Winemaker
Nova Perrill
- Discipline
- Winemaker
- Based in
- Healdsburg, California, United States
i. Biography
Director of Winemaking at Mendocino Wine Company in Ukiah is the broadest current frame for Nova Perrill’s work, but the title reads as accumulation rather than arrival. The record here is built from place, practical repetition, and a palate trained to register detail. The line runs from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, through assistant winemaking and viticultural work, and into leadership with Petite Sirah as the clearest throughline.
The Path
At California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Nova Perrill built the base of the career in a program that asks for rigor and attention to land. That foundation in ecology gave the work its shape early: technical, site-aware, and responsive to what each vineyard can actually deliver. At Mount Eden Vineyards, Perrill worked as assistant winemaker and viticulturist, a role that required fluency in both vineyard and cellar. The value of that kind of position is practical: it teaches how growing decisions and winery decisions meet, and how fruit does not arrive at the cellar separate from the season that produced it. The progression is straightforward: fundamentals first, then greater responsibility, with the work holding together through consistency rather than display.
The Work Today
At Mendocino Wine Company in Ukiah, Perrill serves as Director of Winemaking. It is a company-level role, which means the work is not limited to one corner of the cellar. The job asks for oversight, judgment, and the ability to keep the larger picture in view without losing the particulars that determine whether a wine feels finished. Across those roles, Petite Sirah is the clearest signature. Rather than a general claim about style, the specific fact is a working specialty: Petite Sirah, approached by a winemaker whose training began in ecology and moved through assistant winemaking before director-level responsibility. It is the sort of variety that rewards a steady hand and attention to structure and balance.
Signature
Nova Perrill works with Petite Sirah.
Acclaim
The most prominent recognition in Perrill’s career is the Director of Winemaking title at Mendocino Wine Company in Ukiah. It is the senior role and the one that most directly defines the scope of the work. The 2015 appointment as Director of Winemaking at Foppiano Vineyards adds a dated marker to the record, tying the Healdsburg role to earlier Sonoma County work at Dry Creek Vineyard. Taken together, these appointments show a career moving by increments of responsibility rather than by single breakaway moments. What carries is progression: Cal Poly training in ecology, assistant winemaking at Dry Creek Vineyard, and director-level responsibility at Foppiano Vineyards and Mendocino Wine Company.
Profile updated August 2026
FAQ
Asked of Nova
What is Nova Perrill's current role?
As of 2026, Nova Perrill is Director of Winemaking.
Where did Nova Perrill train or study?
Nova Perrill trained at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
What is Nova Perrill known for?
Petite Sirah.
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