Pray Tell

Tom Caruso grew up in South Philadelphia in an Italian immigrant family. His first experiences making wine were stomping grapes with his grandfather on the streets of Philly. After college graduation he attempted a career in writing and moved to New York City, where he worked as an editor for a short time.

However, he found his passion and true calling after wandering into Brooklyn Winery on a day off. He was so enthralled that he started working graveyard shifts for them while sticking to his day job. To advance his career in wine he took sommelier courses at the International Culinary Center, but quickly realized his interest lied in production, rather than restaurant service.

The team at Brooklyn Winery encouraged him to head West, where he wound up at Bedrock Wine Co. with Morgan Twain-Peterson and Chris Cottrell. It turned out that he was also able to work with Morgan’s father, and California winemaking legend, Joel Peterson, on his inaugural vintage of Once and Future Wine.

After spending several years in California, Tom’s curiosity took him to the Willamette Valley. He immediately fell in love with Oregon and hasn’t looked back. He had the good fortune of being introduced to Maggie Harrison and worked with her for several vintages. In fact, some of the Pray Tell wines share fruit sources with Antica Terra.

While working at Antica Terra, Maggie instilled in Tom the mindset that every detail matters. This starts with organic/biodynamic grapes from high quality farmers and ends with bright, fresh expressions of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, Gamay and Chardonnay.  Although the real showstopper may be his Dolcetto!

The wine labels are all created by Tom and done by hand. Sulfur is used judiciously, so although the Pray Tell wines check the right boxes for the natural wine world, they are also varietally correct and pristine.

Read more here.