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50 WINES&VINES August 2016 M aterra | Cunat Family Vineyards' goal from the start was to design, build and equip a new winery for high-quality wine production and efficient operation. Based on the quality of the young wines produced from the first crush at their new Napa Valley winery in 2015, Materra's owners and wine- makers have already seen the rewards of their efforts. Wines have been produced under the Materra label since 2007 using estate fruit from the Cunat Family's Oak Knoll vineyard and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from other Napa Valley locations. Past vintages were produced at multiple custom-crush locations. Materra owner Brian Cunat said, "I always felt our wines were good, but based on our evaluations of the 2015 wines for blending, it's like we've taken two steps up." He said the 2015 white wines were "already incredible," and the red wines were showing promise earlier in the aging process than wines from previous vintages. He observed, "We're working with some of the same fruit sources we've had in the past, but we now have much tighter control over pro- duction with our own facility." Wines from past vintages have received critical scores in the 90s, but Cunat believes more of the label's wines will score in the upper 90s with all production now under one roof. Building the dream Brian Cunat grew up working on a Midwestern farm that produced corn, soybeans and grain. He left the farm to go to college at age 18. "I always wanted to be a farmer, but I also wanted to own the land I farmed, and I knew I had to first have a job to earn money to buy property," Cunat said. He built a successful real estate development and Materra | Cunat Family Vineyards Bar for quality raised with first crush in new Oak Knoll District winery By Ted Rieger TED RIEGER TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT The new winery facility is visible from Materra's main entrance.