2006-05-12
Getting to Know Michael Martini Mike Martini learned the subtle arts of winemaking and grape growing first hand as he grew up at his family’s winery in the Napa Valley. When school let out, Mike worked alongside his father and grandfather, and his summer jobs as a teenager included helping with wine blending and tending to the vines at the historic Monte Rosso mountaintop vineyard.
Mike attended the University of California at Davis, one of the world’s pre-eminent institutions for the study of winemaking and grape growing and graduated in 1977 with a degree in fermentation science. Mike returned to the family winery in St. Helena to work with his father, Louis P. Martini, and was given full responsibility as winemaker, carrying family traditions into the third generation.
Under his father’s tutelage, Mike began to develop his own personal style as a winemaker, bringing balance and texture to his Cabernet Sauvignon blends.
“My father’s wines are silk,” Mike says. “Mine are velvet.”
In 1981, Mike traveled through France with legendary California winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff, studying artisan winemaking techniques in Burgundy and Bordeaux. He continues to pursue classic lines in his Cabernet Sauvignon, making age worthy wines with structure, elegance and finesse that express the unique terroir of their vineyards.
When not making wine, Mike enjoys riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle and playing guitar in a winemakers’ rock band named ‘Private Reserve.”
Sample Mike’s wines in the Louis M. Martini Winery tasting room at 254 St. Helena Highway 29 S. in St. Helena, open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call (707) 968-3361.
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