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David Girard Vineyards
Mari Wells, winemaker
We caught up with Mari Wells early one morning, several hours before the tasting room at David Girard Vineyards was to open for the day. After a tour of the facility, we spent some time with her in a very quiet, and extremely elegant, tasting room.
What’s interesting about our interviews for this book is that Wells is the only woman. Not that a woman winemaker is odd, it’s just the way our interview cycle and selection turned out. She was our first interview and had we known she would end up being the only woman, we would have asked more questions as they relate to women working in a stereotypical “boy’s club” industry.
After graduating from UC Davis’ winemaking program in 2000, Wells made two vintages at the famed Gloria Ferrer Champagne caves in Sonoma. She then traveled to New Zealand to learn more about her passion—Pinot Noir—by working at a winery near Queenstown. She returned to the states and studied under Merry Edwards, a Pinot Noir guru based in the Russian River Valley. From there, she became winemaker at Chatom Vineyards in Calaveras County (see winery listing) and created the acclaimed “She Wine” label for that winery. Wells joined David Girard Vineyards in 2006.
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How
did you get started in the winemaking business?
I was studying sciences, and I was thinking, “Where
am I going to work? Where am I going to go with this?” Everything in my
family always translated into “When are you going to get a job?” It
wasn’t like, “Go to college, learn and explore.”
We
learned that you once went to a maritime academy. Was that something you
always wanted to do?
My family was all merchant sailors. They never went to the maritime academy, but worked their way up from the bottom. My dad was a captain of oil tankers for many years and he said I might like this because I liked to travel. Coming out of high school, the maritime academy was small, so I wouldn’t get lost among the thousands of students. It was my freshman year in college.
Later
you began studying science. What field?
Chemistry and biochemistry mostly, but I didn’t know what I was going to do with that. I started looking into it and found I needed four more years of graduate school and all these other things to be a scientist. I enjoyed school, but didn’t want to make a career of it. I thought I’d better find something to do. So, as I was exploring I talked to someone who was into grape growing. He was a friend who was studying at UC Davis and he and his family had had vineyards for generations. I asked if there was any kind of science in that because it sounded really interesting. All of a sudden my mind was going a million miles a minute—that sounded interesting, fascinating because I’d already studied physiology and biology. So I transferred to Davis and their winemaking program and really enjoyed it.
How
soon before you got your first job making wine?
I started working right away at a few wineries in
Sonoma and found that it was a good fit for me. There were a lot of
industrial aspects to it. Move things around, plan, strategize.
You
compared your maritime background with winemaking. Can you explain more
about that?
The operation here is similar to a ship; there’s a
real industrial side to it when you’re actually processing a liquid.
When you break it down you’re dealing with some pretty industrial types
of work. It requires maintenance, it requires trouble shooting, figuring
out equipment and what to do when it breaks down, you’re moving things,
using a forklift, cranes, all the things I learned at the maritime
academy.
Where
are you from originally, and how long have you been here at David
Girard?
I’m originally from Bellingham, Washington. I’ve been here at David Girard for three and a half years, since they opened the doors. David Girard was already making wines in Napa before we opened here. He made vintages from 2001 up until 2004, which was the first vintage made here. It’s been exciting, with the growth, with the wine club following.
What’s the most common question you are asked?
Most people say, “Oh, you’re just too young of a
winemaker.” I imagine they want to see a little old man. They are really
surprised I’m a woman. They usually don’t say that to me, but they say
it to the tasting room staff, “Oh, it’s a woman? Oh my goodness.” They
have this general stereotype of a little old man, maybe from some old
commercials.
Is it
unusual for a woman to be a winemaker?
I think it’s growing in numbers but traditionally
it has been a male-dominated field. Of course now there are hundreds of
women winemakers, even wonderful famous women winemakers in Napa and
Sonoma. It’s that industrial side that people go “Oh?” They wouldn’t
doubt that you can sit up there and do the chemistry and that you can
think and taste, but the industrial side they don’t see. I was 24 when I
took my first head winemaking position. One time, I was ordering gas (used
in the winemaking process) and when the truck driver delivered it,
he said, “Now you know that argon is really better.” He’s educating
me about which gas I
should choose. I told him, “I’m really happy with the choice that I made
and I know why I made it, so goodbye!”
As
you work longer in this field, are you finding things are getting
easier?
[The comments] are getting less and less. I think
this is the one career that I’m happy I’m aging, because I’m getting
fewer questions now!
What’s your favorite wine myth?
I think people assume that wine requires a lot of
sophistication for people to consume. First, it’s a relatively expensive
investment—I always think of wines as an investment—it’s a lot like
buying a nice shirt you would spend $30 to $50 on for an interview.
You’re really going to think hard about how it fits into the rest of
your closet and how you’re going to wear it next. There are quite a few
things that go through your mind when you purchase something for an
investment. When you buy a nice bottle of wine, say for $25, you’re
thinking about how are you going to drink it, when are you going to
drink it, with whom, and what are you going to be eating. Sometimes
people just don’t think they have enough wine knowledge to make that
kind of decision. I think it’s good to educate people to the point where
they can try a few wines that are a little bit less expensive, because
that’s less of a risk. So, come wine tasting, especially in the
foothills where it’s welcoming and you can learn a lot and see what you
like. Then it’s a little bit less of a risk. When you buy that
higher-end bottle, you know what you’re buying. There are so many wines
that are for Mexican take-out and Chinese take-out, because this is what
real people eat, not at a French bistro each night. What goes with
popcorn? I love popcorn, so why do I have to have water or a soda? I can
have wine.
What
would you recommend for those new, often younger, people who are just
starting to develop a taste for wine?
I would definitely start with some of our Rhones, a
single varietal, not the big blends right away. Our varietals are
friendly, approachable. The Rhones are wonderful because they go with so
many spices and flavors from cilantro to cinnamon to clove. The Rhones
are also really fruity and perceptively sweet on your palate because
they fill the mid-palate and have a lot of fruit, but they actually
aren’t sweet. It’s a good wine to sample, to enjoy, you don’t have to
think a lot about those. I haven’t heard of a single person who hasn’t
liked our Grenache. Everybody likes it because it’s friendly. The white
Rhones are really aromatic. The Viognior has so many amazing aromas,
it’s when your brain starts reminding you of these flowers in the spring
or it reminds you of those apricots that you love, and that’s when you
can really start getting engaged in what you are drinking.
After
a long day at work what do you do?
I play with my little baby who is 10 months old—and
I have a beer. I try to eat healthy. I probably eat more foods that pair
with wines because I’m thinking about it a lot, so if I’m having
something I know will pair well with wine, I’ll probably have wine.
Do
you have any hobbies you enjoy during your downtime?
I used to be a white water rafting guide, so my husband and I still do a lot of white water rafting.