Moves winemaking to Punchdown Cellars in Santa Rosa, appoints Emiddio Justin Massa as associate winemaker
BURLINGAME, California – August 6, 2024 – Winemaker Shalini Sekhar of Ottavino Wines announced details today about a number of changes that will allow her to expand her winemaking brand and consulting winemaking business. Sekhar is relocating winemaking operations from San Francisco to Santa Rosa. The move will support the growth of Ottavino Wines, which focuses on less-common grape varieties and alternative winemaking techniques. It also provides benefits for the small-production wineries that Sekhar makes wine for under the auspices of Ottavino Wine Consulting.
The new location for winemaking will be Punchdown Cellars, a Santa Rosa-based custom crush facility providing winemaking services and logistics to boutique wineries and independent vintners. Other small producers that craft their wine at Punchdown include Anthill Farms, Brashley, Cartograph, Read Holland, Trombetta, and The Withers.
Shalini Sekhar is the first American-born Indian winemaker and has a long track record making highly-rated and regarded wines for Waits-Mast Family Cellars and Neely Wine among others. Named a Winemaker to Watch by the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019, she has spent her career crafting premium Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. Her fruit sources have expanded to include Austrian varieties like Grüner Veltliner and St. Laurent. She has run numerous winery facilities, both shared and estate, and is adept at not only winemaking but the rigors of cellar work, facility maintenance, and vineyard management.
Ottavino client Waits-Mast will be moving its winemaking operations to Punchdown as a part of this move. Waits-Mast has made wine commercially in San Francisco since the 2007 vintage. The micro-boutique winery sources fruit exclusively from small, independent vineyards in Anderson Valley, Mendocino Ridge and Mendocino County. The move will benefit Waits-Mast with a closer location to its fruit sources and reduced transportation costs.
To help Sekhar expand her consulting winemaking operation, she is bringing on Emiddio Justin Massa, a longtime colleague and friend, as associate winemaker. Massa has over 10 years of winemaking and wine business experience, most recently working as winemaker for Theopolis and Lester Family Wines. Massa is highly experienced in the cellar, having supported custom crush operations at Mansfield-Dunne and Roar Wines. Massa is also proudly one of the few openly queer winemakers.
“For many years, Ottavino Wines has literally been a one-person operation – me. Harvest interns and friends have been invaluable help along the way, but the move to Punchdown gives me the winemaking support system that I need not only to grow my business, but frankly, for better work-life balance,” said Sekhar. “My vineyard sources are located up and down the California coast so I’m used to commuting long distances. While Punchdown is further north from my previous facility and my home, the staff and operations in Santa Rosa will actually free up time for me to focus solely on winemaking.”
In addition to serving as winemaker for Ottavino, Waits-Mast, and Xander Soren Wines, Sekhar will become Consulting Winemaker at Neely Wine. Sekhar previously held the role of Winemaker at Neely from 2015 until 2024.
About Ottavino Wines
Shalini Sekhar launched Ottavino Wines in 2020, focusing on grape varieties and winemaking techniques which are lesser-known/unexpected in California but equally outstanding. Drawing inspiration from wines she enjoys drinking from around the world and applying the knowledge and skills she has cultivated through years of crafting award-winning Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, these wines are every bit as serious as the wines she crafts for her winery clients. Shalini completed post-baccalaureate studies in enology and viticulture at Fresno State University and has been making wine since 2007, with intern, cellar and winemaking stints at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Williams-Selyem, Furthermore Wines, and others.
Through her Ottavino Wine Consulting business, Sekhar crafts award-winning small production wines for Waits-Mast Family Cellars and Xander Soren Wines. More information about Ottavino Wine Consulting may be found at www.ottavinowines.com/
