Nathan (Nate) Hall is the Head Winemaker for Jada Vineyards of Paso Robles. Nate brings a deep respect for nature, scientific precision, and an unwavering commitment to quality. When he’s not in the cellar, you’ll find him surfing or hiking on the Central Coast or spending time with his greatest pride, his wife and their son and daughter, who keep him as busy as harvest season.
Nate, a Sonoma County native, grew up surrounded by vineyards and was captivated by winemaking through the inspiring people he met in the industry. When it came time to apply to college, he initially set sights on his first passion, the ocean. He earned a BS in Ecology & Systematic Biology with an emphasis in Marine Biology from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2006 and fell in love with the central coast of California. To continue living there, he pursued a post-graduate education conducting research on local marine fisheries and teaching at Cal Poly for several years, but eventually, he began to feel the pull of winemaking. In 2013, finally took a leap into the cellar and got a job as a harvest cellar assistant at Sextant Winery in Paso Robles.
Nate’s excitement for wine was ignited at Sextant, where he met winemaker Josh Harp, forging a connection that would shape his career. After honing his skills as assistant winemaker at Kukkula Winery, he reunited with Josh at Jada in 2017. Under the guidance of renowned consultants Tony Biagi and Eric Jensen, Nate played a key role in crafting Jada’s acclaimed wines while spearheading sustainability efforts, leading to the winery’s certification under the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA). Media Inquiries: nate@jadavineyards.com | https://www.jadavineyard.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
Jada’s vineyard was planted in 1999 and since then the winemaking and vineyard teams have aimed to create wines that are true expressions of the estate. Over that 25-year history of the vineyard, we have found many times over that Jada is a truly special site. Situated 17 miles from the Pacific Ocean in the Willow Creek District of Paso Robles, the 60 acres of rolling southwest facing hillside are composed of 4 different soil types, all made up of different combinations of calcareous clay loam, shale rock, and limestone boulders. The unique combination of these soils with the Mediterranean climate of the West side of Paso where we experience an annual average of 24 inches of rain and large daily temperature swings during the growing season, is ideal for winegrowing. Jada’s wines are both powerful and lively. They taste amazing when young but have structure and vibrancy that lend to ageability.
Sustainability has been a core value for Jada since the beginning. The Messina family, who founded the winery and vineyard and lived on property throughout their stewardship of the brand recognized that these are all tied to one another; tending to the land and the people associated with the brand in a manner preserves them into the future leads to economic success. We have been practicing organic farming practices for over 10 years and it shows in the health of our vineyard and the ecosystem that surrounds it. Since changing to organic practices, we have seen a return of wildlife from insects to predatory mammals. Jada was purchased by the Riboli Family in 2022 who has been making wine in California for over 100 years, so they understand sustainability at a scale that few other companies are able to. They have more than picked up the torch when it comes to sustainability. Since purchasing Jada, they’ve made significant investments in our hospitality, winery, and vineyard which have improved customer experience, energy efficiency, and productivity. We have also made our efforts official with CCOF organic certification of our vineyard and CSWA sustainability certification of both our vineyard and winery. The Ribolis are aiming to see Jada thrive within their company for the next 100 years!
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
This is a dangerous question to ask a winemaker! If time, logistics, and cost were out of the question I would change the scale at which I manage things, from the vineyard through to final blends. The goal of this precision would be to capture the maximum potential quality from 100% of the vineyard. I would break up our vineyard into micro blocks; which is how we make pick decisions currently. Within these blocks, we would continuously collect data through the growing season using remote sensing and direct measurements on everything from water stress to nutrient needs. I would manage all vineyard practices in those same blocks at that scale. The separation would reflect the differences that we see within our vineyard blocks due to differences in soils, aspects, and elevation; some micro blocks would be 2 acres, and some would be 50 vines! Picking decisions and fermentations would be conducted on the same scale. We would have an endless number of various-sized tanks to accommodate any size pick that we want to make.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
2021 Hell’s Kitchen. This wine is named after the Hell’s Kitchen borough of New York and is a nod to the roots of Jada’s original proprietor, Jack Messina. His family immigrated from Italy to this neighborhood which historically was known for its diversity in its blend of immigrant communities. So, Hell’s Kitchen is, appropriately, a blend that is crafted to show the strength of Rhone varieties grown at Jada. This wine is representative of our winemaking style for a number of reasons. We often begin blending portions of our wines during harvest in the form of co-fermentations of grapes from different vineyard blocks. Hell’s Kitchen is a great example of this practice; the base of this wine is a co-fermentation of Syrah and Graciano. Additionally, since we make our wines in small lots, all of our wines are blends of multiple different fermentations. Hell’s Kitchen is typically made up of 6-10 different lots. Using these many components allows us to pull from the strengths of each and create the best wine possible, year after year. Check out the Hell’s Kitchen wine review by clicking here.
Bonus Question: What’s the one thing people would be surprised to learn about you?
Before getting into the wine industry, I was a marine biologist! I was deep into graduate studies managing several different marine fisheries research projects and teaching introductory biology courses at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo when I decided to change course and got a harvest cellar job in Paso. During that first vintage, I caught the winemaking bug and have never looked back!