Our Story
It’s our history that led us here, offering wines we love through our two ventures, French Family Cellars and Por Que No Cellars.
Why Not?
Adventure and innovation, by definition, requires breaking with convention and attempting something fundamentally new. Technological innovations, scientific breakthroughs and new discoveries all required human effort to try things that, heretofore, were considered foolish — or not considered at all.
How different would the world be if people like Ferdinand Magellan, Marie Curie, Henry Ford and Steve Jobs hadn’t risked life, wealth, and reputation to chart new horizons? They all faced obstacles to which, “Por que no?”, emboldened them to proceed with what was viewed by others as impossible, foolish or destined for failure. It is with this mindset that we work to craft unique wines that express the special people, places, soils, climates and cultures of winegrowing regions in Spain, Italy, France, Argentina and the United States.
French Family Cellars™
Like many families, dating back to the Persians, Greeks and Romans, wine has played an important role in the stories we share around family gatherings. When we break bread together, whether to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, holiday or a regular Tuesday, these meals are thoughtfully planned, prepared and invariably accompanied by wines.
Now after decades of researching, tasting, purchasing and carefully storing wines from all over the world, we are making curated selections from our 1,500-bottle cellar available through French Family Cellars. We are also excited to offer the wines we blend and bottle in the U.S. in partnership with The Vines Global and its network of legendary winemakers through French Family Cellars.
Por Que No Cellars™
“Por que no?”, the Spanish saying for, “Why not?”, has earned a prominent place in our family lexicon, thanks to Joel’s paternal grandfather, Colman French. His mindset was clear early on. When he married, his father presented him with a small coal mine in Driggs, Idaho. Imagine his new bride, Virginia’s, surprise when he announced that their honeymoon would be celebrated by a move to remote Idaho. Joel’s father, Joel Randall French, was conceived in this very coal mine. Some years ago, Joel, his father and brother, Jason, made the sojourn to Driggs and found the coal mine.
The adventurous spirit continued when Colman French retired to Guadalajara Mexico. Joel and his brother lived with him for several months during middle school, ostensibly to learn Spanish (but their primary focus was playing soccer at Chivas). Although Grandpa Colman spoke little Spanish after a decade in Mexico, he would invariably reply, “Por que no?”, if we asked for a second ice cream cone after a long day. To our astonishment, if we asked for a dessert drink (as middle schoolers), he would also say, “Por que no?” Hence, this phrase became the right answer to most any question posed in our family.
When it was proposed that we should begin producing wine, the obvious logical answer was, absolutely not! However, our answer was, “Por que no?” ….and so it began in 2016.