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Master Class With Nathan Roberts Of Arnot-Roberts

Cost: $30

California wine has always moved in cycles. One generation pushes toward ripeness, power and polish; the next searches for restraint, energy and transparency. Few modern winemakers have shaped that pendulum swing more profoundly — or more quietly — than Nathan Roberts of Arnot-Roberts.

Join us for a rare Master Class exploring the wines, philosophy and restless curiosity of one of California’s most influential producers. Alongside Duncan Arnot Meyers, Nathan Roberts helped redefine what California wine could taste like in the 21st century: lower alcohol without thinness, ripeness without heaviness, and site expression without makeup. Long before “freshness” became a marketing term, Arnot-Roberts was already pursuing it with near-obsessive precision.

What makes Nathan Roberts fascinating is not simply that he makes beautiful wines — though he certainly does — but that his career exists in constant tension between tradition and rebellion. His work draws deeply from the old world: the lifted perfume of Northern Rhône Syrah, the savory delicacy of alpine reds, the tensile acidity of classic European whites. Yet the wines are unmistakably Californian, born from rugged vineyards scattered across volcanic slopes, wind-whipped coastlines, forgotten heritage sites and improbable corners of the state most producers once ignored.

At a time when Napa Cabernet often chased density and opulence, Roberts was searching for abandoned vineyards planted to obscure varieties. He championed Syrah from Sonoma Coast before it was fashionable, elevated varieties like Trousseau, Ribolla Gialla and Gamay from curiosities into serious conversation pieces, and helped ignite broader interest in vineyard transparency across California. In many ways, Arnot-Roberts became part of a larger movement that challenged the prevailing assumptions of American fine wine — questioning not just how wines should taste, but what stories California vineyards were capable of telling.

And yet the complexity of Nathan Roberts’ career lies in the fact that he is neither traditionalist nor iconoclast in any simplistic sense. These are not fragile “natural wines” made carelessly in pursuit of ideology, nor are they heavily manipulated luxury wines engineered for scores. The tension — and brilliance — comes from balance. Roberts combines intellectual rigor with intuition, precision with wildness, reverence for history with a willingness to break every regional expectation if the vineyard demands it.

That philosophy makes Arnot-Roberts one of the most compelling wineries in America to taste in a seminar setting because the wines ask questions as much as they provide pleasure. What does California terroir actually taste like when stripped of excess oak and over-ripeness? What happens when alcohol is restrained but phenolic ripeness remains? Can forgotten grape varieties express California more honestly than the international classics? Why do some vineyards feel almost Burgundian in texture while others channel the stern minerality of the Northern Rhône?

This master class will explore not only the wines themselves, but the broader transformation of modern California wine that Nathan Roberts helped inspire. Expect a lineup that moves from crystalline whites to hauntingly aromatic reds, each wine revealing a different facet of site, climate and intent. Along the way, Nathan will describe the vineyards, farming choices, winemaking decisions and philosophical tensions that have made Arnot-Roberts one of the defining names of contemporary American wine.

Because ultimately, Nathan Roberts’s career is about more than balance in the glass. It is about balance between innovation and humility, between California sunshine and Old World structure, between intellect and pleasure. Few producers today navigate those contradictions with such clarity — or produce wines so compelling because of them.

Wines to be tasted: TBA

All prices listed reflect regular retail. Significant discounts will be offered on all wines tasted. Due to the highly allocated nature of some selections, wines may change without notice.

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