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![DSC_5491 Winemaker_bobby_whelan_threemile_grenache](https://threemilevineyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DSC_5491-1-scaled.jpg)
Bobby on the left and partner Alex Sauer pictured on the right.
Bobby Whelan
Location – San Francisco, California
Label – La Ferme de la Forêt
Partners with Threemile since – 2021 harvest
Wine made with Threemile – Grenache
Began working in wine industry – 2020
Winemaking style – Expressing the singular site from which the grapes originate, whole cluster fermentation and minimal pumpovers.
Biography
Born and raised in Boston, wine was ever-present in Bobby’s childhood with the influence of his wine-passionate father who carefully paired a bottle to every family dinner. Later moving to San Francisco for a change in lifestyle in 2015, Bobby met Eric Railsback at his bottle shop down the road from where Bobby lived. While still working his day job as an investment banker, Bobby’s passion for wine and the potential for winemaking grew with the support of his friends, and now partners, Eric and Lyle Railsback, and Alex Sauer. Now, Bobby is launching his new beginning in winemaking under the label Forêt.
![5E993D03-9F6A-4D9C-BF2A-3AC651DD1858_1_201_a Bobby_whelan_winemaker_threemile_granche_bio](https://threemilevineyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/5E993D03-9F6A-4D9C-BF2A-3AC651DD1858_1_201_a-1-scaled.jpeg)
![054BCCF4-1A3C-4911-82B8-2ADC97B2AA15_1_201_a La_foret_Grenache_2021_threemile_wine](https://threemilevineyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/054BCCF4-1A3C-4911-82B8-2ADC97B2AA15_1_201_a-scaled.jpeg)
Threemile Wines
Grenache 2021
The partners of the Fôret label want the quality of farming, pureness of fruit, and expression of Threemile as a site to shine in the glass.
Visiting Threemile for the first time, standing at the top of the vineyard blocks looking down on the layers of the valley below, Bobby expressed,
“It’s hard not to fall in love with an area like that after seeing it. As I say, good grapes never grow in ugly places”
This 100% Grenache Noir was fermented at Apollini winery with the support of winemaker Kevin Green. Picked at 24.1 brix and and aged in French oak, minimal extractions were used to keep the Grenache light, elegant, and perfumed. The final product has ideal aromatics and structure that nod to classic Southern Rhône wines.
![Cheers_railsback_and_la_foret_boby_whelan](https://threemilevineyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DSC_5499.jpg)
![Wine_glasses_for_threemile_grenache](https://threemilevineyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DSC_5469.jpg)
![Man holding multiple bottles of wine](https://threemilevineyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DSC_5473.jpg)
![Wine_pour_threemile_grenache_bobby_whelan](https://threemilevineyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DSC_5487-1.jpg)
![Man drinking wine in a vineyard](https://threemilevineyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DSC_5509-1.jpg)
Wines
![Grenache_label_la_foret](https://threemilevineyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Grenache_label_la_foret-scaled.jpg)
![La_foret_bobby_Whelan](https://threemilevineyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/La_foret_bobby_Whelan-scaled.jpg)
![Wax_cork_grenache_bobby_whelan Wax_cork_grenache_bobby_whelan](https://threemilevineyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Wax_cork_grenache_bobby_whelan-scaled.jpg)
Other Partners in Winemaking