Scale Wine Groupwas started by Master Sommelier Desmond (Des) Echavarrie in 2016, initially operating out of his house in Napa. Previously he was a sommelier in Las Vegas for 7 years and then sommelier at the French Laundry. In 2012, while working at the French Laundry, he passed his Master Sommelier examination. He worked for Realm Cellars in their early days, when they only had several employees. He realized that while he was working in the wine industry, he didn’t know too much about the business side of winery operations. And he realized there weren’t that many people in Napa Valley who had wholesale experience for small brands. He started Scale Wine Group with $1000 in the bank and began working for small family owned wine brands as their national sales consultant.
Word soon spread and brands began reaching out allowing Scale Wine Group to hire employees within the first few months. Moving to and working out of a tiny basement office in downtown Napa, the business diversified into imports from Champagne and Burgundy, launched its own brand including Alta Nova Cellars, and purchased an established brand, A Band of Vintners and still helps small, family-owned brands navigate the wholesale market.
They assembled a network of family-owned distributors focused on representing other small, family-owned brands and wineries, partnering with distributors who shared similar interests. Today they represent about 25 brands and have built relationships with national accounts, including wine retailers and restaurants. At one point, Desi was consulting for American Airlines, and for a time, some of the wines Scale Wine Group represented were served in flight.
Scale Wine Group turns over every stone, doing what they can to build lasting relationships today. Desi told us that there is no secret formula and no software that can help with this. Amen. This is one of the best lines we’ve heard this year. They have made a lot of mistakes, but more importantly have made a lot of friends. And after 10 years he is very much still in learning mode.
Band of Vintners
The original band of vintners included winemakers Mark Porembski, Brennan Anderson, Dan Petroski, Barrett Anderson, Cameron Hobel, Jason Heller and Stephane Vivier. Dan and Stephane were both instrumental in grape sourcing and the winemaking. The first vintage was in 2014, a production of 1,500 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon. This brand was born out of a tasting group that Dan Petroski used to host at his house in Yountville with the initial concept to produce a multi-winemaker led brand focused exclusively on Cabernet Sauvignon.
From the beginning, the brand was built for the wholesale market, focusing on by the glass programs at restaurants across the county. The partners sold about 350 cases after their first release. Dan soon called Des and asked if he wanted to work with Band of Vintners. He did – and the timing was especially nice as he had recently started Scale Wine Group. Desi helped grow the brand including acquiring new markets and was an instrumental part of their early production reaching about 8,000 cases annually.
The original partners eventually explored options of closing down the brand. Des was attracted to the collaborative ethos behind the brand; in 2023 Scale Wine Group fully acquired Band of Vintners, their existing inventory and all intellectual property rights. After the transaction, Des introduced additional winemakers, focusing on those early in their winemaking careers. Each winemaker is in a consultant role, responsible for sourcing the grapes, tied to specific tonnage allotments and make the wine. Every winemaker has their name listed on the back label with a QR code linking to their story.
Select Wines
Non Alcoholic
The 2024 Band of Vintners Freestyle is a non-alcoholic, late-harvest, skin-contact wine sourced principally from a vineyard near Petaluma, including primarily Vermentino and Muscat, along with Grenache and Roussanne. This was not made from bulk wine, rather the fruit comes from old, organically farmed vines. It’s a purposeful non-alcohol wine, harvested late in the year to maximize ripeness; Des affectionately calls this his “kid wine.” The wine is deep gold in color, with a nose that offers a sweet, tangy character of candied ginger and sweet apricot, a light note of bruised apple, and a grapey quality we often note in non-alcoholic wines. That grapey character carries through on the palate, with flavors of golden apples and lemon curd, finishing with a tangy profile of candied ginger and not-quite-fully-ripe pineapple. The acidity is medium, and the texture is waxy and a touch oily, but never heavy. This wine finishes dry but with plenty of lasting fruit.
