California Skull Wine

For many years, all Patrick Cappiello dreamed of was owning his own restaurant in New York. A long time later, with 30 years of experience in the restaurant industry and career as a sommelier giving him access to four of the world's greatest wine cellars, Patrick had been named ‘Sommelier of the Year 2014’ by Food & Wine Magazine and ‘Sommelier of the Year 2015’ by Eater National and was indeed the proud owner of a successful New York establishment. However… the dream had evolved, and he was compelled to move to California chasing the possibility of actually creating wine.

In 2018, Patrick teamed up with longtime friend Pax Mahle, proprietor of Pax Wine (one of the leaders of California’s third wave of wineries). Together they craft beautiful, un-manipulated, terroir-driven wines from organic, family-run vineyards across California’s North Coast. Patrick's philosophy is to showcase undervalued grapes to make hand-crafted wines in the spirit of old California. With this idea in mind he keeps the winemaking simple. Spontaneous fermentations take place with whole cluster grapes in stainless steel and concrete, and ageing takes place in neutral oak barrels. The goal is to make moderate alcohol, higher acid, fresh wines, naturally. We’re excited to bring these pure, balanced, fruit focused wines to Australia.