Matt & Erin Cline, Three Wine Company
MATT CLINE
Matt's winemaking career began in 1982 helping his brother at his Oakley winery; in 1985 he began as winemaker and creative director at Cline Cellars. In addition to his position at cline in 1986 he joined Conn Creek as the assistant winemaker which lasted through 1989. Over the course of his 16-year career at Cline, Matt was responsible for branding Cline Cellars' unique style of winemaking. Cline Cellars' wines have wone countless awards including the 1998 Sonoma County Harvest Fair Sweepstakes Award for his 1996 Syrah Los Carneros, selected from among 587 wines. Cline Cellars has also had the distinction of being one of Wine & Spirits Magazine's American Wineries of the Year both in 1999 and 2001.
In 2001, Matt started Trinitas Cellars where he concentrated on producing premium, old-fine Zinfandel, Mataro, and Petite Sirah. Matt and his wife Erin sold the brand at the end of 2006. Following the sale of Trinitas Cellars, Matt launched S3x, a botrytis late harvest wine from the Russian River Valley.
To Matt and thousands of years of winemakers before him, blending varietals and finding a perfect balance between the grapes, is what winemaking is all about. When Matt is not racking and perfecting his winemaking techniques, he enjoys fishing, gardening, and celebrating with good food and wine with his family and friends.
ERIN CLINE
Erin Cline began her career at the tender age of 16 working at Manhattan's Gramercy Park Hotel. So bitten by the hospitality bug was she, that she subsequently went on to get her degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Hotel work came next and soon Erin found herself in sunny California where the draw of the wine industry was too great to pass up. Jobs at Napa's venerable Robert Mondavi Winery and Sonoma's smaller but more quaint Cline Cellars followed, where she met her husband, winemaker, Matt Cline.
It was at Cline Cellars where Erin discovered her love of Zinfandel and first joined ZAP, short for Zinfandel Advocates and Producers, a small but mighty group of volunteers devoted to preserving and promoting the - at the time - lesser known varietal grown throughout California and beyond. The very essence of ZAP as an organization revolves around members' enthusiasm for Zinfandel, its beauty and diversity of styles. Popularity and sales of Zinfandel has grown steadily over the years due, in large part, to ZAP. Erin has sat on the board during most of her involvement in ZAP, some 18 years.
She was one of the founders of ZAP's Evening with the Winemaker, proceeds from which benefit the ZAP Heritage Vineyard as well as select projects with San Francisco City College Food and Wine Program.
When Matt left Cline Cellars in 2001 he and Erin founded their first family winery together, Trinitas Cellars. They built the brand and in short order sold it, just in time to create Three Wine Company in 2006. Today, Erin is largely in charge of sales, manages the company and oversees the company's new tasting room in the Sacramento-delta town of Clarksburg. Matt continues as winemaker.