Lapis Luna Cellars

True to its Varietal

The concept for what is today “Lapis Luna” started in May of 1999 when two employees of the Hess Collection Winery met over dinner to discuss the possibility of creating a new wine brand. One of the two people was Michael Florian, who was then marketing director of the Hess Collection Winery. Michael had previously worked in the hotel industry as Wine Buyer and Sommelier for Hyatt Hotels in Honolulu, the Adoplhus Hotel in Dallas, the Waiohai Hotel in Kauai, and the Sun Valley Lodge in Idaho. The second person was Bruce Wise, who was the chief financial officer of the Hess Collection Winery. Together the decision was made to form a company and launch the new brand.

A third partner and friend, Sal Nuccio was brought in as president of the new company. Mr. Nuccio, who was born in Palermo, Italy, had been in the food products grocery business for over thirty years. Secondly, the company needed to create a new wine label for their brand. Meeting after meeting the partners attempted to conceive a label but most had already been trademarked. Eventually, the name "Luna" stood out as part of the desired name. It happened one night that Michael’s girlfriend commented how much he liked collecting articles of Lapis stone – his lamp shade and various pieces of jewelry – and suddenly they had the idea for a label called "Lapis Luna," which the partners liked. They immediately had the name trademarked, and then contacted Jeffrey Caldeway, considered the foremost wine label designer in America, and a beautiful label was created. Michael no longer has the girlfriend, but they do appreciate her input.

The brand – Lapis Luna – literally means "Moonstone" in Latin, however most people interpret it to mean "Blue Moon." From the beginning, the goal of the owners was to create wines that taste like grapes, not wood: and therefore they use oak sparingly in the winemaker process. The second goal was to create wines that are true to their varietal. If they make Petit Verdot, then the wine will taste like Petit Verdot and not be confused with too many blenders in the mix. Thirdly, the goal is that the Lapis Luna wines will always be a great value for the high quality of the wine.