California’s Wine Whisperer Turns the Page

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

California’s Wine Whisperer Turns the Page

Matt Taylor makes superb California pinot noirs, chardonnays, cabernet sauvignons and chenin blancs. He’s now navigating a life of winemaking beyond the vineyard that defined his style.

Matt Taylor at the Mammoth Rock Vineyard.

Credit...

Rachel Bujalski for The New York Times

Skip to content

Skip to site index

California’s Wine Whisperer Turns the Page

Matt Taylor makes superb California pinot noirs, chardonnays, cabernet sauvignons and chenin blancs. He’s now navigating a life of winemaking beyond the vineyard that defined his style.

Matt Taylor at the Mammoth Rock Vineyard.

Credit...

Rachel Bujalski for The New York Times

Supported by

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Listen

· 11:44 min

Share full article

By

Eric Asimov

Reporting from Occidental and St. Helena, Calif.

April 30, 2026

The chardonnays were gorgeous, textured, distinctive and stony; the pinot noirs, savory and spicy, complex and structured.

It’s not unusual on the West Sonoma Coast to find a vigneron who excels with both these varieties. But in this case, those were just the beginning of the fascinating array of wines.

Matt Taylor also makes stunning cabernet sauvignons and merlots from the Napa Valley. He makes rich, deep sauvignon blancs that taste like no others from California, and he’s making superb wines with chenin blanc and gamay, grapes that have often made good wines in California, but seldom great, and pineau d’Aunis, a grape that is virtually unknown there.

In an earlier era, big California producers routinely grew many different varieties, often blending them together or marketing the wines under proprietary names. But in today’s far more specialized world, where growers tend to concentrate their efforts on small sets of grapes that are matched to specific vineyard conditions, excelling with such a variety of grapes in such different terroirs is exceedingly rare.

Mr. Taylor has worked for other people, overseeing farming and making wine. But a decade ago, he started to make small amounts of wine released under his own label,

Matt Taylor Wines

. They were so exquisite that people began to pay attention.

I know I did. The more I learned, and the more of his wines I drank, the more impressed I was with their sincerity and distinctiveness. This was especially true with his pinot noirs and chardonnays.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and

log into

your Times account, or

subscribe

for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?

Log in

.

Want all of The Times?

Subscribe

.

Related Content

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT