WHAT’S IN A NAME: ALUVÉ WINERY
By JJ Menozzi
Together, Kelly and I fulfilled one dream—it was an honor and privilege for both of us to serve our country as Air Force pilots for more than 23 years. Now we are thankful for the opportunity to pursue a second dream in Walla Walla—to cultivate, create and share the wines we love.
Beginning with our first visit to Walla Walla in 2000, we fell in love with the people, the place and the phenomenal wine. Something in that visit sparked a dream for both of us—to someday live on a small Estate Vineyard and winery where we could cultivate, create and share our own world class wine with family and friends. Over time it became clear that Walla Walla offered the perfect union of people and place to realize our dream and create the wines we love.
When we began thinking about what to call this “Retirement Dream,” we wanted to come up with a name that merged our two passions, flying for our country and sharing great wine. With our last name—Menozzi–we also wanted to pay homage to our Italian roots. Kelly and I eventually settled on ALUVÉ, a fanciful combination of two Italian words—“Ala” meaning wing, and “Uva,” the word for grape. Taken together, then, ALUVÉ means “Winged Grape” in Italian.
Our label background also exemplifies the fusion of our two passions. The label transitions from a dark blue color symbolic of the sky through the dark purple color of grapes and finally to that of a deep red wine, all embossed with a “Winged Grape” logo and silver letters that mirror the color of Air Force Pilot Wings.
