Identity Wines was founded by winemaker Pablo Antonio Suarez with his first vintage in 2018. Pablo grew up around wine; his well-traveled parents always had wine on the table from various regions around the world so his appreciation for wine started early. Still he recalls, he couldn’t tell the difference between Cabernet Sauvignon and other red varieties when he started his career in the wine industry.
Originally from Miami, he studied film in college and later worked on film and movie sets in Florida before the film industry transitioned mostly out of that state. But he never moved to California to pursue film, instead he pivoted his career and he began working in wine distribution.
He began selling wines for GALLO including their large production SKUs such as Boons Farm and Barefoot, primarily selling in Little Havana, Miami. And then he transitioned into overseeing grocery store accounts. His time at GALLO was a very important learning experience including covering the cost of his entry level sommelier training. He later worked for Kendall-Jackson, selling wines part of their premium Spire Collection, primarily to restaurants in Florida. He began networking with beverage managers, other sommeliers and others in the industry, but the work wasn’t overly rewarding and he found the work increasingly unfulfilling from a creative perspective. So he started a YouTube channel and a podcast called The Wine Maverick.
His first trip to California and to Napa Valley and Sonoma County was while working for Kendall-Jackson; it was a sales trip. During a conversation with his friend and sommelier Heath Porter, he mentioned the possibility of moving to northern California to work in the wine industry, Porter mentioned he knew a number of winemaking families. He then connected Pablo with Foxen Vineyard & Winery in Santa Barbara, Truchard Winery in Napa Valley and Ironhorse Winery in Sonoma. Pablo was planning to meet all three during a personal trip to California; he drove cross country in his Honda Civic without having a job yet lined up.
He came to Napa Valley first and met with Truchards. During his meeting with Tony and JoAnn Truchard, he accepted their offer of a harvest intern position. This was in 2018. He lived on their property and learned winemaking from the Truchard team. They hire only one intern a year so the intern does everything in the cellar from pitching yeasts, cleaning out tanks and other cellar duties. He learned by doing, that first harvest. Ironically, Tony and JoAnne’s son Anthony’s wife, Suzanne is from Miami and is also of Cuban descent.
The year 2018 produced large yields creating opportunities to start his own brand – and Identity was fast tracked as a result. Pablo secured some extra Merlot from Truchard Vineyard and Cabernet Sauvignon from a small vineyard in the Oak Knoll District. He made these wines at Truchard while he was a harvest intern; these were the first wines he had ever produced commercially. He launched Identity two years later in 2020 with the 2018 bottlings.
While originally an outsider, he needed to discover his own ‘identity’ within the Napa Valley wine community. Pablo first met winemaker Jason Holman in 2019 through his girlfriend Sheena who was working at Rebel Vintners at the time. That year he moved his winemaking to Holman Cellars and has made every vintage there since. Pablo considers Jason a mentor in the industry. Through a connection provided by Truchard winemaker Sal De Ianni, Pablo joined the Murphy Creek Winemakers in Browns Valley, a private home winemakers club. He continues to assist their ‘garagiste’ efforts.
When trying to identify a name for the brand that resonated both personally and in the market, he struggled with a variety of names to start with. He toyed with the idea of a rogue horse or a phantom spirit doing his own thing. While looking into this chest of possible lexicons, he eventually settled on the name, Identity. The name reflects Pablo’s desire to highlight lesser-known varieties and vineyard sites that possess a strong sense of identity but often exist outside the mainstream Napa conversation. Each wine carries its own proprietary name and distinctive packaging, reinforcing the broader Identity concept – all personal connections to something that resonates with Pablo.
Select Wines
Whites
Viognier
The 2022 Identity The Outsider Viognier, Amador County (100% varietal) is deep gold in color; its listed ABV is a refreshing 13.2%. This wine is immediately floral, with notes of honeysuckle, honeycomb and ripe stone and tropical fruits including apricot, pineapple, baked golden apples, pineapple guava and ripe pear. Rounded but not heavy, this wine is supported by a bright but balanced acidity. Its flavors include pineapple, apricot, Golden delicious apples and golden plums. Finishes with a persistence of flavor and a perception of sweet fruits. Pablo enjoys a crisp and restrained expression, not the fat and oily style that Viognier often expresses; this is a balanced expression of the variety. During winemaking malolactic fermentation was blocked. This was his inaugural white wine.
The Outsider refers to how he felt before he started working in the industry. That has changed significantly since his time in the valley. And this is a wine that is meant to be enjoyed outdoors. At a party release for JAM Cellars, John Truchard asked him about how his work was going at Truchard Winery with his parents. Pablo didn’t yet consider himself a winemaker and told John that, but that he was making a small amount of Viognier and Cabernet Sauvignon for what would become Identity. John told him, “you are a winemaker” – years later, Pablo still remembers that validating conversation and gave him a sense that he belonged.
The 2023 Identity Viognier was skin fermented and on the skins for 3 weeks – produced using native yeast fermentation and minimal intervention techniques. Hazy and medium gold in color; this wine smells like guava, pear, apple skin and a very light note of bruised apple, lingering with an aromatic lift from a layer of orange peel. However, it doesn’t show the wild character often associated with some orange wines that push toward the far edge of the stylistic spectrum. On the palate there are flavors of not fully ripe pineapple, orange hard candy, a light pine pitch character and golden apples. Balanced and easy drinking, its texture is light and lifted nicely by the vibrancy of acidity. But the acidity is never harsh or sharp. The grapes were picked at 21° Brix with a resulting ABV at 13.4%.
