It was a warm November evening. Famed chef Nancy Silverton held a dinner in a wine cave at Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach. She swayed a table knife like a fairy godmother casting a spell as she described her dime-sized orecchiette pasta.
Orecchiette, Silverton explained to a group of diners at this private event, is the ideal vessel to cup up fennel sausage and Swiss chard ragu. Her Puglia, Italy, inspired bites were paired with a California wine, Spottswoode 2022 Lyndenhurst Cabernet Sauvignon.
Lindy Novak, one of the family winery’s owners, then rose to describe the wine. Each sip interlaced her family’s history.
Lindy Novak is the owner of Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery. German immigrants planted the first 17 acres of grapes there in 1882. (Photo by Yianni Stone/courtesy Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery)
In 1972, the Novaks took ownership of Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery. German immigrants planted the first 17 acres of grapes in 1882, three decades after California gained its statehood. In 1910, Mrs. Albert Spotts christened the winery. Today, Spottswoode is one of Napa’s premier destinations.
Yet life in wine country isn’t always idyllic.
“I thought my life was freakin’ over,” said Lindy Novak with a laugh, as she recounted her father’s decision to become a winemaker. Jack was a doctor. In the 1970s, the family lived in Rancho Santa Fe, then a sleepy San Diego suburb. Lindy was 15 years old when her dad “got the bug.”
“He wanted to become a farmer,” Novak explained. So the family uprooted from the suburbs and moved into an old Victorian not far from the vineyards.
“It looked like Eddie Munster’s house.”
Another problem: “They knew nothing about growing grapes or making wine,” Novak said of her parents. “They learned by doing.”
The romantic view of winemaking is sipping wine at sunset, but the reality is that owning a winery means farming — and farming is grueling, unending work. Novak’s father succumbed to a heart attack. He was only 44.
Her mother Mary stood at a crossroads: Sell, or stay and farm the land.
She chose to stay. She produced her own wine with Tony Soter, and Spottswoode released its first vintage in 1982, marking the estate’s 100th anniversary.
Lindy is the eldest, and remembers babysitting for local families including the Duckhorns and Beckstoffers — surnames associated with California’s top winemakers.
“There were some nice family connections at the time,” she said.
Spottswoode released a Sauvignon Blanc, and several other vintages followed. The labels are stamped with an illustration of the old Victorian house. When Mary passed away in 2016, her children stepped up to help with the business.
“She lived a long life, and I think the Sauvignon Blanc had something to do with it,” Novak said.
Challenging times
One has to wonder: Would the Novaks make the same choices today?
California’s wine industry is facing a multitude of hurdles, old and new: after binge-drinking during COVID and the World Health Organization declaring that no level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health in 2023, people sobered up. Wine consumption plummeted. Diners requested beverages with lower ABVs (alcohol by volume).
There’s also the popularity of GLP-1 medications that silenced cravings, combined with Gen Z’s non-alcoholic lifestyle (they frequent coffee ravs!), Americans’ shift towards wellness, and the economy.
“Everybody’s experimenting with all these other things now. Functional mushrooms and psychedelics are getting close to being legal,” said advanced sommelier Vito Pasquale at Selanne Steak Tavern in Laguna Beach. “People are thinking of them in a less stigmatized way, so everybody’s trying all these new things and alcohol is slightly in the shadows right now.”
California’s cannabis industry gave consumers another option. Since January 2018, cannabis sales have generated more than $7.87 billion in state tax revenue.
Add international challenges: the world trade situation, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, tariffs.
Environmental struggles — such as droughts and wildfires, and pests like phylloxera — were always part of the equation. Now, water is re-routed toward residential developments and another deep-pocketed competitor emerged: data centers, which require vast amounts of electricity, water and space. Vineyards sit on prime real estate.
The burning question: Can we save California’s wine industry?
“We’re hearing the same concerns from winemakers across the state,” said Emily Kauffman, executive director of California Wine Festival. “From shifting consumer preferences and rising production costs to growing competition from alternative beverages, it’s a challenging moment, but also one that’s driving real innovation and creativity across the industry.”
Pasquale echoed that sentiment.
“It’s a massive pendulum swing,” he said. “It’s an interesting time because alcohol had a boom period. From 2010 to 2021, we had this huge artisan craft movement, but it got overwhelming for consumers. One of the other things that kind of toppled it a little bit for younger people is the natural wine movement got a little ahead of itself.”
Natural wine was another setback.
When sulfur is omitted from the fermentation process, flavor outcomes become unpredictable. The vinegary or funky notes are off-putting for first-timers.
That’s when education is crucial, but not in a snooty way. At Selanne, which earned Wine Spectator’s Best of Award honors for 10 consecutive years, education is part of the experience. Americans are searching for ways to enjoy life in real time. Tastings and wine dinners can fit the bill.
Boom and bust
“The wine industry has this cycle. It’s a 10- to 15-year cycle of boom and bust,” explains master winemaker Jon McPherson of South Coast Winery Resort & Spa and Carter Estate Winery & Resort in Temecula. “Everybody recognizes the industry is not in boomtime where we’re growing.”
