Mario Monticelli

Winemaker, Trinchero Napa Valley

Mario Monticelli grew up in Northern California, where his Italian-born father sparked his interest in winemaking at an early age. Mario has many childhood memories of visiting his grandparents’ home in Madera, California, where he was exposed to every aspect of the winemaking process; from driving tractors in the vineyards to picking the grapes, Mario experienced it all from grape to glass.

“My grandparents moved to the United States from Italy in the 1950s. Madera had many other Italian families, and resembled a co-op community where families would trade for goods. One guy down the street made cheese, we made wine and we all bartered for everything we needed,” Mario explained.

Mario attended the University of California, Davis and immediately continued his passion for winemaking by selecting viticulture as his major. It was customary for viticulture majors to take a fall semester off in order to work a harvest from start to finish. Mario traveled abroad to his family’s native Italy, where he studied and worked at venerable producer Antinori in the heart of Chianti. Mario, who is fluent in Italian, conducted clonal research on Sangiovese while also putting in time in the cellar during the harvest. Upon his return to the United States, Mario graduated UC Davis with a Bachelor of Science of Viticulture and Enology as well as with a Bachelor of Art of Italian Language.

After college, Mario became the assistant winemaker at Melka Wines, assisting Philippe Melka on some of the most celebrated wines in the Napa Valley, including Quintessa, Hundred Acre, Vineyard 29, Caldwell, and Lail Vineyards, to name a few. After four years under Philippe Melka’s tutelage, Mario took the position as head winemaker for Quixote Winery where he was responsible for all winery operations, including harvest, cellar work, analyses, blending, bottling and vineyard management.

In 2007, Mario became the winemaker for Trinchero Napa Valley. His focus is on the estate grown, single-vineyard selections under the Trinchero Napa Valley label, which showcase the Trinchero family’s significant holdings in the Napa Valley AVA.

“I am a minimalist,” Mario says. “It is my goal to put forth the best expression of the fruit and land from which it is grown. I like to keep things as natural as possible and choose not to use a lot of enzymes and chemicals. The estate vineyards that make up the Trinchero Napa Valley program are some of the most exceptional in the Valley and I’m excited to create wines that reflect the terroir of these individual sites.”

Mario lives in Napa with his wife Anna, who is the winemaker for Piña Cellars. In their spare time, Mario and Anna enjoy time at their cabin in Yosemite where Mario can go hunting for porcini mushrooms.