Scott Rich's first encounter with winemaking happened at age six, watching Greek friends make wine in their Salt Lake City basement. That early curiosity eventually led him through the enology graduate program at UC Davis, winemaking stints at Carneros Creek, Mont St. John, and Etude — and finally to his own label. The first Talisman vintage was 1993: just 203 cases of Carneros Pinot Noir from three tons of Madonna Vineyard fruit, sold by mailing hand-written release letters to friends.
More than 30 years later, Talisman typically crafts 16 to 18 single-vineyard Pinot Noirs from 12 diverse sites across Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino — each bottling a diminutive 200 to 300 cases. The tasting room is housed in the oldest commercial building in Glen Ellen, a historic space that has served as a hotel, general store, speakeasy, and possibly a brothel. Scott and Marta renovated it by hand, painting every inch themselves, and furnished it with pieces from their own home. The result feels exactly like what they intended: personal, warm, and completely unpretentious.
