A (Late) Introduction to Monte Rio Cellars: Come and Sit around our Table!

By Lorraine Bouk

The seeds of Monte Rio Cellars were sown during Patrick Cappiello’s career as a sommelier and restaurant owner. Over the course of his almost two decades in the restaurant industry, Cappiello had countless opportunities to work personally with winemakers and found himself enticed by the passion so many of them exhibited for their work. During these years he also had the opportunity to visit a number of wine cellars in France and Italy, where he picked up techniques that would ultimately influence Monte Rio Cellars’ distinct approach to winemaking. While these experiences provided crucial learning opportunities, Cappiello ultimately found himself feeling unfulfilled and longing for work that would allow him a more creative outlet. 

In 2017, changes in circumstances gave Cappiello the space to reevaluate the direction he was in which he was headed. Searching for clarity, he traveled to Sonoma to work the harvest with his close friend, winemaker Pax Mahle. The trip both confirmed Cappiello’s interest in the winemaking process and introduced him to the culture of Northern California, a culture in which he immediately felt at home. Monte Rio Cellars was conceived when one night, over a few bottles of wine, Mahle asked Cappiello what he felt his next career step was. When Cappiello said that he wanted to make wine, Mahle readily responded with an invitation and an offer to help get him set up.

Cappiello started small, making only 600 cases the first year and only three varietals. Thanks to the network of distributors he had built in his time in the restaurant industry, he was able to sell these quickly and from there steadily grow, learning on the job from the more experienced winemakers with whom he was working closely. 

A few years into the project, Cappiello was contacted by Jesus Aleman, who had been introduced to Monte Rio Cellars wines while working for a winery in Lodi, the region from which Cappiello had sourced most of his grapes. Aleman invited Cappiello to come out to Lodi and meet, in doing so giving Cappiello the chance to visit a number of old established vineyards with which he had always dreamed of working. This started a partnership that resulted in Aleman coming to work fulltime as the Assistant Winemaker of Monte Rio Cellars in 2022.

This two person team that is committed to being personally involved in the whole of the winemaking process reflects the ethos of Monte Rio Cellars. From the beginning, Cappiello favored a small business approach over the highly industrial corporate model that has been far too prominent in the industry since the 1980’s.

Part of this focus stems from a recognition of the rich heritage of California winemaking in which all modern winemakers have the opportunity to participate. Cappiello takes inspiration from post-prohibition winemakers who in turn were inspired by European winemaking techniques and the European philosophy that wine ought to be a companion to food. Despite their indebtedness to their French and Italian predecessors, these early winemakers developed a style that was distinctly Californian and a number of unique California varietals.

Unfortunately, these techniques were quickly eclipsed by a more modern approach that relied heavily on technological and chemical intervention. Because the strong, high-alcohol wines produced excited critics, many wineries found themselves compelled to switch over. Before long this movement started receiving pushback from a younger generation of winemakers whose concerns for sustainability and adoption of the old California philosophy of wine as companion to food led them to return to the classic low-intervention techniques of the original California winemakers.

This is the tradition in which Monte Rio Cellars takes part, distinguishing itself further by its almost exclusive focus on classic California varietals. Our commitment to a personal and sustainable approach to winemaking compels us to work directly with small, family-run vineyards, all of which are credited on our bottles for their part in the winemaking process. We rely on intuition and natural fermentation processes instead of technological aids to make lower-alcohol, food-friendly wines that are designed to be enjoyed around the table.

The French and Italian cultures that inspired the original California winemakers also held to a philosophy of food and drink as a means of fostering community. Through direct relationships sustained between farmer and winemaker and close-working teams, Monte Rio Cellars has conceived of the winemaking process as one that similarly builds and nurtures communities. We hope that all who open a bottle of our wine will be able to find the same community around their own tables.

Cover Photo Copyright Leigh-Ann Beverly