Tangovino. The name alone tells a lot about the origins of this brand. It's a wine with Argentine tango at its core. Glenn Caster had the honor of partnering with legends of Napa back in 2004 when they acquired Highlands Winery from the then privately owned Freemark Abbey Winery. Originally launched in 2001, Highlands was focused on ultra-premium wines from the Howell Mountain district of the Napa Valley American Viticulture Area (AVA). Over the ensuing years, the portfolio was expanded to create a broader range of wines from various regions of California. A "second label" Highland Plateau was developed to offer high quality wines at affordable prices.

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Mr. Caster first learned about Argentine tango in 2010 from a good friend. He was captured by the music of the Golden Age from the 1920's, 30's and 40's. As a child, he would hang out in the basement and listen to old 78's the family had of big band music of the 40's and recordings of the guitar jazz great, Django Reinhardt of that same timeframe. Mr. Caster collected a portfolio of music from DiSarli, D'Arienzo, Canaro and others which he listened to obsessively for two years, when he finally decided to take tango dance lessons.

 

In 2018, having attended hundreds of classes, workshops and milongas (tango dances), Mr. Caster observed that many of the organizers provided their guests with wine and food, but the quality of the wines, politely, not so great. As an owner of a winery and now a passionate tango dancer (not a great one mind you, but passionate none-the-less), Mr. Caster had the idea to develop a wine brand at Highlands that was affordable to the tango community at large, and could be provided to tango organizers at wholesale prices.

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As part of his commitment to provide value to the tango community which is blessed with many talented artists and photographers, Mr. Caster decided to promote different artwork on each new bottling label, with a credit and promotion of the website of the artist/photographer. The recently departed Gayle Goodrich provided the first photograph. The second bottling, launched at the International Tango Summit in September, 2019, and currently available for sale, features a photo by the highly acclaimed Annie Appel.