Arnot-Roberts

History

Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts founded Arnot-Roberts in the early 2000s, both coming from winemaking families in California. Meyers grew up around the Napa Valley wine trade; Roberts has roots in the industry through his father, the winemaker Randle Roberts. The two met while working harvests and built the project around a shared skepticism of the prevailing California style of that era: high alcohol, heavy extraction, and heavy oak. Rather than anchoring the label to a single estate or appellation, they built a sourcing model that lets them range across California, selecting old vines and unusual varieties that would otherwise struggle to find a champion. The label has remained small and independently owned, with Meyers and Roberts handling both the vineyard relationships and the cellar work.

Vineyards

Arnot-Roberts does not own vineyards. The wines are made from purchased fruit sourced from a rotating but largely stable set of growers across California, with sites in Napa Valley, Sonoma County, the Sierra Foothills, and the Central Coast all appearing across various vintages. The Kirschenmann Vineyard in the Lodi area is one of their most notable sources, providing old-vine Zinfandel from ancient head-trained vines. The Haynes Vineyard in Coombsville and Watson Ranch in Carneros supply Chardonnay. Peter Martin Ray Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, one of the oldest continuously farmed wine properties in California, provides Pinot Noir. The Vare Vineyard is the source for their Ribolla Gialla, a rare planting in California. The Randle Hill Vineyard, named for Roberts's father, is the source for their Sauvignon Blanc. Farming practices vary by grower; Arnot-Roberts has sought out organically or sustainably farmed sites where possible, but the label does not make blanket certification claims across its full lineup.

Winemaking

The stylistic thread running through the lineup is restraint. Alcohol levels are kept notably low by California standards, and the wines are made to be complete without relying on new oak or concentration for structure. Native yeast fermentations are used across the range. Reds typically see whole-cluster inclusion, the proportion varying by vintage and variety. Aging is done in neutral oak or large-format vessels, minimizing wood influence. The white wines, including the skin-contact Ribolla Gialla, are handled reductively and bottled without heavy manipulation. Filtration and fining are minimal. The Ribolla Gialla, made with extended skin contact, represents one of the more distinctive wines in the lineup and sits alongside the broader American natural-leaning winemaking movement without being marketed explicitly within it. The Zinfandel from Kirschenmann is consistently one of the most discussed wines in their portfolio, serving as a pointed argument for what old-vine Lodi material can do when picked early and handled lightly.