Rosalind Reynolds: Emme Wines

Graton Rancheria land - Sebastopol, California

www.emmewines.com, @rosalindreynolds

Rosalind Reynolds makes wine in Sonoma County, CA, under her label Emme, named for her maternal grandmother.  She focuses on old school California varieties like Carignan, Colombard, Zinfandel and Merlot - grapes that thrive in the heat of California and produce bright, fruit-forward wines with a strong acidic and tannic backbone.  Most of her fruit is farmed by the knowledgeable and hardworking folks at Ricetti Ranch in Mendocino, Nakai Vineyard in Sonoma and Shake Ridge Ranch in Amador.  

Rosalind began her winemaking career the way many young winemakers do, harvest hopping around the world to work for wineries from New Zealand to California to Argentina to France.  She settled in Sonoma County in 2018 to begin her own label, and to work for Pax Wines in Sebastopol.  She is currently the assistant winemaker for Pax and manages his cooperative cellar, where Martha Stoumen, Monte Rio Cellars and RAEN all make their wines. 

Along with managing the Pax cellar and making wine for Emme, Rosalind gets out into the vineyards as much as possible.  She farms a few small plots of Syrah and Pinot Noir, both for Pax and for herself.  The fruit from these vineyards goes into her sparkling grape/apple coferments, which are made in tiny, delicious quantities.

Social Justice and Environmental Restoration Statement
I feel I have the most impact in the wine industry in my role as the assistant winemaker at Pax, where one of my responsibilities is hiring a team of cellar hands each harvest to help make wines for our entire facility (which is Pax, as well as Martha Stoumen, Monte Rio Cellars, RAEN Wines and Emme). I am the only person who interviews for and assembles our facility team, which means I have the ability to hire diversity into our cellar space. I try to use this responsibility to support marginalized groups, and to give people who might not otherwise have the opportunity a space to learn about winemaking.

In addition to my hiring role at Pax, I try to positively impact the wine industry by donating 5% from each of my online releases. I focus these donations on organizations that support marginalized groups, both within as well as outside of our industry.