Mark Schabel may be known as the winemaker who brings Stella, his beautiful Black Labrador Retriever, to work with him everyday, but get ready wine world, he is only just beginning to make a name for himself as one of the best winemakers in the business. Mark studied viticulture at UC Davis and, humble as he is, you would never know he has a very impressive background with years of experience making wine in the Napa Region. Mark was head winemaker at Ponte Family Estate Winery in Temecula, California for many years and says he embraces the challenge throughout the process of making wine, learns from it, and always tries to improve the process in order to improve the wine.
When Mark is not making wine, you will find him enjoying one of his other passions- Yoga, cooking, roasting his own coffee, or performing stand-up comedy. And if you have been on the receiving end of one of Mark’s unique gifts of homemade caramels, pomegranate jelly, or roasted coffee, you know his fine-tuned palette and enthusiasm for creating only the best translates into other areas of expertise. If you are fortunate enough to have the pleasure of a personal wine-tasting or tour with Mark, you are in for a real treat! This guy knows what he is doing.
