aria . on the spanish wine route with nicole andrus

Featured Wines

Artadi, Santa Cruz de Artazu, Artazuri Rosado, Navarra 2013

Fillaboa, Albarino, Rías Baixas 2012

Palacios Remondo by Alvaro Palacios, Plácet Valtomelloso, Rioja 2011

Palacios Remondo by Alvaro Palacios, Propieded, Rioja 2010

Artadi, El Sequé, Alicante 2009

Vall Llach, Vall Llach, Priorat 2008

About Nicole Andrus

Raised in the Napa Valley of California where her parents founded Pine Ridge Winery in 1978 and Archery Summit Winery in Oregon in 1994, Nicole has done everything from pitch-forking grape stems and performing lab analyses to assisting her parents with sales and marketing in domestic and foreign markets. Through these experiences she developed a great interest in travel and new cultures and while in high school spent an exchange year in Switzerland, where she learned German and developed a love for the European lifestyle.  In college she helped her father out in his new venture, Archery Summit Winery, and during her Sophomore year decided to spend another semester overseas in Ecuador, where she developed a keen interest in the Spanish language, the Galapagos Islands and botany.  

Upon her return to the U.S., Nicole pursued an undergraduate degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Molecular Plant Systematics, where she studied the origin of a plant genus endemic to the Galapagos Islands at Miami’s F.I.U.  While she both enjoyed and excelled in her chosen field of botany, after time she yearned to return to her roots in the wine business and to once again live overseas.  She thus accepted a position in the research and development department at Bodegas Miguel Torres in Spain, combining her scientific background with her longtime affinity for wine. 

Nicole worked at Torres for two and a half years, and then served as an independent wine consultant for various Spanish wineries interested in the US market.  In 2005, Rob Mondavi of Folio Fine Wine Partners contacted Nicole about his new company’s (Folio) interest in importing Spanish wines into the U.S.  Nicole was thrilled at the opportunity and by 2006 had helped Folio to negotiate agreements with eight estates from the Spain: Fillaboa, Palacios Remondo, Comenge, Vall Llach, Cims de Porrera, Capafons-Osso, Clos Dominic, Mas de l’Abundància, Artadi and Leda. Today Nicole serves as Folio’s Spanish Imports Specialist where she divides her time between liaising with producers and hosting groups in Spain, as well as travels to the U.S. to educate American accounts and consumers on Folio’s top-notch portfolio of Spanish estates. In tandem, Nicole is also co-founder of Niso Wine Tours (www.nisowinetours.com), a specialized Spanish wine tourism company.