Sauvignon Blanc
Des’s vision for Sauvignon Blanc was to thread the needle with this variety — never straying toward a green, grassy expression, but not tipping into ripe or tropical either. He loves this variety when it’s from Sancerre, and has a particular fondness for the wines from Didier Dagueneau and several other producers in the Loire Valley. This wine was made by Evyn Cameron; the grapes were left on the skins for about an hour before being pressed. 2023 marked their first Sauvignon Blanc.
The 2025 Band of Vintners Sauvignon Blanc, Mendocino County. This wine is pale straw in color; the bouquet sports aromas of not fully ripe pineapple, guava, kiwi, gooseberry, honeydew melon, the wild ones that grow in the Sierra Nevada mountains at elevation, and light spring florals including jasmine and a hint of citrus. The aromatics are highly appealing. This palate offers just enough varietal typicity, expressing brightness but without being green. On the palate, this wine tastes like kiwi, pineapple guava. Texturally there is a phenolic grip resulting in a light rounded supple feel. But its never heavy as the acidity keeps this wine fresh. Lingers with a note of tarragon and dill on the finish. Pair this with a lighter white fish, perhaps halibut.
And in 2025, Band of Vintners produced a Chardonnay from the Willamette Valley.
Reds
Pinot Noir
The 2024 Band of Vintners Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley from a vineyard this year in the Chehalem Mountains AVA. This wine is medium ruby in color; it is a clean, elegant and crowd pleasing expression of the fruit, focused on higher toned red fruits and florals. This wine smells like rose petals, an initial hint of shiso leaf, raspberry, red cherry, currant, and a light note of plum. And as the wine opens further, there is a light spicy note from its time in oak. This wine tastes like Santa Rosa plum, red cherry, strawberry, and mulberry and finishes with a light note of cloves and nutmeg. The oak is lightly present on both the bouquet and the palate. Supple and soft, the tannins are seamlessly integrated with a very gentle texture. Easy drinking in its youth. This wine goes particularly well with Comté cheese. This wine is poured by the glass at Del Frisco Restaurants, nationwide. This wine was made by winemaker Bryan Weil.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2023 Band of Vintners Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (100% varietal) is deep ruby with some amaranthine hues; the bouquet is immediately up front fun and fruit driven, but with an accompanying darker and savory edge which never overtly dominates. The nose smells bramble, fresh blackberry picked at the peak of ripeness, Satsuma plum, boysenberry, dark cherry and Persian mulberry. Its non-fruited notes are of lavender, violets, dark olive, pipe tobacco and old cedar box which hasn’t been opened in some time. Also cocoa powder. And there are hints of darker baking spices including clove and cinnamon stick. Light to medium bodied, this wine tastes like blackberry, boysenberry, red cherry, Santa Rosa plum, dark currant and a light finishing note of dried tobacco leaf. Remains fresh throughout from a unifying thread of balanced acidity. The tannins take more of a back seat approach, gentle with rounded and lightly chalky character, lingering and felt more on the front of the palate. The oak complements this wine, persisting with a light toasty spice character. While this wine shows great at 3 years post vintage and is already balanced, we would feel comfortable holding on to it for the next 6-8 years. Winemaker Britt Richards produced this wine.
To keep costs down, they purchase standard bottle molds and use the same glass across all their wines. Corks are either shorter natural or conglomerate, also helping save costs by passing these savings on to the consumer. And starting in 2024, all their SKUs went capsule-free, further minimizing packaging costs.
The label design has an old-school look, but with new-school enhancements made after the ownership transition, including coloring one of the bottles on the label, representing the color of the actual wine.
