We released the first vintage, the 2009, after five years of aging in 2014 and only ever shared the story in oral tradition. Partly because it’s such a sentimental story that hearing it straight from John makes it so much more meaningful but also because we have never shared the story before someone has tasted the wine. As strict vintners we don’t want your heart to dictate your palate.  We insist you experience the wine on its own merit before you experience all that Infinity+17 means. 

However, there are many people who have bottles of Infinity+17 resting in their cellars who have never heard this story and it’s time they know everything about the wine they already love.

So, written for the first time, we give you The Infinity+17 Origins.

The Klacking family was in their 1998 Lincoln Navigator on a road trip. The Navigator was a special car to the matriarch of the family; it was the first year a SUV featured rear bucket seats- so that Little John & Emma in the back couldn’t reach or pester one another. 

In the time before iPads and DVD players, kids spent long road-trips gazing out of the windows and mindlessly jabbering. Somehow a game started up; a counting game. 

It was getting high, each child taking turns saying the next highest number. Suddenly 6-year-old Little John, blurted “Infinity!”.

Emma, who was 4, had not yet heard of this Infinity number and so she logically countered “Infinity+1.”

That made Little John go berserk. “Dad she can’t do that!”

John, driving and impressed by Emma's logic, ruled that it was indeed a valid answer. 

So next came “Infinity+2”… “Infinity+3”… “INFINITY+4!”… “INFINITY+5!!”… and each answer became louder the higher the numbers went to top each other.

As you can imagine, dad who was driving, clenched the steering wheel tighter and tighter the louder and higher the hellions in the back seat became. By the time they got to "Infinity+17" no parent would fault John from ending the game: “That’s it! The End! Infinity+17 is the highest number there is.” 

And that was that. 

Little John was tragically diagnosed with leukemia later that year and passed at age 10. He was followed by his mother, Kerri in 2014, also from cancer. 

After Little John’s diagnosis, our vintner John Klacking, armed with his PhD in Biochemistry threw himself back into cancer research. He is still very active in the cancer field and founded two biotech companies to combat this devastating and indiscriminate disease. 

No wine commemorating his children would be complete if it didn’t go on and serve Little John’s memory. A portion of the proceeds from Infinity+17 is sent to researchers on the cutting edge of discovering a cancer cure.

In 2020 we expanded our mission to include a portion of all Double Bond sales joining Infinity+17 to contribute and get us that much closer to a cure that effects us all.