Chelsea Barrett

The Training Calistoga is the first site of training here: the pace of vineyard and winery work, learned young, before titles ever entered the picture. Chelsea Barrett came up inside that environment, working in vineyards and wineries from a young age and absorbing the repetition that defines wine work in Napa Valley. That early labor set the order of her career. Rows and cellar came before leadership; proximity to the work came before the role name. Barrett’s path reads as accumulation: time in Napa Valley, then assistant and co-winemaking posts, then the director’s seat at Materra. In 2013, Barrett was assistant winemaker at Joel Gott Wines. By 2017, she was co-winemaker at Amuse Bouche. That same year, she was also co-winemaker at Au Sommet. Later, she worked as winemaker for Aviatrix in Napa Valley. Each title marks a step further into responsibility, but all of them remain rooted in the same practical, hands-on trade.

The Lineage Lineage here is carried by place and sequence rather than by a single named mentor. Calistoga is the starting ground; Joel Gott Wines anchors the 2013 assistant-winemaker role; Amuse Bouche and Au Sommet define the 2017 co-winemaker period; Aviatrix adds another Napa Valley winemaking post. At Materra, Cunat Family Vineyards, that progression became a leadership role. In 2019, Barrett was winemaker there, and from 2019 to present she has served as Director of Winemaking. The title fits a career built through successive cellar and winemaking responsibilities in the same region where it began. The through-line is practical: work first, then trust, then oversight. Vineyard and winery labor from a young age becomes formal cellar work; assistant work becomes co-winemaking; co-winemaking becomes direction of a Napa program.

The Table For a reader assessing the work in the glass, the useful fact is the geography of the career. Barrett’s winemaking is tied to Napa as lived ground, not as a marketing claim. Materra, Cunat Family Vineyards is the current address of that work. Since 2019, she has held the director’s role there, bringing a Calistoga-based background into a Napa position centered on winemaking leadership. The bottle sits at the end of that sequence: early vineyard and winery labor, named Napa Valley roles, and now a director title at a family vineyard in Napa.

Signature

Chelsea's signature wines include Yoshino Rosé, Right Bank Merlot, Materra Chardonnay 2021, Aviatrix, and Grenache.