Winemaker
Cary Gott
- Discipline
- Winemaker
- Based in
- Rutherford, California, United States
i. Biography
The Path
Cellarman work is where California wine often shows its first discipline, and Cary Gott entered it in 1970 at Sterling Vineyards in Napa Valley. From that starting point, the work moved upward through production and management, with Gott overseeing wine production for Sterling Vineyards, Mumm Napa Valley and The Monterey Vineyard at Seagram Classics Wine Company. The progression is a straightforward one in this trade: cellar discipline first, then the broader task of coordinating production decisions across brands and properties. Founding, ownership and winemaking came together at Monteviña Wines in Amador County, where Cary Gott became founder, owner, winemaker and president. That role widened the scope again, requiring both cellar judgment and business oversight. He later served as president at Corbett Canyon Vineyards in San Luis Obispo County, extending his work into another California wine region and adding another layer of operational responsibility to a career built across multiple counties and functions. Today’s advisory roles rest on the same base of production experience. Cary Gott is founder and owner of Vineyard & Winery Estates, consultant of Davis Estates, consultant of Calla Lily Estate, and consultant of Lawer Estates. The arc from cellarman to owner and consultant is not ornamental; it is what happens when years in the machinery of wine build a usable store of judgment.
The Work Today
Vineyard & Winery Estates in Napa Valley is the present center of Cary Gott’s work. The role of founder and owner reflects a career spent inside winery operations rather than outside them, with experience drawn from cellar work, production oversight and estate leadership. In trade terms, it is a position that depends on knowing how the parts of a winery fit together. Consulting at Davis Estates and Calla Lily Estate continues that pattern in a different register. Those assignments sit downstream of decades spent in senior management and winemaking, where practical decisions about production and estate direction carry the weight of prior experience. Cary Gott’s current work reads less like a change in course than a transfer of accumulated knowledge into advisory form. Created for Premiere Napa Valley, that custom blend was made by selecting the best example of the vintage and adding a small amount of Petit Verdot and Merlot. The method is direct: start with the strongest expression already in hand, then use measured additions to shape the final wine. It is an approach that values precision, restraint and an understanding of what the base wine can carry.
Signature
Monteviña Wines and Round Pond Estate 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon are the named signatures associated with Cary Gott. The pairing shows two different kinds of work: one tied to Monteviña Wines, where the estate itself was part of the assignment, and one tied to the specific wine Round Pond Estate 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon. Taken together, they point to a career that spans estate identity and individual bottlings without leaving the practical frame of production.
Acclaim
Its role in a new age of Amador County Zinfandel links Cary Gott to a regional shift rather than to a single label alone. The recognition places Monteviña Wines within a broader movement in the county, where the variety took on renewed relevance and the work carried enough weight to register beyond one property. Built as a custom Premiere Napa Valley blend, it shows the same method at work in another setting: identify the strongest expression of a vintage, then adjust with precision. That approach is the clearest measure of the reputation attached to Cary Gott’s name here — not grand claims, but the practical ability to shape wine with structure, balance and purpose.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Cary
What is Cary Gott's current role?
As of 2026, Cary Gott is Founder and Owner.
Where did Cary Gott work before?
Cary Gott's earlier career included Sterling Vineyards, Monteviña Wines, and Corbett Canyon Vineyards.
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