Martin Bernal-Hafner is one of the founders and winemaker for Alta Orsa Winery in Mendocino County, California. The winery was founded by Martin Bernal-Hafner, Roger Peng, and Ricardo Garcia. Martin’s wine journey began as a harvest intern with Michel Chapoutier in France’s Rhône Valley, followed by harvest work in Mendoza at Viña Cobos. He later spent seven years working alongside Paul Hobbs, where he deepened his understanding of site-driven winemaking and farming.
In 2019, Martin co-founded Alta Orsa with the belief that truly expressive wines come not from control or manipulation, but from careful observation, restraint, and a respectful relationship with the land. Alta Orsa focuses on regenerative farming and minimal intervention winemaking on steep mountain vineyards in Mendocino County and partner heritage vineyards in Sonoma County. Media Inquiries: martin@orsawines.com | https://www.orsawines.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
Alta Orsa Winery is defined by a regenerative approach rooted in relationships—between land, animals, and people.
The vineyard sits on steep, fractured terrain with serpentine soils, limited water, and slopes too rugged for mechanization. From the start, it resisted conventional farming and forced a different approach. Rather than impose control, we learned to observe and adapt. We pay attention to grazing patterns, soil health, native plants, and how the vineyard responds to stress. The work is manual, slow, and site-specific.
Our grazers are part of the system, not inputs. The vineyard is treated as a living ecosystem, not a production unit. The goal is not maximum yield, but vitality and quality.
Over time, the challenges of the site became our identity. The vineyard shaped the approach: regeneration as rebuilding connection, not applying solutions. The wines reflect that—less through technique, more through a site allowed to express itself.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
If we were not constrained by finances, staffing, time, or access to land, we would continue acquiring and restoring vineyards like this one, sites that are difficult, overlooked, and often considered impractical by modern standards.
We want to continue proving that regenerative farming is not only possible in challenging vineyards, but that it creates better wine, healthier ecosystems, and stronger communities. Agriculture has become increasingly efficient, but often at the cost of relationship, meaning, and connection. We believe people are longing for those bonds again, whether with food, land, animals, or each other.
Our vision would be to create a network of living vineyards where farming supports biodiversity, meaningful work, and local communities as much as it supports wine quality. The ultimate goal is not simply producing great bottles of wine. It is helping restore a deeper connection between people and the landscapes that sustain them.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
If someone could try only one wine from Alta Orsa Winery, it would be our Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
That wine captures the tension that defines Alta Orsa: power and restraint existing together. The vineyard’s elevation and rugged hillside conditions create remarkable concentration and depth of color, yet the wine consistently retains freshness, structure, and acidity that make it graceful and food-friendly rather than heavy.
The aromatics are what make the wine especially distinctive. Beyond dark fruit, there are layers of dried herbs, cedar, mineral notes, and lifted character that seem inseparable from mountain-grown fruit and fractured hillside soils. The structure comes naturally from the site, allowing us to use a restrained winemaking approach built around native fermentations, careful extraction, and minimal intervention.
More than any technical detail, the wine tells the story of the vineyard itself. It reflects a place that cannot be rushed, mechanized, or forced into uniformity. Every vintage feels less like something manufactured and more like a conversation with the mountain. Read my review of this excellent Estate Reserve Cabernet here.
Bonus Question: What are your wholehearted convictions related to the wine business?
Our deepest conviction about wine is that wine itself is never the most important thing.
What matters first is the relationship. Prepare a meaningful meal. Gather people you care about around a table. Build friendship, conversation, memory, and belonging. The wine comes after that.
At its best, wine is not a luxury product. It is a bridge between people and place. A reminder that life is richer when shared slowly and attentively.