From Miami to the Vineyard
Born in Miami to Cuban parents, Cary Quintana traded advertising cubicles for Berkeley harvest bins, corporate clients for Phil Coturri and Ann Kraemer, and "safe" careers for a one-woman winery that proves Grenache is California's most versatile grape — and that wine cannot exist without the people who pick it.
From Wine Shop to Gilman District
Cary Quintana was born and raised in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents — part of the vibrant Cuban community that shaped the city's culture. She worked in advertising and marketing for years, but in 2004 she took a break from the corporate world and opened a boutique wine shop in 2005. Her goal was unique: stock small-production, esoteric wines that Total Wine and BevMo wouldn't carry — "unique, esoteric wines that couldn't be found in the Miami market" [^174^].
Running the shop expanded her palate enormously. She fell in love with Grenache — "that's where the focus of Cary Q wines began." But the 2008 economic crash forced her to close the business and return to advertising. The wine dream went dormant, but never died [^174^].
In 2013, a personal move brought her to Northern California — "not wine focused," she insists, but fate had other plans. She became friends with winemakers in Berkeley's Gilman District and traded her retail knowledge for harvest experience. In 2014, she purchased Grenache and Mourvèdre from Phil Coturri's Steel Plow Vineyard in Sonoma — "I had no idea at the time how renowned he was" — and released her first vintage: a co-fermented Grenache-Mourvèdre that marked the birth of Cary Q Wines [^174^].
The label officially launched in 2016. Cary spent seven years in the Gilman District — working alongside Donkey & Goat, Broc Cellars, Blue Ox, and other urban natural wine pioneers — before moving to Santa Rosa and Punchdown Cellars in 2021. "I feel like I won the lottery in this new facility. It's a beautiful place" [^174^].
"I'm really self taught. I don't have a science background. I did complete a certification program at U.C.-Davis, but a lot of my techniques and practices are based on intuition."
— Cary Quintana
Coturri & Kraemer, Organic & Patient
Cary's vineyard relationships were forged through persistence and shared values. She met Phil Coturri through Sasha Verhage, who was buying fruit from Steel Plow Vineyard. When Verhage stopped in 2015, Cary picked up the contract — "I got lucky on that one" — and purchased Coturri's organically farmed Sonoma fruit for three years [^174^].
Ann Kraemer of Shake Ridge Ranch was a longer courtship. Cary met her at a Rhône Rangers event in Paso Robles, was "so impressed with the passion she felt for her vineyard," and visited Shake Ridge Ranch shortly after. Kraemer had no fruit available and a waiting list. Cary waited. Two years later, Kraemer called with an offer. "I'll work with her as long as she will have me. She makes the process so much fun. She's quite the gal" [^174^].
All Cary Q fruit comes from organic or sustainably farmed vineyards. "I don't want to put out a product that's been grown by using chemicals and pesticides. So I will add a vineyard at some point... I'd love to find a place with some varieties that aren't that easy to find. I'm keeping an eye out for a Graciano source" [^174^].
Phil Coturri's organically farmed Sonoma site. Where Cary Q began — three years of Grenache and Mourvèdre that taught her how masculine and rustic Sonoma fruit could be. The foundation of her understanding of California terroir.
Ann Kraemer's meticulously farmed Amador County vineyard. Two-year waiting list. Tempranillo, Mourvèdre, and other varieties that produce "feminine and fresh" wines — the counterpoint to Sonoma's rustic power. "She slices and dices every part of Shake Ridge Ranch to deliver great fruit."
Less Is More, But Not Natural
"Soils and a strong base of healthy grapes are what I believe to be the start of a varietally expressive wine. I also believe in being fully hands on — so yes, I am a minimalist" [^181^]. Cary's approach is low-intervention but not dogmatically "natural." She uses minimal sulfur, wild fermentation, non-interventionist aging, and limited manipulation — but she is "not one hundred percent natural in terms of winemaking" [^174^].
Her goal is terroir transparency: "I want my wines to taste like where they were grown." The Sonoma wines were "masculine and rustic." The Shake Ridge Ranch wines were "feminine and fresh." Both captured "what was happening in those little pieces of the planet. That's the fun of winemaking for me" [^174^].
In the cellar, she employs extended macerations, co-fermentation, whole-cluster fermentation, and neutral French oak puncheons. She is "sensorily vigilant" — watching, tasting, adjusting — but without fretting or panicking. "My goal is to help the wines along with a light touch. I want to stay in tune with the wines and watch them" [^174^].
The wines have evolved: "The more recent wines are softer than what I started making originally. Some of that can be attributed to the vineyards with which I work. I want some nuance in the wines. I aim for a bit of Old World style. The wines have that fruit forward character, but there is a lot happening in the layers" [^174^].
The Vinguard & Guardian Vital
In 2026, Cary partnered with The Vinguard — a nonprofit promoting ecological farming and gender and labor equity — to create Guardian Vital: the first wine label that showcases the people who pick the grapes, not just the grapes themselves. The label requires ethical labor practices alongside chemical-free farming. Cary is choosing higher-acidity varieties to balance rising sugars from climate change, while advocating for adequate water, shelter, and breaks for workers during heatwaves. "We're missing the mark on the people," she says. "Wine can't exist without the people who harvest the grapes" [^178^].
Cuban, Female, & 3am in the Vineyard
Cary Quintana is a Hispanic businesswoman from Miami with no science background who became a passionate winemaker on the North Coast. She is self-taught, intuition-driven, and fiercely independent. Her Cuban heritage — "my grandparents are from Cuba, my family can be traced back to Spain" — informs her connection to Tempranillo and her desire to work with Spanish varieties like Graciano [^174^].
In 2025, the reality of immigration crackdowns hit her harvest directly. Her grower told her to be at the vineyard by 3 a.m. — not the usual dawn pick, but the middle of the night. The crews were too afraid to work later in the morning. Some growers were starting harvest as early as 10 p.m. "The reality of harvesting my grapes in the middle of the night was a big wakeup call," Cary says. She appreciated her grower's accommodation but was "horrified to see what the administration's anti-immigrant policies were doing to them" [^178^].
This experience crystallised her advocacy. As a board member of The Vinguard, she helped develop the Guardian Vital label to draw attention to vineyard workers' rights. She now plans releases of Xarel·lo white and Cinsault red under this label — heat-tolerant varieties that acknowledge both climate change and the humans enduring it [^178^].
"It's not just about the grapes. Let's acknowledge that wine does not start at the bottle. It starts in the field, in the vineyard."
— Cary Quintana
The Cary Q Range
All wines are made from organically or sustainably farmed fruit, hand-harvested, with minimal intervention in the cellar. Cary uses wild fermentation, extended maceration, co-fermentation, whole-cluster techniques, and neutral French oak puncheons. Minimal sulfur is added. The range centres on Grenache — "I'll always stay true to the Grenache grape varietal... it can be light or rustic" — but has expanded to include Tempranillo, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Graciano, and Xarel·lo as opportunities arise [^174^][^167^].