ABOUT
My name is Coral Wang and I started Maison des Plaisances in 2021.
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My original trajectory in wines began by working in restaurants as a sommelier, and eventually, I'd grown too uninspired and wanted to dig my hands into the soil. So in 2018, I left everything behind and went to France. I began working at Domaine Mamaruta, a small natural winery in the Roussillon, where we grow and vinify our own wines. The vigneron, Marc Castan, graciously took me in as his apprentice. After almost 3 years of building a life and working there, it has without a doubt been my most transformative experience that I have given myself, through all its joys and challenges alike.
I relocated to Sonoma the summer of 2021, and very quickly got the ball rolling on my projects. I hadn't actually intended on starting my own label and farming right away. However, I was so fueled by the desire to recreate the life I had in France. And quickly realized, what I wanted didn't exist here, and I'd have to build it myself. And so Maison des Plaisances was born, which means House of Pleasures, in French. For me, wine is an expression of life and culture. It's about sharing the joys and stories with the people around you, and living an authentic life filled with daily pleasures.
"For me, wine is an expression of life and culture. It's about sharing the joys and stories with the people around you, and living an authentic life filled with daily pleasures."
My wines are 00, with no sulphur, additions or subtractions. The 2021 cuvée is from 20-year-old, no spray, dry farmed fruit, from a Shanghai immigrant in Cloverdale, whom I endearingly call, Master Wei. And my new vineyard in Sonoma was previously farmed biodynamically by Caleb Leisure. Now that I've taken it over, my work will follow those same philosophies, and eventually include more ways to promote the natural biodiversity in the soils and surrounding land by planting more native crops, trees, and working with animals.
Every vineyard has a legacy, and it continues to be a great honor to nourish and farm my own land, and share the wines that represent this land. My focus and intentions with these projects is to always support, partner with, and promote more people like myself - women, any and all minorities, including the LGBTQ communities. I was so fortunate to meet Master Wei, who is Chinese like myself. I am hard pressed to think of another Asian female who is farming and also making their own wines in California, but I'll do whatever I can to bring more of us here!