Marty's friend and mentor, Leo Hansen of Leo Steen Wines, inspired him to release a Chenin Blanc. The wine's name, Kierkegaard, comes from the Danish philosopher, thinker and existentialist Søren Aubie Kierkegaard, and is a tribute to the Danish-born Leo Hansen. Marty's friend and mentor, Leo Hansen of Leo Steen Wines, inspired him to release a Chenin Blanc. The wine's name, Kierkegaard, comes from the Danish philosopher, thinker and existentialist Søren Aubie Kierkegaard, and is a tribute to the Danish-born Leo Hansen. The wine was fermented in stainless steel tanks using indigenous yeasts and aged for 11 months in old barrels. It is bottled unfiltered and unfined. Alex Pitts, who was an assistant winemaker for the Scholium Project, a pioneer of the California nature movement, became independent and teamed up with Martin Winter, who studied winemaking at Leo Steen and was a sommelier at the three-star Michelin restaurant Meadowwood in Napa, to establish the brand in 2012. In 2019, they were selected as Winemakers to Watch by the US national newspaper San Francisco Chronicle, and are the most dynamic young duo right now. Their motto is to make high-quality, unique, "California-like" wines while minimizing human intervention and striving to bring out the individuality of the vineyards to the fullest. Using their own network, they find not only organic cultivation, but also old rooted vines and irrigated vineyards that have not yet been noticed, and brew using only indigenous yeasts to firmly reflect the flavor and individuality of the grape varieties in the wine. "Maître de Chai" is a French word (mainly Bordeaux) that means winemaker. Now they are independent and can make a living just by managing their own winery, but when they first started "Maître de Chai", both of them worked as winemakers and assistants at other wineries. The brand name expresses their gratitude to their mentor who gave them the opportunity to work in the cellar and shared his knowledge of winemaking and cultivation with them, which is why they are who they are today. In other words, "Maître de Chai" is the job title that led Alex and Martin to enter the wine industry, and it is their origin. The label features an illustration drawn in 1883, showing the Statue of Liberty in Roman mythology, "Libertas", and a grizzly bear, the symbol of California, making a toast. California adopted the grizzly bear as its state flag in 1911, so this picture was drawn before that. The side of the barrel depicts a sailing ship and a worker holding a hoe that reached the west coast of America after a long journey during the Gold Rush (1848). The original illustration had the word "Eureka" written on the side of the barrel, meaning "Found!", and the sides of the wooden wine crate had "Mission," "Pineau," "Riesling," and "Zinfandel" written on the sides, respectively. However, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau did not approve the designs as they were, so the word "Eureka" was removed and the side of the wooden crate now lists the grape varieties used in the wine inside.