This advertising content was produced in collaboration with our partner, Julia James.
For over 100 years, the Opici family has discovered, nurtured, and shared some of the world’s leading wines. In honor of the fifth generation, the family launched Julia James wines, leveraging decades of experience and wine country connections to create a range of classic, consumer-friendly California wines.
The Julia James brand honors classic winemaking traditions with its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir offerings. The brand represents an homage to family and tradition, relying on the Opici family’s multi-generational experience in California to access exceptional vineyard sites. Julia James wines are thoughtfully sourced bottlings that provide a high quality-to-price ratio, enabling them to be enjoyed and shared widely.
While utilizing time-honored growing and winemaking techniques, the packaging channels the modern outlook of contemporary wine drinkers. The labels’ new, clean design and prominent J stand out on the retail shelf. With easy-to-read labels and screw caps, Julia James bottlings are likewise easy for consumers to enjoy on-the-go and for professionals to use as by-the-glass offerings.
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Sourced from the Green Valley subzone of Solano County, Julia James Chardonnay benefits from the cooling influence of the San Pablo Bay. Here, a confluence of maritime conditions and intense sunlight creates an ideal balance for premium Chardonnay cultivation. In the glass, the wine is vibrant and bright, showcasing citrus and orchard fruit flavors with an undertone of melon. Partial malolactic fermentation adds a roundness to the palate, while partial stainless steel aging keeps the wine refreshing and crisp.
The Pinot Noir is grown in Lodi, where the San Francisco Bay plays a similar role—resulting in a wine that shows a harmonious synergy between fruit and earth elements. The Pinot Noir is also traditional in its flavor profile, showing aromas of ripe cherry and soft floral notes. The finish shows just a touch of oak influence with lingering spicy notes.
In the cellar, both wines undergo fermentation with native yeasts before aging in a mix of French and American oak barrels and stainless steel tanks. A full year of aging lends complexity to the wines, whose flavor profiles are classic representations of each grape variety.
“Legacy and family have always been an integral part of our company’s culture at Opici,” says Dina Opici, the president of Opici Family Distributing. “We have wine brands within our portfolio that honor my grandfather and grandmother who established our benchmark for excellence and are responsible for our success today. Being able to have a wine named after my children, who represent the fifth generation, is not only a testament to our perseverance and success in the industry, but also an acknowledgement to the bright future ahead.”
By combining best-in-class viticulture practices with high-value appellations, Julia James wines offer a refreshing twist on California offerings that stand out even within the Opici family’s portfolio of blue-chip wines.
