At Willamette Valley winery L’Angolo Estate, Chase Renton has spent years crafting elegant Pinot Noir from organically farmed vines in the Dundee Hills. His newest release, however, carries a deeper personal story.
Called Resilience, the limited-production Pinot Noir recently launched in conjunction with Mental Health Awareness Month, with 100 percent of proceeds benefiting the Kevin Love Fund, the nonprofit founded by NBA star Kevin Love to support mental health education and emotional wellness.
For Renton, the project is far more than a charitable bottling. It is the culmination of years marked by triumph, illness, burnout and recovery.
“Mental health struggles are far more common than we acknowledge, yet they remain difficult to talk about,” Renton says. “My journey with anxiety and depression has been more challenging than my battle with cancer.”
From Florence to the Willamette Valley
That statement lands with weight coming from a winemaker whose career once seemed charmed. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Renton discovered wine while studying abroad in Florence, Italy. What began as a university wine appreciation course evolved into a calling. He studied at the Apicius International School of Hospitality, worked harvests across Europe and the United States, and trained alongside respected names including Kosta Browne Winery before eventually settling in Oregon.
In 2012, with support from his family, he founded L’Angolo Estate in the Willamette Valley. The estate quickly gained attention for both its wines and its striking contemporary tasting room, designed by Lever Architecture.
A Turning Point
Then came a devastating interruption. Renton was diagnosed with cancer just as the winery was gaining momentum. Following surgery and chemotherapy, he entered remission and began channeling his energy into philanthropy, hosting wine events benefiting the Children’s Cancer Association. Through that work, he formed friendships with former NBA players Channing Frye and Kevin Love.
Those relationships later led to Chosen Family Wines, a collaborative label launched by Frye, Love and Renton in 2020. Yet even as his professional world expanded, another struggle was building behind the scenes.
As the demands of multiple wine projects and family life intensified, Renton found himself facing anxiety, depression and severe burnout. He eventually sought treatment through The Mental Health Collective in Newport Beach, California, an experience he credits with saving his life.
Wine as Connection
With Resilience, Renton hopes wine can become a conduit for connection and conversation at a moment when isolation feels increasingly common.
“Wine has always been about connection,” he says. “If a bottle of wine can bring friends together, spark a conversation, raise funds and help someone feel less alone, then it has served its purpose.”
The wine itself reflects that message. The label features Renton’s own handwriting and draws inspiration from the Japanese art of kintsugi, in which broken pottery is repaired with gold, transforming fractures into part of the object’s beauty rather than something to conceal.
Love, who publicly shared his own struggles with anxiety in 2018, says the partnership aligns naturally with the mission of his foundation.
“Everyone is going through something, whether you can see it or not,” says Love. “Social connection is essential for mental wellness.”
Beyond the Bottle
Only 200 cases of Resilience Pinot Noir will be produced in its inaugural release, with fundraising goals between $25,000 and $30,000. The wine will be available through L’Angolo Estate’s mailing list, tasting room and select Oregon retailers including Zupan’s Markets.
For Renton, the release represents more than a charitable endeavor. It is an attempt to normalize conversations that many still avoid, particularly among men, while using wine’s communal nature to create genuine human connection.
Photos courtesy of L’Angolo Estate
