Featured vintner at Lombardi dinner has a personal connection to cancer fight

When Matt Naumann went to create his own winery, he knew he wanted to put down roots. He wants a legacy, not just a label.

That’s the goal behind Newfound Wines, the small California winery Naumann and his wife, Audra, run in the Sierra Foothills.

It’s been quite the journey for Naumann, who got his start in the industry at a downtown Milwaukee wine shop. Nearly two decades later, he’s making his own wines.

Naumann is also the president at Wade Cellars, working to create wines with Marquette University alumnus and former Miami Heat player Dwyane Wade.

Naumann is a featured vintner at this year’s Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation Celebrity Chef & Wine Dinner, with a menu by St. Louis chef Ben Welch, on Nov. 5 at the Wisconsin Club.

Newfound Wines at the dinner include a 2020 Semillon, 2017 Scaggs Vineyard Grenache and 2020 Gravels. Tickets are available at lombardifoundation.org/food-wine.

Naumann grew up in Germantown and attended Wisconsin Lutheran High School and UW-Milwaukee. This year, his Newfound Wines produced its first rosé. Typically Newfound wines are priced between $30 and $45. Order Newfound Wines at newfoundwines.com/.

Getting started

I grew up interested in food, my mom liked to cook. The topic of wine was pretty fascinating. I got a job at a wine shop.

My first job was at Mo’s wine shop downtown. Johnny Vassallo owned it. I vividly remember the day I walked into the wine shop. I said hey, I know nothing about the industry. I’m fascinated by wine and just want to learn. The person said they actually were hiring, can you start tomorrow? That was the beginning of everything.

First wine he fell for

Early on, I lived on Downer Avenue, and Downer Wine and Spirits was the wine shop I would go to as I became more and more interested. … I got into French wine pretty early, and maybe the first glass of Pinot Noir I had, fairly cliche, but it was a bit of an a-ha moment.

Making his way west

Working at Mo’s that first year, I realized this was a career path I wanted to explore. Winemakers would come in from California, all over. I wanted to work in production and learn more about the industry. I learn by doing. I ended up connecting with Michael Phillips at Michael David Vineyard when he came to Mo’s. He said “You should come to Lodi (California). We have a student program.” That was when they were doing Seven Deadly Zins.

I moved to Lodi in 2003. That was probably the most formative experience of my career.

A change of plans

After summer 2004 I had plans to move to London. I came back to Wisconsin for a couple months waiting for my visa. I ended up staying in Milwaukee three more years. That’s when I worked at Grapes and Grain, a longtime really great community wine shop in Mequon.…

Being able to connect all the dots from consumer to winery to producers around the world, those are key moments in my background. I moved to California in 2007. I’ve been here since.

Finding himself at Failla

Ehren Jordan is the owner of Failla wines. I started when the winery was being built out, the only production employee for the first year.… The real owner-operators in this industry do everything. Ehren had all of those skills. It was great for me to be a part of that for 10 years. It spawned the desire to have my own project.

Putting down roots

When we started Newfound, we wanted to be grape growers, something tangible, something long lasting. Not just a label. There are a million labels out there. I wanted more of a legacy attached to it.

We purchased a property in the Sierra Foothills. We live in the Napa Valley, St. Helena. Prices in the Sonoma Valley and Napa are a little out of our income bracket, but there are some interesting vineyard sites in the Sierra Foothills.

There are some great wines made in the foothills, the area around Amador and El Dorado county. We’re in El Dorado just north of Amador. There is a lot of untapped potential … and you can buy land. A wine professional without deep pockets can actually become a winery owner. That’s what that area represented for myself and my wife.

We bought the property before we got married in 2016, before we even started the label .… We have five acres now. We’ll have 10 by next year, organically grown.

Where to find Newfound Wines

We’re not in distribution in Wisconsin. We do ship direct to consumers if they are part of our program.… Our wholesale markets are the main ones, California, New York.… We sell more wine in the UK than we do anywhere outside of New York. Then Quebec, northern Europe, Sweden, Denmark and Japan. That is a big focus for us.

