Winemaker

Anna Matzinger, winemaker
Good winemaking is a mix of science and intuition, but it takes a confident winemaker, like Anna Matzinger, to find the right balance. The way she achieves this is by being fully present in the process. She’s not just a director, but a collaborator involved at every step of growing and making the wine. With small trays of estate-grown Pinot Noir grapes arriving non-stop on the sorting line, Anna’s often there to catch that one cluster that is just less than perfect. “You have to see and feel this fruit coming in to know what you’ll be working with during fermentation and a year later when blending.”

”The chemistry is important, but you can’t rely on test results to make great wine,” says Anna. “You’ve got to walk through the vineyard, crawl inside the tanks, make judgments in the barrel. Then you’ve got a chance at greatness.”

Anna began her winemaking career as a lab technician at Beringer Vineyards in Napa Valley. However, she didn’t develop her magical touch in the lab but by working harvests and helping make wine in New Zealand, Australia and California. Anna further honed her talents when she joined the winemaking team at Archery Summit in 1999. Three years later, she became our winemaker. Since then, the rave reviews of “Anna’s vintages” offer testament to her remarkable balance of skill and sixth sense.