I love talking about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.
In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I encounter as I make my way around the world, from Houston to Mexico City, Los Angeles to Burgundy, and other locales far and near, individuals who love and respect wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. Whether my subject is a collector, a winemaker, a chef, a sommelier, a buyer, a grower, or simply an enthusiastic drinker of wine, you’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well.
Marcus Notaro is the director of winemaking at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, where he has plied his trade and craft since 2013. Early on, he worked as a tour guide at Chateau Ste. Michelle, a job he said sparked his interest in the technical side of wine and put him on his career path. He entered the training program at the Washington State-based winery, then took a job at Columbia Crest, followed by a stint making wine at Col Solare, which at the time was owned by Chateau Ste. Michelle and Marchesi Antinori in a joint venture (the latter became sole owner of Col Solare in 2024). Notaro has been making red wine (primarily cabernet sauvignon) since 1995.
The future winemaker grew up in an Italian American household whose patriarch made wine at home; I can imagine his parents pairing that wine with the meals served at the family table and the impression those rituals had on the son. Notaro was born in New York and then lived in Connecticut and Los Angeles before his family moved to Seattle when he was 10. He began working at Chateau Ste. Michelle while completing a degree in engineering at the University of Washington. In 1994, Notaro took a job at Columbia Crest and was on the winemaking team there when the winery’s 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was named the top wine in the world for 2009 by Wine Spectator. The wine retailed for around $25 upon release.
Notaro moved to Col Solare in 2006, and continued his mastery of red wine, which most recently saw him celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Judgement of Paris by releasing the 2023 Stag’s Leap S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon, the wine whose 1973 vintage made history in Paris on that fateful day in 1976. From tour guide and tasting room pourer to maker of red wines worthy of serious consideration and long-term cellaring, Notaro’s path has been one of serendipity combined with intent, education, and practice. His work at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, now owned solely by Marchesi Antinori, continues his journey.
Let’s see what he has to say in Wine Talk.
James Brock: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile?
Marcus Notaro: We recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Judgment of Paris, the blind tasting that helped to put Napa Valley on the map, when wines from the region shocked the world and bested top French wines. I was at Auction Napa Valley in June, where we partnered with Chateau Montelena on a lot that included one of our last remaining bottles of our winning 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon, alongside a bottle of 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay. During the event, as a nod to the anniversary, I had the opportunity to pour both our new 2023 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2023 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, which I know the guests really enjoyed, so these wines are on my mind at the moment. What makes the 2023 S.L.V. particularly worthwhile is that it beautifully reflects the character of the historic S.L.V. vineyard that continues to define Napa, 50 years later. The wine is both powerful and precise, with layered dark fruit, cassis, cocoa, and cedar notes framed by the gravelly mineral character and firm structure that have long been hallmarks of this site. I enjoyed what was left of those wines with grilled skirt steak and morel mushrooms to pair with the S.L.V., along with a scallop risotto for the chardonnay.
JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.
MN: When I was in college in the early ’90s, I worked as a waiter at a small Italian restaurant outside Seattle. The owner was incredibly passionate about wine and would open good bottles off the list to celebrate a successful night, so we could learn about the wines. I’ll never forget trying a Barolo from Bruno Giacosa, likely a late-1980s vintage. It completely blew my mind and was the bottle that first sparked my fascination with wine. That experience set me on the path to learning more about wine and, ultimately, pursuing a career in winemaking. I wish there was a case of that sitting in my cellar to enjoy.
JB: What is your favorite grape, and why? If you don’t have a single favorite, tell me about one that you are especially passionate about.
MN: Cabernet sauvignon runs through my veins. Even before I started down the winemaking path, my beverage of choice while studying in college was black currant tea, which happens to be one of cabernet’s classic flavor descriptors. What I love most about cabernet is its complexity. The different personalities it expresses depending on where it’s grown, its potential for aging, and its potential to be made into wines full of flavor and rich in texture, but with a sense of elegance as well.
JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day?