His Southern drawl hints at a childhood working Texas vineyards with his dad. He washed barrels and drove tractors. By the 1980s, McPherson moved to California, where he worked at a Rancho Cucamonga vineyard, a year before the vines were ripped out. For generations, it was a massive agricultural region but then developments transformed the area into warehouses and homes.
There’s no getting around the fact that times are tough. In April 2026, wildfire destroyed 33 acres at nearby Callaway Vineyard & Winery. A couple of years before, The Press-Enterprise reported that more boomers in Temecula were looking to sell.
But McPherson still sees opportunity.
“There’s a need for replacing old equipment in the vineyard,” he said. “We’re looking at what we can do to improve. What can we do to make it all work better? The big thing is: No one in this valley is throwing in the towel and giving up.”
There are glimmers of hope. Winemakers, chefs like Silverton, resorts, festivals and private clubs believe in California wine. The state’s wine isn’t likely to disappear. But it also won’t stay the same.
Winemaking: Past, present, future
The Golden State would look completely different without wine country. California wine originated with Spanish missionaries. It was cultivated by indigenous people and imbibed by men of the cloth. America’s history, its pain and privilege, are fermented in this drink. We love driving through wine country, but what happens when the vines are gone? Who will we become?
“Wine is art. It’s science, it’s geology, it’s geography. It is philosophy. It’s a look at the past, present and future,” said Jessica “Jess” Gasca, winemaker at Story of the Soil in Los Olivos. “It complements so many things, not just food, but life.”
It’s no exaggeration to say Gasca views the world through this beverage.
“The history of wine, it’s part of our human existence and experience,” she said.
Gasca’s connection to wine solidified one dusty sunrise in 2009. During her first harvest, sorting grapes, shoulder to shoulder with farmworkers who immigrated from Mexico and South America, a cachophony of sounds mixed with the hum of diesel engines and tires dragging up dirt. Bugs got caught in her bra. Her hands were freezing, fingers stiff from sorting cold fruit. When the sun rose, Gasca found her calling.
Winemakers and farmers are stewards of the land. Fermenting fruit for alcohol is an ancient practice dating back to 6000 BC. (Fermentation, the biological foundation of winemaking, dates back even further to Neolithic China in 7000 BC.) From Baja to Sonoma, California vintners carry on this tradition: tending the soil to grow fruit for wine. Their labor is funneled into beverages we imbibe. How they care for the land determines how future generations experience it — for better or worse.
“I make wines with the intention to highlight the place,” said Gasca. “I’m trying to show where the grapes are grown.”
Gasca works with 14 Santa Barbara vineyards that are organic, biodynamic and sustainable. She bottles 3,000 cases a year, specializing in single vineyard, single variety wines.
“People learn about the terroir in Santa Barbara County. It’s very unique. Richard Sanford planted the first Pinot Noir grapes in the 1970s, so the region is very young, in winegrowing terms,” she said.
For Gasca, Novak, and other winemakers, the movement toward regenerative organic farming is a bright spot.
Forever young: Organic regenerative wine
California leads in the regenerative organic movement. Fewer than 50 wineries in the world are regenerative organic certified; 28 are in California.
“Out of respect for the land that we farm, and we’re concerned about the planet on a greater level,” Novak said of Spottswoode’s farming methods.
If you ask Jason Sorge, creative director of beverage at Fairmont Grand Del Mar, California’s global prominence began with Miljenko “Mike” Grgich.
In 1976, he astounded the world by producing a Chardonnay at Chateau Montelena Winery in Napa that beat out the best French Burgundies.
“It’s one of the great narratives in American wine,” says Sorge.
Grgich Hills Estate opened in 1977. It continues to innovate. Starting with its soil.
The family owned and operated five vineyards that were certified organic in 2006. Grgich Hills elevated its standing by obtaining regenerative organic certification in 2022.
Organic regenerative farming disturbs the soil as little as possible. Soil health is monitored. Fields are mowed by sheep and goats. Cover crops are planted to thwart invasive weeds. Instead of spraying harsh chemicals, hawks and owls hunt for vermin. The vineyard works with nature. Social fairness is practiced on the farms and workers who harvest the fruit are compensated for their labor.
Head winemaker Ivo Jeramaz led this movement. He’s Mike Grgich’s nephew.
His parents were Croatian grape farmers.
“Ivo came to the U.S. in 1986 to pursue engineering. Then he started to work for Mike washing barrels,” said Sorge, who paired the story with Grgich Hills Estate Fumè Blanc 2023 and spring peas topped with caviar. The briny flavor played off the wine’s acidity; hints of honeysuckle and key limes.
“Ivo’s been a part of Grgich Hills for more than 40 years.” He’s head winemaker and VP of vineyards and production. “One of the biggest things that Ivo’s been a champion of is regenerative organic farming.”
