Peter Michael's Golden Era Winemaker

Dear Artisans,

Here is the question that keeps coming back to us: how is Sean Capiaux still a secret? The man spent nearly five years as assistant winemaker at Peter Michael — one of the most celebrated Cult Estates with 42 wines rated 98-100 points by Wine Advocate alone. Before that, Pine Ridge in the Stags Leap District. Before that, Jordan in Alexander Valley.

You already know part of this story: his Chimera Pinot Noir is a Russian River blockbluster containing the "secret sauce" of Pisoni and Garys' Vineyard Fruit. It has been our best-selling Pinot at this price for the past two years, with a following so loyal that regulars ask for it by name. Pour it next to Pinots well over $60 and it more than holds its own — we have watched it happen at the counter again and again.

And this weekend the other shoe dropped. At Saturday's Cabernet Greatest Hits tasting, our owner Christine Tran poured the O'Shaughnessy Napa Valley Cabernet — Capiaux's three-mountain blend — against a lineup of heavy hitters. It blew everyone away and finished as the best seller of the night. When a $74.97 bottle outsells the big names in the room, we pay attention.

A sub-$35 Russian River Pinot with Pisoni and Garys' Vineyard fruit in the blend — two of the most legendary single-vineyard sources in California, where wines routinely sell for $60–$160+ a bottle. Capiaux gets the fruit because of relationships built over thirty years in the industry. You get it because of Artisan.

This is the bottle our regulars ask for by name: our best-selling Pinot at this price for two years straight. We have poured it beside Pinots well over $60 and watched it come out ahead — native yeast, unfined, unfiltered, and just 10% new French oak, so all you taste is fruit and site.

This is the only Napa Cabernet blended from estate vineyards on Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, and Oakville — the same vines that fill O'Shaughnessy's far more expensive single-mountain bottlings. Howell Mountain gives structure and ripe red fruit, Mt. Veeder adds tannic punch and savory minerality, and Oakville rounds it out with silky texture and pure fruit. The result drinks like something twice the price — because the grapes literally come from the same vines.

This is the wine that makes the case for O'Shaughnessy in a single glass. Howell Mountain's high-elevation volcanic soils produce Cabernets of extraordinary concentration and structure, and the estate's Amphitheater, Rancho del Oso, and Osprey's Nest vineyards — planted in 1997 at roughly 1,800 feet — are farmed to meticulous standards under Capiaux. Aged 21 months in French oak, it is the flagship of the house. And for context on the house's trajectory: Jeb Dunnuck gave the 2021 vintage of this wine 97 points.

Sean Capiaux: Jordan. Houghton. Pine Ridge.
Then Peter Michael.

Capiaux earned his enology degree at Fresno State and began at Jordan in Alexander Valley, crossed the world to work harvest at Houghton in Western Australia, then returned as assistant winemaker at Pine Ridge in the Stags Leap District.

Then came the defining years: nearly five as assistant winemaker at Peter Michael, crafting the allocation-only Pinots and Chardonnays that sell for $150–$250. While there, he launched Capiaux Cellars in 1994 — small-lot, single-vineyard Pinot built on native yeast, minimal intervention, and premier fruit sources. In 2001, O'Shaughnessy hired him as president and winemaker.

Today he makes mountain Cabernets that score 93–97 from the world's toughest critics, and a Pinot label sourcing from Pisoni and Garys'. The pedigree is Peter Michael-level. The prices are not. That is the opportunity.

Wines from comparable training and vineyard access. The price gap is the point.

Same training. Same vineyard sources. Same quality tier. Different prices.

Peter Michael trained him. Pisoni grows for him.
The market hasn't priced him in yet.

There is a very short list of California winemakers who trained at Peter Michael, source Pisoni and Garys' Vineyard fruit, and farm estate vineyards on both Howell Mountain and Mount Veeder. Sean Capiaux is on it. His Pinot — our best seller at this price for two years running — is $34.97. His Napa Valley Cab — the wine that won Saturday's Cabernet Greatest Hits tasting — is $74.97. His Howell Mountain flagship is $114.97.

All three are case wines: the Chimera is your everyday Pinot for the rest of the decade, the Napa Valley Cab is your year-round house red, and the Howell Mountain is a decade-long cellar program in twelve bottles. Buy a case, or buy one of each — either way, you are moving before the market catches up.

Cheers,

— James Tran