About Mad Fritz
Mad Fritz is named with the kind of eccentric confidence that distinguishes genuinely independent creative projects from the marketing-polished estates that dominate Napa Valley. Nils Wente (of the legendary Wente family of Livermore Valley winemakers) and his partner Whitney bring a craft beer maker's sensibility to fine wine: obsession with process, transparency about ingredients and methods, and a willingness to challenge the norms of what Napa Valley wine is supposed to be.
The St. Helena project produces Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon from historic and sometimes forgotten vineyard sources — including dry-farmed head-trained vines and own-rooted pre-Prohibition blocks that most Napa Valley winemakers don't work with. The winemaking is minimal-intervention and process-transparent in the way that distinguished craft brewing culture adopted before wine culture did.
Mad Fritz's combination of Wente family winemaking heritage and craft production philosophy creates something genuinely unusual in Napa Valley.