McPherson’s Temecula wineries also earned their sustainability certifications in 2018. He works alongside his partner, winemaker Javier Flores. Both men grew up working for their fathers. They share decades of experience. Flores and McPherson walk the vineyards, tend the fields, and nurture the vines. With their team, they process grapes.
The idea aligns with younger consumers.
“They’re more attuned to, ‘Is this organic? How’s it grown? Is it sustainable?’ They like to know where it’s coming from,” said McPherson. “They think about what they put in their bodies more than their parents did. Gen Xers and boomers, we grew up in different times, some of this wasn’t even available.”
Access to information is the difference.
“The more you know, the more you say, ‘I would like to have organic grapes in my wines.’ For us, that’s a positive shift. We need to be more sustainable,” he said. “This is something that the younger consumer is looking for. Our industry is embracing that more than ever.”
A taste of the Golden State
“When a dish and a bottle share the same geography, the conversation writes itself,” says Jeff Catubig, food and beverage director at Watertable at Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa. “Sea bream with Meyer lemon butter, paired with a DuMol ‘Chloe’ from Russian River Valley, are products of the same terroir, shaped by fog, proximity to the Pacific, and the particular character of the California coast. When you frame it that way, it becomes a place-based story. The wine and the dish aren’t just complementary. They’re connected.”
Zach Scherer, chef at Darkroom and Chrysalis in Santa Ana, echoed that sentiment. His vegan dark chocolate crémeux made with Wiser Farms sunchokes paired with Jess Gasca’s pinot noir.
“With these heavy, decadent, earthy flavors, the standout notes will be ripe red fruits from Jess’ wine,” he said.
Scherer, who is eight years sober, understands the nuances that wine brings to the meal. Yes, there are a multitude of reasons why people aren’t drinking — the combination of health and wellness, alternative medications, and seeking out something different from their parents. But, when wine is gone, will we forget our history?
Wine bricks
While the truth is that this is a challenging time, it is also true that obstacles drive innovation.
At the Ontario Museum of History & Art, a remnant of Prohibition called the Vino Sano Brick dates back to the 1930s. This artifact of Californian ingenuity was created when the Volstead Act federally outlawed alcohol. Golden State farmers packaged their fruit into dehydrated rectangles that resembled bars of soap. Warning labels cleverly doubled as instructions to make wine. The innovation helped California’s wine industry survive — and even thrive — during this dry period in American history.
“Wineries that continue to show up, whether through events and experience-driven activations, are the ones that stand out and succeed,” said Kauffman. “Even the most established and iconic brands need to reintroduce themselves to younger consumers in fresh and engaging ways.”
Private clubs, which are de rigueur in elite circles, are another entry point. Park Club California, a distinguished members-only venue in Costa Mesa, hosts monthly dinners designed for enophiles. Daniel Hohng creates one-night-only menus highlighting 2005 Opus One Cabernets (a single bottle is $500 to $1,000), microboutique Napa winery, Argot and California’s female winemakers.
“It comes down to relationships,” said Tim Vels, manager at The Park Club. “If our members are traveling to Napa and they’d like to visit some farms, we have those relationships. Recently, we helped a couple organize a tasting at Silver Oak.”
California resorts simultaneously leaned into partnerships with winemakers. In 2021, Montage Healdsburg opened where three major wine-producing regions converge. Before construction, Jesse Katz of Aperture Cellars toured the land encompassing Alexander, Dry Creek and the Russian River valleys.
“We brought Jesse Katz on to evaluate our 258-acre property and identify the best locations for vineyards,” said Steven Janicek, general manager of Montage Healdsburg. Fifteen-and-a-half acres were planted with the intent to bottle the resort’s own wines. Katz, who was named Wine Enthusiast’s Winemaker of the Year, released Montage’s first vintage, Surveyor, and the more exclusive estate wines, which are poured at the resort.
Will less mean more?
“Vineyards are scaling back,” said Erica Williams, beverage manager at Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes. The area boasts its own AVA-designation. “Being more mindful about what our land tells us. Let’s spend more time being better to ourselves. Then putting that energy back into the ground, into the vines.”
Chefs echoed that idea: it begins with us, the consumer.
“There’s a larger conversation,” said Scherer. “People romancize locality. As we move more digital, as the world gets more impersonal, how do we keep the personal relationships with people that make our wine, make our food, run our restaurants? Let’s put them on a pedestal because we want them to keep doing it.”
History is pebbled with periods of boom and decline. Nancy Silverton’s magic wand can’t fix it all. However, Californians are dedicated to the last drop.
“We’re talking about being natural and holistic,” said Williams. “These are grapes. They grow in the ground. It’ll take time, but we’ll see that boom again.”
Lindy Novak doesn’t have children to carry on at Spottswoode, but her siblings do. Family-owned wineries, “we’re becoming a bit of a rarity,” she said. “If the kids don’t want to carry it on, then what do you do? You end up selling. But, it would be nice to hang onto this for the long term.”
Dining and Cooking