Alta Nova Cellars
Alta Nova, in Latin, means “new heights,” – Des has long been attracted to the idea of “what can I do next.” He wasn’t exposed to wine until he started working in restaurants as a teenager as his parents never drank it. He decided he wanted to become a sommelier, and later learned about the Master Sommelier credential, failing the exam many times along the way but ultimately passing this rigorous test in 2012. After he finally passed, he hit an emotional lull; he felt lost, wondering what was left once he’d reached what felt like the ceiling of the wine world. That’s when he discovered the mantra behind Alta Nova: always look for new goals and always keep an eye open for what’s next, in both personal life and business.
For him, the brand carries two meanings. The first is a connection to the human condition — the drive to strive for something better and higher. The second is literal: these wines are made only from vineyards above 1,000 feet in elevation. The first vintage of Alta Nova was in 2016.
The 2023 Alta Nova AG Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Block One, with yields of 1-2.5 tons of grapes depending on year. This block is all clone 1 Cabernet Sauvignon from vines planted in 1996. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; the bouquet smells like the variety but with restraint and includes a savory component. Its scents include a hint of tobacco, dark chocolate, old cedar box, dried herbs including sage and bay leaf with its fruit offering a brambly character of raspberry and blackberry accompanied by notes of Satsuma plum. And like the bouquet, the palate is a savory expression of the variety, with both darker fruits and plenty of spice showing. Finishes with notes of crushed peppercorn, smoked sage, chalk, old cedar wood and a hint of dried tobacco spice. Brambly. Dark fruited. Plum. The tannins are broadly distributed across the palate with a dusty and long lasting earthy presence, outlasting the fruit on the finish. This wine has lots of life ahead of it, as in at least several decades with the proper cellar care. Or as Des mentioned, plenty of potential energy. This wine was aged in special barrel from Tonnellerie Remond.
The 2023 Alta Nova Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley is deep ruby with an amaranthine rim and very much opaque; forward fruited aromatics burst from the glass with scents of blackberry pie, plum compote, boysenberry, dark cherry and Himalayan purple mulberry. Its non fruited tones include lavender, lilacs and pipe tobacco. Sporting a vivacious personality, with plenty to like from its curvaceous core, in terms of persona, this wine is Dolly Parton. Filled with ripe and rich fruit this wine mimics the bouquet to some extent with flavors of blackberry, dark cherry, Santa Rosa plums at peak of ripeness, boysenberry and dark mulberry. Additional notes including tobacco and smoked cedar. Finishes with a gentle but persistent warmth, and layers of fruit but without any heavy textural presence. Rather the tannins are rounded and ripe, lingering with a gentle tug and a light drying character. If wines were on fandom, this wine would attract a significant following and checks many of the boxes in terms of its overall crowd appeal. This wine was aged for 12 months in 60% new French oak barrels
The 2019 Alta Nova Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve Napa Valley (the grapes in this wine are from Howell Mountain). This wine is deep ruby and nearly opaque; sweetly fruited with some bottle maturation showing on the bouquet at 7 years post vintage this is a ripe expression. This wine smells like blackberry jam, boysenberry spread, cherry pie, cherry liqueur, dried figs, and raspberry jam. The nose smells riper than the listed 14.5% – in a blind tasting from aromatics along we would guess about 15%. The palate is ripe, but not showing quite as ripe as the bouquet. Its flavors include raspberry, red plum, cherry, boysenberry and mulberry. A lighter showing in terms of both fruit intensity and textural profile, this wine sports well rounded, ripe and resolved tannins. They persist with a light gravelly and drying tug pacing fruit before eventually pulling ahead on the finish.
The attractive label design comes from an old aquatint on a page from an ancient book in Italy, dating to the 1840s — “Le fasi della luna” (“The Phases of the Moon”), showing the moon’s phases as it circles the sun.
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Total production of Band of Vintners is currently about 5,000 cases annually and sold wholesale. On the other hand, Alta Nova is sold direct to consumer. For more information and or to order wines for retail or restaurant placement, visit: www.scalewine.com. And for more information about A Band of Vintners, visit: https://www.bandofvintners.com/ and for Alta Nova, visit: www.altanovacellars.com
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