Tallulah Wines

Mike Drash comes from a Southern Family with deep roots in farming and religion.  Several generations of farmers and ministers make a large part of his family tree.  Raised in Memphis, TN just north of the family farm in Como, Mississippi, you could count on 2 things: Church on Sunday and fresh farm raised meals on the table afterwards.  Mike always had a yearning for the outdoors and the good life.    After graduation from a small college in Memphis, the urge to travel took over and he found himself in the Florida Keys for 15 months where he found his love for wine and food.With the encouragement of a good friend he moved to California and landed at DeLoach Vineyards as a cellar rat.  The occasional chance to drive a tractor was the highlight of a burgeoning career as a winemaker.  After a brief stint at Jordan Sparkling Wine, he was named Assistant Winemaker at the prestigious winery, Far Niente.  In 2003 the opportunity to head up the winemaking operations at Luna Vineyards arose.  Following in the footsteps of John Kongsgaard, he embraced a minimalist style of winemaking.  Coaxing the smallest detail from the vineyard and a hands-off style in the cellar, Luna's red wines began to get the attention of the world's most demanding critics.  In 2009 the chance to purchase the Tallulah Wines label was too good to pass up. So in November 2009 Mike left his post at Luna and began his focus on Tallulah Wines, which happened to be his daughter's first name.  Tallulah Bankhead is a distant cousin on his mother's side, as well. Tallulah focuses on single vineyard wines from sustainable and organic vineyards and there is no fining or filtering of the wines.  With the first release of his wines from the 2009 vintage slated for later in 2011, the future looks promising for Tallulah Wines.