Linda Trotta
Winemaker
Gundlach Bundschu

"Balanced wines with concentrated, complex flavors are grown in the vineyard and preserved--not manufactured--in the winery. The goal is to know each unique vineyard site and the steps to take to reflect its character in the finished wine."
- Linda Trotta

Linda Trotta's lifelong enchantment with wine grew out of her Italian heritage and evolved into a fascination with the distinct personality of vineyards and an awe of the great socializing powers of the fruit of her labor.

The bucolic countryside of Sonoma is a world away from the Burbank neighborhood where, as a young girl, Linda helped her Italian immigrant great-grandfather and grandfather make wine. "I grew up with wine as a staple at family meals," recalls Linda, "it never occurred to me that people made a living making wine."

Linda studied at UC Davis and spent a year at the University of Padova, near Venice, studying Italian language and culture and working a harvest at Santa Margherita Winery. A math major before discovering viticulture and enology, Linda earned a bachelor's degree in Fermentation Science in 1986. One year after joining Gundlach Bundschu Winery as enologist, Linda became winemaker in 1990.

In her first decade on Rhinefarm, Linda grew to understand the vineyard's unique character, with a climate on the warm side of cool, and diverse soils ranging from the clay and gravel basin of Carneros to the volcanic hillsides of the Mayacamas Mountains.

"Rhinefarm's climate is warmer than Carneros but cooler than Napa. As a result, the wines have both finesse and power, as well as an elegant structure that allows them to age extremely well."

Literally growing up with many of the blocks that were planted in the early 1990s, Linda became obsessed with the nuances of each corner of the vineyard, always seeking to clearly express their distinctive character in her wines.

Well into her second decade as Gundlach Bundschu's winemaker, this intimate experience with the vineyard allows Linda to manage the health of each vine during the growing season and craft her wines block by block. She shows no signs of complacency.

"With 150 years of history growing grapes on this property, we're still learning this site. I never feel done; there is always something new to learn, a way to improve, a different situation to consider. Each day-- each vintage--there is a different path to the same goal--to produce wines that live up to Rhinefarm's potential and are worthy of the company in which they are shared. I must say, the only constant over the years has been the good cheer and appreciation of life that the Bundschu family brings to the journey."