Jon Langley and Lucky Preksto, longtime New York City bartenders, met in 2009 and have been collaborators ever since. In 2020 they began developing spirits recipes in Jon’s kitchen. Ever optimistic, they formed January Spirits that same year. In 2022, they scaled up these recipes and teamed with Matchbook Distilling, located in the North Fork of Long Island, to bring their vision to life.

Joining forces with Lucky’s wife, Diana Lang, on branding, and Jon’s partner, Amanda Eli, on operations, they came to market in New York in the spring of 2023. They decided to launch with three products. Amaro and genepy, legendary digestifs; two sides of a coin, one bitter, rooty, the other herbal, ineffable. The five-flower gin, particular to January Spirits, accents the earthy quality of flowers. It’s not an obvious gin, only delicious.

Taken on their own, these styles are aromatic and nuanced; in cocktails, near indefinable.

"We make botanical spirits. We’re drawn to the traditional French and Italian styles of drinks that haven’t until recently had a bright light shone upon them. We love them on their own, they stand up. They’re also often the secret ingredient that make a cocktail sing. Versatile spirits. Serious spirits, often pondered over, savored, and deeply regarded. We take them seriously. But we feel drinking also, at its heart, ought to be fun. It makes you feel good, after all–and here’s to feeling good all the time."

Bowler is proud to welcome January Spirits to the portfolio!

Jean Marshall’s father, Tim, an Englishman, was one of the first foreigners to fall in love with Burgundy to the point of settling in and setting out to build a small domaine in the 1960’s. Over time, he planted and purchased small parcels over a couple of decades acquiring two hectares. His last vintage was 2003 and after that he rented out his vines to Meo Camuzet. Sadly, he fell ill in the later years of his life and passed away in 2015. At the time, Jean had no interest in taking back the vines, knowing that his father's passing was largely caused by exposure to chemicals that Tim had used in his vineyards.

Jean pursued scientific studies and a career as a psychiatric nurse for ten years, until 2019, when he realized that in fact, the vines of his childhood were where his heart was. Jean did a viticulture, winemaking and vineyard management program in Beaune, then worked at Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux for a couple of years in preparation to take back and begin working the family's two hectares of vines.

From the beginning Jean has farmed all of his parcels organically and entirely by hand without tractors. He practices no-till, believing in the benefits and complexity of nurturing the soil’s natural ecosystem. With a regenerative farming perspective, he's planted fruit trees in the vineyards to enrich biodiversity and increase soil health and believes in the symbiosis of root systems and mycorrhizae networks between the trees and vine plants, essential to the plants' autonomy. He works with natural cover crops benefiting carbon capture, increased organic matter, and soil structure. He does not hedge the vines and carries out high trellising to preserve the plant's energy and maintain a natural balance while creating shade for fruit. The long-term benefits of these methods are numerous, particularly in face of climate change. To him they are natural and logical, based on observation and sensitivity to the vegetal world.

In the cellar, Jean works with ceramic vessels, believing that oak blocks the expression of the wines. The wines are harvested in the morning and then sorted meticulously after lunch. Jean said that they even sort by smell. Fermentation takes place with whole clusters in ceramic and they are aged for nearly two years before bottling. 2023 marks Jean’s first vintage and it was bottled in July 2025. William Kelley of the Wine Advocate had this to say after tasting with Marshall: “…what stands out for me, after two visits to Marshall's cellars, is the purity and precision of his work. His methods may or may not evolve over the years to come, but I'm sure he will never lose the evident meticulousness he's brought to his first vintage. Deep, dense and still primary, it will be fascinating to revisit these wines in bottle. For now, what's clear is that this is very much an address to watch.”

The Jeanne Marie label was created by David Gordon, one of New York’s first recognized sommeliers, and the person responsible for the Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning wine list at Manhattan’s famed Tribeca Grill restaurant. The restaurant opened in 1990 by restaurateur Drew Nieporent and actor Robert DeNiro. Gordon, who is self-taught, began learning about wine in the 1980s just as Kevin Zraly was beginning to educate America on the world of wine. At the time, there were very few non-French somms working in the city and the British-born Court of Master Sommeliers was in its infancy.

“You had to pick up a book or magazine to learn about wine,” says Gordon. There were no YouTubes or Google or extensive training programs. The list now boasts over 1800 selections including verticals of some of the most sought-after producers.

While he tasted and learned about the best wines on the planet, which included expensive Burgundies and Rhône wines, Gordon always kept the consumer top of mind. “House” Cab and Chard were big sellers at the restaurant, so he set out to meet that demand with a genuine product that would deliver consistent quality.

“I started the Jeanne Marie line as a fun, cool thing to do,” says Gordon. “There really weren't any wines associated with sommeliers at the time.  Now there are many, but these were definitely among the first. I named the wine after the person I worship, my wife of 30+ years- Jeanne Marie."

In the beginning, Gordon sourced the wines from his friends in Napa and Sonoma. Producers such as Caymus, Lewis Cellars, and Miner Family provided grapes and helped with the winemaking for the early cuvées. Gordon has kept to his original promise that wines with the Jeanne Marie label will always be affordable and delicious. “People want ripe fruit and a clean taste that’s not too oaky or tannic,” he says. The wines are refreshing, they can be drunk as an aperitif before dinner or with a meal."

Wines bearing the Jeanne Marie label, much like David Gordon himself, are welcoming and unpretentious.

Maria Pato is the granddaughter of João Pato, after whom the winery is named, and part of a family deeply rooted in the history of Bairrada. She created the “Duckman” project (pato meaning duck in Portuguese) as a playful, rebellious nod to tradition with a new and experimental spirit.

Like her father, Luís Pato, Maria is dedicated to pushing boundaries in Bairrada—working with indigenous grape varieties, exploring alternative farming methods, and utilizing natural, hands-off winemaking. Duckman is as much about honoring her family’s legacy as it is about reshaping it, turning Bairrada into a place of creativity, and expression.

This profile and tasting notes were edited from the GK Selections website, along with the pictures used. For more information please visit GK Selections