The Impromptu Winemaker Network at Punchdown Cellars

by Holly Madrigal

Making wine is expensive and complex. Punchdown Cellars in Santa Rosa provides equipment and infrastructure that would otherwise be out of reach for a small winery. By using their space, winemakers don’t need to manage and maintain their own production facility, and can instead focus their talents on making excellent wine. Connecting with other small-scale winemakers in the process is a bonus.

Shalini Sekhar of Ottavino Wines is one of those winemakers. She’s a former music educator specializing in the piccolo, an Indian American woman who has always forged her own path. In 2005, she and her husband decided to move to California. “When we moved here I got to explore my love of wine,” Shalini shares. “I’m a lifelong student and I began working in a tasting room to continue to learn more about California wine.” At first the job served to satisfy a personal interest, but before long that interest ripened into genuine career ambitions. “I took a complete left turn and decided to study for real. I left my previous job and began interning with winemakers.”

Shalini continues, “When I took the blazer and the heels off from the front of the house a whole new world opened up. I worked a harvest and gave it a go. I really loved it.”

Shalini returned to school to study winemaking. After several internships, she took on the role of production manager at Copain Custom Crush, the precursor to Punchdown. “Working at custom crush facilities is about helping small wineries achieve their vision. That was a rapid education, dealing full time with other people’s logistics, schedules, and needs. It was a pretty intense job,” she remembers. While there she had her first child.

Shalini’s next chapter included working with small brands like Waits-Mast Family Cellars and Furthermore Pinot Noir. “I started making wine for a family in the Santa Cruz mountains,” Shalini continues. “Neely is a small estate winery, so I was the only one in the cellar for years before we finally hired an assistant winemaker. I had my second child while working there. And then navigating a global pandemic with two small children focused my interest. I had told myself I would never have my own label, but in that time I decided to do it anyway.”

Shalini bottled her first Grüner in 2020, a wine made with a white grape called Grüner Veltliner that is mostly grown in Austria. “I knew If I was going to make my own wine it would have to be different. My husband and I have a number of friends in Austria and I really enjoy it. So Grüner was the first wine I created for my own label.”

“My second wine is St. Laurent, which I describe as if a Pinot and Syrah had a baby. It has flavors of Morello cherry, that intense red fruit. You think it is going to be all fruit and tannins but it is actually quite balanced.”

“As a South Asian woman, people ask me what wine pairs well with Indian food. High alcohol wines can be abrasive when matched against the spiced flavors, but St. Laurent is softer with the intensity and so it does not overpower. It is a delicious complement.”

Creating her wines at Punchdown Cellars brought Shalini into contact with fellow winemaker Ashley Holland. The two quickly became friends, geeking out on gear and celebrating each other’s success. Ashley is the majority owner of Read Holland wines and the force behind three other winemaking projects: Summer Dreams, Brashley Vineyards, and Adonna Wines. She’s known for her intuitive style and deep dedication to craft—always experimenting, always learning.

Ashley originally wanted to be an equine vet. An accomplished equestrian athlete, she chose that career to continue working with animals, but after a couple of years in the program, she realized it wasn’t the right fit.

Luckily she had taken a winemaking class or two in college, and the creativity it required appealed to her. She had an opportunity to travel to New Zealand, working with Two Rivers in the Marlborough region. (She used part of her moving bonus to buy a rescue horse who remains with her to this day.)

“Dave Clouston [the Two Rivers winemaker] gave me an enormous amount of responsibility in the winery,” Ashley recalls. “He allowed me to figure many things out on my own. Together we tripled production. He used to say ‘wine knows when it’s loved.’”

During the 5 years she was there, Ashley developed an expertise in Sauvignon Blanc. She eventually returned to the U.S. to work with winemaking luminaries including Ryan Prichard and Bob Cabral—respected winemakers known for shaping Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Ashley’s winemaking style continues to evolve. She is chasing the perfect Sauvignon Blanc and also continuing to explore how to craft singular Anderson Valley Pinot Noirs. Currently she has three clients, whom she sees as friends and collaborators.

One of those is Donna Kato, and together they are working on a wine called Adonna. She explains the joy of using high-quality fruit by working closely with the farmer, allowing her to create the wines she wants. “With a collaboration like this one, you don’t need to use any winemaking tricks. The fruit speaks for itself.”

Ashley is now the majority owner of Read Holland, overseeing and crafting all the wine they produce. “Read Holland allows me to have my own creative expression of winemaking. I focus on old vines where the growers live on their properties. The vines are an extension of their backyard. I want to preserve pieces of California viticultural history.”

While there are more and more female winemakers coming up in the industry, female principals—those who own labels and run companies—are still rare. “We’re not the only ones,” Ashley says. “Erica Stancliff is here, and Diana Ferro—the assistant winemaker for Enfield Wine Co—works out of Punchdown.” An informal professional support network has evolved, providing a balanced mix of independence and peer input. “We all have different styles, make different kinds of wine. But you value their opinion and value their palates. We have each other’s backs.”

Shalini agrees. “Before working in this cellar I was always the only one: first-gen winemaker, Indian-American winemaker, female winemaker. But here I’m not the only one. We are a collection of individuals who have formed a community working together.”

Ottavino and Read Holland wines are available for purchase and taste at Disco Ranch.

Disco Ranch
14025 Highway 128, Boonville
(707) 901-5002 | discoranch.com

ottavinowines.com
readhollandwines.com

Shalini photos courtesy of Shalini Sekhar. Ashley photos and Read Holland wines photo by Mary Zeeble and courtesy of Ashley Holland.