This was Pablo’s first bottling of orange wine; during the winemaking he readily admits everything felt wrong and felt uncomfortable and he wasn’t sure which direction to take at times. He was having a hard time with the native yeast starting fermentation. So, finally he wheeled out the t-bins out into the sun for some warmth which kick started the indigenous yeast. This wine was in oak for 6 months and then in bottle for 18 months before he felt it was ready to release.
Chenin Blanc
The 2023 Identity Chenin, Clarksburg is medium gold in color; this wine was fermented and aged in stainless steel barrels/drums provided by Modern Cooperage. These stainless steel drums contain premium wooden stave inserts and a handle for doing external battonage. Up front floral, its scents include jasmine and honeysuckle, pineapple, apricot, papaya, butterscotch and vanilla. The oak from the stave inserts is evident, and contributes both weight and flavor support, however, the intensity of both fruit and a vibrant vein of acidity supports the oak. This wine tastes like nectarine, pineapple guava, ripe pomelo, apricot, pineapple, vanilla. The mouth feel is fleshy and silky, but lifted high by the energetic finish. Finishes loaded with flavor and persistence. And a light drying phenolic grip. This is a Chenin that will quickly convert consumers to this variety if they have never had wines from this variety before. Delicious. Its ABV is 13.4%.
Reds
Syrah
The 2021 Identity Syrah, Winters Yolo County Collina De Bella Vineyard is from a heritage clone. The original rootstock dates from the early 1900s. Grape from this property were previously sold to to winemaker Dave Phinney and Turkovich Family Wines. These grapes were 20% whole cluster and fermented using indigenous yeast. This wine is deep ruby in color; the bouquet is very much red fruited and brambly – almost crossing into citrus territory with hints of blood orange. Additional aromas include violets, lavender, raspberry, red cherries and blueberries. With a light herbal but not green note. And as the wine opens, it reveals a subtle darker baking spice note including of cloves. Exceptionally bright, like the bouquet, the palate is also red fruited and on the lesser end of the ripeness spectrum. Its flavors include not fully ripe blueberry, Persian mulberry, red mulberry, currant and red cherry and a light spice on the finish. The acidity hits right away but as the wine sits on the palate, its presence dissipates. The tannins are gentle, rounded and linger delicately on the finish.
Pablo is an aviation enthusiast; the label on this wine is V1 Rotate, directly related to aviation. In aviation, V1 is the critical takeoff decision speed at which the pilot must decide whether to continue or abort the takeoff. If a problem occurs before reaching V1, the aircraft can safely stop on the remaining runway. Once the aircraft reaches or passes V1, the takeoff must continue even if an engine failure occurs. “Rotate,” also called Vr, is the speed at which the pilot pulls back on the controls to raise the aircraft’s nose and begin liftoff. During a normal takeoff, pilots typically hear the callouts “V1” followed shortly by “Rotate,” marking the transition from the decision phase to becoming airborne.
Red Blend
The Identity Red Blend, Non Vintage Identity Crisis No. 2 North Coast was bottled in flint glass; this wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Tempranillo and Petit Sirah. It includes vintages 2022-2024. This wine is deep ruby in color; it offers both forward fruit and floral influences including of purple violets, lilacs and lavender accompanied by loads of berry fruits including boysenberry, raspberry, red mulberry and cherry and pomegranate. It is ripe with a light perception of sweetness from the generosity of the fruit. However, the supporting balanced acidity contributes a semblance of freshness. Easy drinking and easy going, this is a mouthful of deliciousness. Keep it fun. And it is meant to be chilled if you want. This is the highest ABV of his wines we tried, listed at 14.6%.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2019 Identity Cabernet Sauvignon is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Cabernet Franc. The vineyard is on the valley floor, close to the Silverado Resort. This wine is deep ruby and nearly opaque; ripe and sweetly fruited, this wine smells like blackberry jam, cherry pie, boysenberry jam, ripe Satsuma plum, and sweet baking spices including cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. As ripe on the palate as the bouquet leads with, this wine tastes like cherry pie, blackberry jam, raspberry, mulberries and Santa Rosa plums. But the ripeness is tempered nicely by a vibrancy – especially noticeable on the finish. The tannins are ripe, resolved and rounded – almost creamy in their textural feel as they sit on the palate. Its ABV is 14.5%. At 7 years post vintage, this wine is showing in a sweet spot. By the 2019 vintage, Pablo had already begun reducing his rack-and-return regimen after lessons learned from the inaugural 2018 wines. Its élevage was approximately 18 months in neutral oak barrels.
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Napa Winery/Tasting Room
Identity Wines is housed in a small shared winery located in an industrial zone a few minutes’ drive south of downtown Napa, including both production and hospitality. This area is known as the ‘Crusher District’, named for the concentration of custom crush wineries and shared production facilities located in this part of Napa. Members generally maintain associated tasting rooms. The tasting space features an intimate room for guests to enjoy the wines, directly next to the entrance to the barrel room and winery.
Pablo hosts all tastings by appointment; the visits are casual and relaxed and always unscripted with the conversation flowing organically and freely, but always coming back to wine. And as it should during a tasting. The wines are sold primarily direct-to-consumer through the website and winery tastings at the winery in Napa.
Some bottles are available locally including at Kitchen Door, Coles Chophouse and Napa’s oldest wine shop, Backroom Wines in downtown Napa. Total production is around 500 cases annually but varies slightly depending on the vintage. For more information, to purchase wine or to request a tasting, visit: www.identitywines.com
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