This edition of Full Belly Files was originally emailed to subscribers on October 28, 2022. To receive Matt Kettmann’s food newsletter in your inbox each Friday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.
For all there is to love about the latest releases of wine — I, for one, am increasingly drawn to fresh, zesty, young wines rather than bold, powerful, age-requiring monsters — there is an enchanting sense of mystery and potential magic when opening older vintages. That allure only deepens when the specific bottles reach back many decades, or come from globally renowned regions like Burgundy and Bordeaux, or represent the potential for still-emergent places like Santa Barbara County, where the existing bottles of older vintages are both hard to find and relatively untested.
So when Will Henry invites you to a cellar raid at his home near Santa Maria, you oblige. The owner of Lumen Wines and Pico Restaurant in Los Alamos, Will is the son of Warner Henry, who founded The Henry Wine Group, one of the top importers and distributors in California. When Warner died in 2020 , Will inherited much of his dad’s vast cellar, and is always looking for the right time to share with his friends in the wine business. (Will also wrote this great memory about his dad’s most transcendent wine experiences for the Independent.)
