Matt Reid, Winemaker

Making wine is a joy. I was slow to choose a career path because my interests are so diverse. Winemaking allows me to synthesize botany, ecology, fermentation, nature, and art. What could be better?

Napa Valley winemakers are particularly lucky in the grape varieties we can work with. Napa’s varied climate and soils allow an incredible range of varieties not only to ripen here but to rank among the best examples of those varieties in the world. I am luckier still at Benessere, because we grow and work with varieties that are uncommon at best in Napa Valley, such as Sangiovese, and extremely rare, such as Sagrantino and Aglianico.

I am continually delighted and amazed at the quality of the grapes we grow. Most winemakers say their goal is to pick great fruit and get out of the way. This self-effacing statement is a convenient fiction that we imagine the public wants to hear. The excellent grapes that I work with at Benessere give me a running start on making great wine, but it still requires skill and creativity on my part to make sure the wines reach their fullest potential. This kind of challenge is precisely what makes this job so much fun.

I make wine because I love it, it makes me happy, and I want to share that happiness. I hope that when you drink our Benessere wines the love and happiness they contain are conveyed to you.

- Matt Reid