Reservation
Contact
Audrie Walsh
Winemaker | V. Sattui Winery
Can you share your journey into winemaking? I came into winemaking by chance. I grew up in the middle of the Mojave Desert, raised by a single mother who is an artist, in a town full of engineers – so art and science have always been passions of mine. After finishing my degree in Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, I decided to take a break before pursuing a degree in law.
I found a job at a winery, a career path I only knew from a distance, having heard stories of my great-grandfather’s vineyard in Chile. I took a chance and fell in love with the intersection of art and science: the concrete decisions and the more ambiguous magic of what happens in the glass. During that first harvest, I quickly realized I needed to further my education in winemaking, so I traveled to Australia and earned a master’s degree in Oenology (that’s how we spell Enology in the land down under) at the University of Adelaide, South Australia.
When I returned to the U.S., I worked at custom-crush facilities in San Francisco, making wine on Treasure Island and in the Dogpatch. From my first harvest, Napa was in my sights. I dreamed of the challenge of working with the best fruit in the country and engaging with some of the most discerning palates. I made the rounds around the valley, working harvests at Robert Mondavi, Louis Martini, Gundlach Bundschu, and spending four years at Beringer Vineyards.
I thrive under pressure, and over time I came to understand that I needed complexity in my work, but I also knew I didn’t want to work within a large corporate structure. That led me to V. Sattui: a family-owned winery with an incredible team and a customer base that supports experimentation and the pursuit of making the best wine Napa Valley has to offer.
How would you describe your winemaking philosophy, and how does it show up in the vineyard and in the glass? Balance is always top of mind for me. From vine balance to the final blend, no single element should overpower the others. Every “voice” deserves to be heard. From my early days working with half ton lots of Pinot Noir in San Francisco, I’ve taken minimal intervention winemaking very seriously. I intervene only when that sense of balance is at risk.
I want the vines, the terroir, and the vintage to speak for themselves. My role is to create a clear, careful path for that expression, without losing any of the wine’s more delicate aromas or flavors on its journey to the bottle.
Tell us about the winery and your signature varieties. V. Sattui Winery is like no other, because we have the ability to make such a vast portfolio of wines every year. Since we sell direct to consumer, we have the ability to release new wines quickly and talk directly with customers about our releases. That’s an exciting place to be as a winemaker, because that means we can experiment with lesser-known varietals, new vineyards and winemaking techniques in addition to making our line-up of wines from growers we’ve been working with for many years.
That being said, we make a wine for anyone that walks through the doors of V. Sattui, and every wine is made from top-tier grapes with balance as our style. You could say Zinfandel is our signature variety because of our stewardship and dedication to keeping old vine Zinfandel planted and celebrated, but our portfolio ranges from aromatic varietals such as Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, to Pinot Noir and GSM and a selection of Cabernet Sauvignon and single varietal Bordeaux blenders. A winemaker’s dream of a portfolio, but also you need to love a challenge to work at a place like this.
California is incredibly diverse in terms of terroir. How does the specific region you work in shape your fruit, your blends and your overall style? What makes Napa Valley unique is its diversity of soils and climate. Warm days driven by California sunshine, followed by cool evenings influenced by the nearby San Pablo Bay, create ideal conditions for ripening and flavor development. The Mayacamas Mountains to the west and the Vaca Range to the east contribute to a wide range of elevations and distinct microclimates. It is the role of both viticulturists and winemakers to work within these microclimates, managing vineyards and fermentations on an individual basis. Our style is less about imposing influence and more about making thoughtful choices that preserve the purity of the fruit and its vineyard origin.
What does leadership look like to you as a female winemaker in today’s industry, and how are you helping open doors for the next generation? I’ve worked with phenomenal female winemakers. I consider Margo Van Staaveren to be one of my most influential mentors, and my time working with Genvieve Janssens was a great start to my journey into what it means to work in the Napa Valley with a pursuit toward perfection. It’s funny because in settings where wineries are female led it’s easy to forget that it hasn’t always been the case to find women in these leadership roles. Creating space for women is about opening the door for creativity and not creating unnecessary barriers. I think everyone should be treated the same regardless of gender, and I know sometimes, through experience, women have to work a little harder just to have our voices heard.
My leadership philosophy is to be an open book and to keep humor and humility alive in my everyday. I believe teams do their best work when people feel informed, respected, and comfortable asking questions or challenging ideas. By staying transparent and not taking myself too seriously, I aim to create an environment where collaboration, trust, and steady growth can thrive.
If your winemaking style were a song, what song would it be and why? This is a tough question, being a songwriter myself. “Opus 23” by Dustin O’Halloran is my choice – a song that evokes memories, the highs and lows of life, and finishes so beautifully it makes you want to replay again and again.
When someone opens a bottle of your wine at a dinner party, what do you hope they feel or experience in that first sip? Winemaking is an art, and to me, art is how we communicate the human experience when words alone are not enough. Art brings people together through shared experience, and for me, that first sip is about the “aha” moment. I want to share that sense of wonder, like seeing a painting where you can almost feel the drape of the fabric or hearing a song that instantly takes you back to riding down the highway in your mom’s pickup truck. Those moments in the wine world can be rare, but you never forget them. When someone takes that first sip, I hope it evokes memories that words alone could never reach.