-Cru Burgundy.
The Freedom Hill vineyard is southwest of Salem, tucked up against the foothills of the Coast Range, and has been a primary source for Mark for over thirty years. He knows the vineyard better than anyone.
The tech sheet is below. The St. Innocent tech sheets are a work of art: production levels, crop levels, harvest notes, food pairings- they are all there. My take on this wine? I simply wish more Chardonnays were like this. I think a great Chardonnay should have texture and width (not overtly rich, but rather width framed by acidity), plus a careful use of oak as a wee flavoring component, much like the right amount of salt on a steak. This wine hits every mark and is seamless in its flavor and length. It’s not “oaky,” but it has texture and wide flavor, like eating mashed potatoes with the right amount of butter and salt (who would eat plain mashed potatoes? Seriously).
Mark is obsessive about tasting notes and food-and-wine pairings. On this wine he says:
“Pale, yellow-gold color. Layered aromas of peach, mango, yellow plum, daffodils, and stony minerality. Rich and broad flavors of peach compote, grilled mango, and brioche, with hints of ginger and wet limestone. This is supported by a lively, juicy acidity that elevates the flavors on the palate and extends them broadly across your mouth. Freedom Hill Chardonnay pairs with a wide range of foods and is especially good with rich flavors, grilled fish, poultry, pasta primavera, and even asparagus. Lovely now; it can also age a decade or more.”
2024 Villages Cuvée Pinot Noir
If you love Pinot Noir, you need to have this wine. And lots of it.
It’s my go-to Pinot Noir, especially when I want to teach people about Willamette Valley. It’s packed with the juicy raspberry and strawberry we crave, along with mellow spice and firm acidity. You can’t ask for anything more, even at twice the price.
The secret sauce for this wine lies in the vineyard selections. While most Willamette Valley appellated Pinot Noirs come from ho-hum vineyards on the flatlands, this is a composition of some of the top vineyards in the entire valley.
- 17% Shea Vineyard
- 28% Momtazi Vineyard
- 35% Temperance Hill Vineyard (easily a top three vineyard in the Valley, along with Eyrie and Shea, and my personal favorite)
- 14% Freedom Hill Vineyard
- and 17% Enchanted Way Vineyard, the new “home” vineyard around the St. Innocent winery south of Salem. The “Pinot Whisperer,” Mimi Casteel, called this property the vineyard where Mark will make the best wines of his life.
“Lovely dense, dark ruby color. Beautiful and charming nose of red and dark red fresh fruits, and red flowers, with hints of clove, nutmeg, and cedar. Broad and rich dark fruits cover your palate with savory forest trees and sweet earth below. There is a significant density throughout your mouth, which is not common in a wine at this price point. The flavors linger through the finish, expressing ripe skin tannins. Drink with a wide variety of savory foods and expect this to age over many years.”
The impact of Mark Vlossak and his deep ties with Minnesota
I’ve been honored to know Mark for over fifteen years, and we became quite close when I attended Pinot Camp in 2012. He has profoundly influenced my wine thinking, from terroir to winemaking, and my understanding of the Willamette Valley and Burgundy. When it comes to raw wine knowledge, he’s a genius.
Mark Vlossak is fanatical, obsessive, detail-oriented, stubborn, and humble. An amazing combination.
His ties with Minnesota run deep. His local distributor, The Wine Company, was his first distributor outside Oregon when he was starting out in the 1980s. His very first wine dinner in the country was at Luci Ancora in Saint Paul (where he still does amazing wine dinners every other year). His return visits to Minnesota always include dinner with friends, exploring the current dining scene, and corks popping late into the evening. Many of us in the business will instantly clear our schedules when we hear Mark is coming to MSP.
Mark and the team at Solo Vino
Buying advice
We have a special opportunity on the pricing of these wines. For those who know St. Innocent well and want to stock up, we’ve arranged tiered pricing through The Vine Shop and Solo Vino based on quantity. If you don’t know St. Innocent, I urge you to trust me on this one—you want these wines, and a two-pack or six-pack is ideal. We also offer per-bottle pricing for those who want just a bottle or two.
All orders are due by Friday, 9/18 and will be ready for pickup at The Vine Shop in Hopkins or Solo Vino the following Thursday.
Jason Kallsen
Sommelier and founder/owner of Twin Cities Wine Education
This offer has closed. Thank you for your interest.
Offer and special pricing are available as inventory lasts