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Small batch boutique wines, curated coffee and global spices are just some of the goods that will soon be available at Polymath, a store “for the curious palate” coming to downtown Los Altos later this month.
Created by Woodside resident Pooja Gorthy and her husband Shri, Polymath will be stocked with bottles from Gorthy’s boutique winery Calligraphy, cans from her canned wine label Manuscript, coffee beans and ground coffee from Indonesia and India, and spices from around the world. It’s located in the former space of Baskin-Robbins, which suddenly closed in September.
“(Polymath) is about all the things you start your day with to the time you end your day,” Gorthy said.
Gorthy, who works in tech and venture capital, founded Calligraphy Wine in 2021. The boutique winery makes only 200-250 cases each of single vineyard pinot noir ($95) and single vineyard chardonnay ($80). Calligraphy’s pinot noir is made from grapes grown at Bootlegger’s Hill Vineyard, located between Sebastopol and Occidental, and the chardonnay is made from grapes grown at Richard Dinner Vineyard, located on the slopes of Sonoma Mountain.
Gorthy plans to eventually make wine from Calligraphy’s own vineyard in Sebastopol and intends to start planting next year.
“Even though (wine) is made in the same way, the same grapes, every bottle is different,” she said. “Every time you write in calligraphy, it’s different from the first time you wrote it.”
While primarily sold online, Gorthy’s wines can be found along the Peninsula at Menlo Tavern in Menlo Park.
Megan Baccitich, formerly the director of winemaking for Paul Hobbs Winery, is Calligraphy’s consulting winemaker.
“She makes amazing 100-point wines, and she’s incredible, she’s very knowledgeable, and it’s amazing to be able to be a woman-owned and woman-run company,” Gorthy said.
Calligraphy wine bottles are fully recyclable – the logo and relevant information are screen-printed onto the bottle, as opposed to on a label with glue, and old bottles are reused to make candles ($35), which are also sold on the website.
In October, Gorthy plans to launch a canned wine brand called Manuscript, “for folks who love camping, who love going outdoors, who go on hikes, and they go to the beach or it’s easier drinking when you are out and about,” she said.
Manuscript is partnering with 1 Brush Initiative, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that supports public art projects and youth arts education. Portions of Manuscript proceeds will benefit 1 Brush.
“(Wine) leaves a memory,” Gorthy said. “When you open good wine and you sit with your friends or family, those memories last, and it just brings people together.”
Polymath, 264 State St., Los Altos; Instagram: @polymath.store.
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Correction: This article has been modified from its original version to correct an error mixing up the two vineyards Calligraphy gets its grapes from.
