Susan A. Mahler

The Path

A commercial pilot’s discipline sits close to the surface of Susan A. Mahler’s early career in California: steady hand, clear judgment, and comfort with changing conditions. That same rigor carried into her work as a research associate at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab before she co-founded Four Vines Winery in Berkeley, where she remained until 2002. Since 2010, she has been proprietor and winemaker of Cypher Winery & Tasting Lounge, applying the same logic and adaptability across a long enough span to make them part of the method.

The Work Today

At Cypher Winery in Paso Robles, Susan A. Mahler makes wines that are built to be fruit-forward while still expressing varietal character and the terroir from which they are grown. The aim is not just weight or immediacy; it is to keep grape and ground legible in the same glass, with enough shape left intact for the wine to read clearly. The process is framed by a practical view of craft rather than a split between instinct and technique. "Excellent wines take a combination of art, science, planning and reacting." In that line, the scientist, the pilot, and the winemaker overlap: preparation matters, and so does the ability to respond to what the fruit, the season, and the cellar are presenting.

Signature

Susan's signature wines include 2003 Dirt Candy, 2017 Ethereal, 2016 Fifth Element, 2009 Cypher "Heretic" Paso Robles Petite Sirah, and 2012 Cypher "ZinBitch" Paso Robles Zinfandel.

In Their Words “As a scientist, I value the idea of simple elegance, the notion of solving a problem with the fewest most effective steps.”

Acclaim

Those bottles point to a winemaker working with varietal identity, Paso Robles ripeness and structure, and labels that announce themselves before the first sip. The thread through the range is consistent: fruit-forward wines made to carry both grape character and the ground that grew them, with precision and elegance kept in view.