His other Wisconsin wine connection

One of my closest friends out here is an attorney in Napa Valley and he’s very into wine. He started this business with (Marquette University alumnus) Dwyane Wade in 2014. His wines were sold exclusively in China for the first few years because of rules that the NBA had.

As Newfound became more demanding on my schedule, I left Failla so I could focus on my own things. A year into that, I needed something that would offer flexibility to focus on Newfound but also be a different project.… I realized quickly how serious Dwyane was about this. Currently I am the director of winemaking and president of  Wade Cellars. When I started, we had 800 cases of to sell.… We’re now at 14,000 cases in a matter of three years. I see it growing.

Balancing his roles

Newfound is very organic. I get to make wines I really want to make and I can take my time and be really thoughtful with them in a different way.

Wade Cellars has all the markings of a brand that will be an incredible commercial success. Making wines and crafting for a broader audience is a different art. It is great to have both of those under my guidance.

What he wants you to know

Wine is a really difficult endeavor. When I moved to California I had like $500 in my bank account. None of this is coming from a place of privilege. We’re grinding to make this all happen. I am doing it because I love it.

His wines

Our wines are really made to be elegant wines. If you’re looking for something big and obvious, extracted, those are not our wines. I hope they never are.

His love list

I love grenache and carignan. I love mourvèdre. My white wine is a semillon, and my fascination there has to do more with the vineyard site than the grape variety. I do love semillon. It is not an obvious wine. They’re very understated. There’s no flamboyance to it. That's the style of wine I personally enjoy.

By the numbers

Our first vintage we produced 600 cases total. This year, this harvest, we’ll put 4,000 cases in the bottle. My goal is 6,000 cases and to see if we’re making enough money to pay for the business.

Coming full circle

It is fairly ironic. Growing up in Germantown/Menomonee Falls area I was a caddy at North Hills Country Club. I remember caddying and being a spectator at the Vince Lombardi golf outing they’d have with the retired Green Bay Packers, and Bart Starr would show up. This was the '80s.

I was actually introduced to the Vince Lombardi Foundation working at Failla … I have stayed in contact with one of the organizers, Trace Tendick. He asked if we’d be interested in being the featured vineyard. It was a no-brainer to come back to Milwaukee. This will be the first time we will be in Milwaukee with our wines.

When I moved to California in 2007, I met my first wife. We got married in 2009, had our daughter who is now 11. But in 2012, my wife Sarah was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a grade 4 brain tumor. Our daughter was one and a half. We had just bought our first house. Our lives were in a tailspin, and for the type of cancer and tumor she had it was only a matter of time. It was a terminal disease.

This topic of cancer and supporting any type of charity supportive of patients and research is close to me. We’re super honored to be in Milwaukee to do this.

Wines to watch

We will be releasing our 2020 Newfound Gravels, a grenache and syrah blend. That is the wine I think we have become most known for.… Our second release is a syrah, from a vineyard I call “Shake Ridge” in Amador. We don’t make much of it. There are only 50 cases available. I wish we had more.

Start sipping

Find a shop with someone that is knowledgeable enough to point you in the right direction and understands where you are at in your wine drinking journey. If you didn’t grow up with it, the language is weird. … The great thing about Milwaukee is there are a lot of great wine shops and independently owned businesses.

More: No shortcuts, 'scrappy' and local: Chef Esther Choi carries on love for quality Korean food

Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email psullivan@gannett.com.

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If you go

What: Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation Celebrity Chef & Wine Dinner, a five-course meal paired with wine and Wisconsin cheese.

Details: Nov. 5, Wisconsin Club, 800 W. Wisconsin Ave.

Cost: $300

About the foundation: Started in 1971, it provides grants to organizations working to prevent cancer, care for patients and find a cure.

Tickets:  Go to  lombardifoundation.org/food-wine. 

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lombardi Foundation dinner's winemaker has a reason to fight cancer