MN: These are perfect occasions to open one of our “Estate” wines. After about 10 years, they’ve reached what I like to call their “well-behaved teenage years,” where some of the youthful edges have integrated into the wine, but they’re still full of primary fruit character and have plenty of life ahead of them. If I were choosing a bottle to cellar today for a future celebration, I’d select the 2023 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon. As the 50th anniversary vintage of S.L.V., it has a special story behind it, and I expect it will reward patience beautifully over the coming decade and beyond.
JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside your home and workplace)?
MN: My backyard is one of my favorite spots, particularly during harvest. I love to go outside with a nice glass of wine, enjoy the cool evening breezes, and think about what’s on the horizon, what still needs to be picked, how each fermenting tank is progressing, and what I should do next. Another favorite spot of mine is the Sonoma Coast. On Sunday afternoons, I love to head out there with my wife and youngest daughter to pick up a few things for a picnic lunch, open a nice bottle of wine, and watch the waves and the sunset.
JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?
MN: Keep an open mind and try something or somewhere new. It’s such a special time to be a wine consumer, as new great wines are being produced around the world. I suggest taking the opportunity when you can to go to a tasting experience where there’s lots of different wines to try, have fun and find some new bottles that you like.
JB: We’ve all read the countless articles and papers devoted to the dire state of the wine world and industry, the stories of surplus fruit, ripped-out vines, younger drinkers abandoning wine, climate worries, and the role of alcohol in human health. What do you think needs to be done to improve the current state of wine? Better education? Marketing? How concerned are you about the future of the industry?
MN: There’s a lot happening these days, and I try not to get too caught up in the headlines competing for clicks. Wine is in the business of agriculture, so there will always be ups and downs. Mother Nature ultimately sets the course, and our responsibility is to respond to the challenges and opportunities each season brings, crafting the best possible wine while remaining true to the distinct personality of our vineyards. As I’ve traveled around the country this spring, attending wine festivals, sold-out vintner dinners, and other events, I’ve seen plenty of enthusiasm for wine from both younger and more experienced consumers.
When it comes to engaging younger wine drinkers, a few experiences with my own children have given me valuable perspective on what our industry can do to better connect with the next generation. My daughter, who turned 21 in May, texted me to ask for my recommendations on a wine that was “cheap and not gross or sweet.” Her assumption that affordable wine is either sweet or not very good suggests to me that winemakers need to do a better job making quality wine approachable and accessible for younger consumers. Then there’s my son, who graduated from college this year. During spring break this year he brought several friends home, and while none of them knew much about wine, we spent a few days exploring Napa Valley, tasting different wines and learning the basics of grape growing and winemaking … they were completely hooked. At his graduation ball, each table was served a bottle of wine. Throughout the evening, several of his friends stopped by to say they weren’t particularly enjoying it and joked that a bottle of Stag’s Leap would have been a welcome upgrade. What those experiences taught me is that younger consumers are interested in wine. Sometimes all it takes is a little education, an affordable tasting experience, and a connection to the place where the wine is grown.
JB: What is your wine eureka moment, the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?
MN: The Bruno Giacosa Barolo I mentioned earlier was a pivotal wine for me. Its complexity, story, history and taste completely captured my attention and set me on the path toward winemaking.
JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career?
MN: It has to be during the 2017 fires. We had just harvested some merlot and crushed it into a fermentation tank at a sister winery on the night of the Atlas Fire. Shortly after, we lost power and access to the facility, including the tank, for over a week. When we were finally able to return, it was only for a brief window of a few hours, just enough time to drain the free-run juice from the tank before we had to leave again. Several days later, once we regained full access, we were able to shovel out the pomace and see what had developed. What emerged were essentially two very different wines: a delicate, light, fruit-driven free-run, and a press fraction with remarkable structure and power. We ultimately blended the two together, and the result was the best merlot we have produced in my 13 vintages here. It remains something of a mystery wine because so many variables were out of our control. No one truly knows what happened inside that tank, from temperature to fermentation dynamics to the yeast that carried it through.
JB: If you could journey to one destination (or region) tomorrow to explore its wines, where would you go?
MN: Piedmonte, Italy, where the food is meant for the wine, and the wine is meant for the food.
JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature (fiction, film, poem)?
MN: As the current winemaker for Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, it has to be George Taber’s book “Judgement of Paris,”right?
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