Nova Cadamatre

About Me

I’m originally from Greer, South Carolina, but I moved to New York to pursue Horticulture when what began as a research paper on grapevine diseases at SUNY Morrisville turned into a love of wines and vines.

By the fall of 2003 this passion drove me to work, unpaid, for several wineries in Southeast Pennsylvania. Eventually this led to a part time job as Apprentice Winemaker to John Weygant of Stargazers Vineyard in Coatesville, PA. Working with John helped me learn the basics of traditional winemaking for cool climate varietals and traditional method sparkling wine.

The following year I moved back to the Finger Lakes of New York and began working as the Winemakers Assistant at Thirsty Owl Wine Company in Ovid, NY under the guidance of winemaker, Shawn Kime, who further refined my winemaking and viticultural skills. While in the Finger Lakes I attended Cornell University for Viticulture and Enology. I also became involved with a financial study headed by Constellation Wines U.S., which led to a senior year internship with the company.

As one of the first graduates of Cornell’s Undergraduate Viticulture and Enology program in 2006, my husband, Brian, and I bid farewell to New York and moved to California with Constellation Wines U.S. so I could take a job as an Assistant Winemaker at Mission Bell Winery. After 9 months, I was promoted to Winemaker and put in charge of the Sparkling Wine department which included brands such as Cook’s California Champagne, Le Domaine California Champagne, J. Roget California Champagne, Chase-Limogere, and several United Kingdom import brands including Echo-Falls and Jack Rabbit sparkling wines. I also worked on the Echo-Falls Pinot Grigio and Rose wines. While with Constellation, I developed and produced the Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Brut Sparkling Wine, a Chardonnay based bubbly.

In 2009 I moved to Napa Valley and started working with Ed Killian on Souverain of Alexander Valley as well as becoming the Winemaker for the Central Coast brand, Emma Pearl.

Currently I am a winemaker at Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville, CA . I am a WSET Diploma Graduate and a Master of Wine student.

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For updates about blog posts follow me on Twitter @NovaCadamatre

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About My Tasting Notes

All my notes are in the WSET Diploma style (www.wset.co.uk). They are more loose now that I have the Diploma but they are all patterned generally the same. A typical note pattern follows…

Appearance:

Intensity, Color, Rim Color, (Bubbles or Mousse appearance if sparkling), Other observations

Nose:

Intensity, Aromas (Faults if present)

Palate:

Sweetness, Acid, Alcohol (including fortification level if fortified), Body, Tannins (if present), Oak (if present including type and length of time if tasting blind), Flavors, Mousse texture (if sparkling), Length, Finish, General Comments

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Legal Stuff…

I would assume that to the majority of you this would be obvious however I am now mandated to add a legal disclaimer to my personal blog so here goes. Any and all content on www.novacadamatre.com is my personal view and does not reflect the views of my current or past employers. Hence why it’s called www.NOVACADAMATRE.com. The same goes for any content I post on my Twitter account @NovaCadamatre or my Facebook page or any other social media I may be involved in where I personally am posting information… yada, yada, yada. I am not an official spokesperson for my current company, Constellation Brands, and while I may occasionally make reference to their brand portfolio please be aware that this is not a company site nor should it be construed as such.