I met Adam Edelman of Nisi Wines at the Garagiste Festival’s “Southern Exposure” Grand Tasting in Solvang in February. It was his debut at Garagiste — a California wine festival that introduces the smallest producers, many of them without tasting rooms — to new consumers.
During our subsequent interview in early March, Edelman recounted that he had received “great feedback from both attendees and other winemakers” at the tasting.
As one of those Garagiste attendees, I would agree. I tried all three wines that Edelman poured, all from the famed cool-climate Sta. Rita Hills AVA — the Sta. Rita Hills Nisi chardonnay, a Fiddlestix Vineyard chardonnay and pinot noir from Our Lady of Guadalupe. All three were vintage 2024, and together a little more than 300 cases.
In my tasting notes, I called those Nisi Wines “very good, possibly some of my favorites of the day.”
As do many other producers based in Northern California or out of state, Edelman sources fruit for Nisi Wines from the Sta. Rita Hills for the sheer, reliable quality of its grapes, especially those that thrive in a temperate climate, one with temperatures that rarely top 78 degrees.
Edelman, a native of Westport, Conn., graduated from Colorado College, a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colo., in May 2013 with degrees in neuroscience and philosophy, giving him a focus he termed “thinking about thinking,” which “I loved,” he said. He was just 21.
After graduation, Edelman took a year off with the idea to work on a farm or vineyard, ideally in the Napa Valley.
“I applied to 40 vineyards for a position working harvest,” he said. “Saintsbury Winery in Napa got back to me.”
In that first harvest job at Saintsbury in the summer of 2013, “I learned to do things, not necessarily why, but how,” Edelman said.
Specifically, he learned to roll an empty barrel, rack wines off their lees, drive a forklift, and — perhaps most vital — how to scrub and polish, tasks absolutely key to keeping a cellar clean.
I found Edelman to be thoughtful and articulate in his description of winemaking; perhaps from his philosophy knowledge, ours was a very insightful interview.
As Edelman remained in the Napa Valley, settling in St. Helena, continuing to soak up knowledge with each passing vintage, he recalled realizing that “it’s best to learn as many styles of winemaking as possible.”
“Every year (in wine), you learn,” he said.
In addition, he wanted to “level up,” he said — to make wines that were more exclusive, of a higher quality and ones with potential to earned higher scores.
Edelman applied to and was accepted at Adelaide University in Adelaide, South Australia. However, when wine-industry friends questioned his pursuit of a master’s degree in winemaking, he decided against the path to higher education.
Instead, he worked another harvest, this time at Aubert Wines, where winemaker Mark Aubert produces high-end chardonnay and pinot noir from Sonoma and Napa.
As he made wine and continued to learn, Edelman concluded that producing high-end chardonnay “requires a lot of patience” and set conditions, from the timing of the picking and pressing, and choice of barrels through final aging.
“It’s all in pursuit of a perfect key,” he said.
In Napa, he added, “top winemakers were my toolbox, and I loved my journey.”
Edelman also experienced production at Realm Cellars, a red Bordeaux-focused winery.
Today, with his Nisi Wines label, “I express myself in the artisanal aspect of winemaking,” he said. “I like to showcase the (vineyard) site, but with my style.”
Every vintage, Edelman is all hands-on: “I like being ‘everything’ for myself. There’s no one else involved.”
Nisi’s are “wines of elegance … pretty wines.” They range in style from no to very little oak, making them “delicate, but with weight, still.” In other words, they have “mouthfeel and density, but are delicate like a blossoming flower.”
Edelman found chardonnay and pinot noir grown in the Sta. Rita Hills the ideal match for his style, and he produces Nisi Wines at a facility in the Santa Ynez Valley.
Nisi, he explained, is a Latin term meaning “unless,” often used in law as “decree nisi” to indicate a future finality.
“I like to apply this idea to winemaking: There is a clear vision for where a wine wants to go, unless something happens — which, of course, it often does. My role is to guide the wine with restraint, shaping it subtly while allowing the vineyard to remain the primary voice.”
Edelman said his mother is a ceramist and had a home studio when he was growing up, “so the house was full of creativity.”
While Edelman’s 2024 vintage comprised 300 cases, the next year’s lot grew to nearly 500 cases. He added a vineyard-designate from Bentrock to his lineup starting with 2025, and that year yielded more crop from Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Nisi Wines are available only direct-to-consumer via private tastings, almost exclusively in the Napa Valley or San Francisco and mostly on tasting menus at “fine dining establishments.”
“I cater more to a Napa Valley market even though I make wines from the Sta. Rita Hills,” Edelman explained.
In his sights are the markets in Canada and Japan, and he is working on a few others in Europe, in particular Denmark and Stockholm, as they are “food friendly.”
What grape varietal might lure Edelman to craft a third Nisi wine?
“The Riesling grown at Fiddlestix Vineyard,” he said, “as I love the petrol-rubbery aroma of those wines.”