Rue de Reve
Founded in 2024 by longtime friends Jennifer Kimpe and Jeanne-Marie Hebert, Rue de Rêve is a producer of wine-based apéritifs made using wines, spirits, and botanicals local to Sonoma County, California. Born out of a love and appreciation for fine food and European apéritif culture, Rue de Rêve’s apéritifs achieve a balance of sophistication and effortless enjoyment, succinctly expressed by their tagline, “European tradition, California state of mind.”
Both Jennifer and Jeanne-Marie are distinguished entrepreneurs. Jennifer has over two decades of marketing and brand-development experience in food, wine, and design, and she is founder of Bien Sûr, a wine and lifestyle brand strategy company. Jeanne-Marie—co-founder of Bay Design & Build, a leading Bay Area home construction and renovation firm—spent her early career in sales and marketing at an adventure travel company, an experience that fostered a lifelong passion for European exploration and cultural discovery, particularly the unique traditions surrounding food and beverage. The duo aptly conceptualized Rue de Rêve, or “Dream Street,” during a road trip along the scenic coast of California in 2020. Inspired by the desire to honor experiences like the one they were living, they combined their professional knowledge and shared love of travel, drink, and design to bring Rue de Rêve to life.
Rue de Rêve apéritifs are produced in Petaluma, California, at the Griffo Distillery, a zero-waste distillery that also produces the grape spirit used to fortify these aromatized wines. Each expression begins by blending grape spirit with small batch, organically grown wines sourced locally from Kivelstadt Cellars. To this base, potent botanical extracts are added along with local grape juice concentrate and a touch of organic cane sugar. All Rue de Rêve apéritifs are aromatized with Sonoma County Artemesia douglasiana, or California mugwort, a bitter shrub also known as the “dream plant” for its ceremonial use by indigenous Americans. Valued for its medicinal and digestive properties, mugwort is related to wormwood and is commonly utilized in apéritifs as an appetite stimulant.
Complex, approachable, and endlessly quaffable, Rue de Rêve apéritifs are light-bodied and wine-forward—perfect for serving chilled or over ice with a citrus twist. Try mixing them into Spritzes, Cobblers, highballs with tonic water, or in low-ABV cocktails in place of vermouth or quinquina.