Steve Wells got interested in wine while waiting tables in New York City, initially because it meant bigger tips. It turned into Court of Master Sommeliers certification and a job as beverage director for a large restaurant group, and then, after a tasting tour of Washington, into a 3,000-mile move with his wife and three small children. Greg Harrington gave him a job at Gramercy Cellars; two and a half years later he enrolled at Walla Walla Community College while working for Aryn Morell at M&L Productions, a custom crush house turning out scores of wines for half a dozen clients. In 2016 Morell offered him space to make his own, and he started with two and a half tons of Syrah. The name took three years — it had to be easy to say, not his own surname, look right on a restaurant list, avoid animals and place names, and mean something. He found it on his forearms: a clock whose hands point to 1:02, the minute his daughter was born, and a compass whose points are his family's initials. The focus is Rhône varieties made food-friendly, lower in alcohol and higher in acid.