our story
Mending Wall is a boutique, family-owned winery located in the heart of Napa Valley. Founded on collaboration and craftsmanship, the winery brings together celebrated winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown and longtime Napa Valley stewards to create wines of purity, balance, and place. Inspired by Robert Frost’s poem, the name reflects the idea that boundaries can also be points of connection, an ethos that guides both our winemaking and our hospitality. At Mending Wall, we craft limited-production wines from Napa Valley’s most distinctive vineyards, offering an honest expression of the land and a welcoming space to share it.
Frank Dotzler
Proprietor
For Frank, wine has always been rooted in romance and adventure. He bought a 20-acre parcel and set out to make a dream come true, naming the place True Vineyard. His winemaking philosophy came together at True.
In 2003, he expanded his dream, acquiring Outpost Winery and Vineyard, bringing on the winemaking legend, Thomas Rivers Brown. Since then, the friends have blazed a long and fruitful trail, working to capture the magic and beauty of the region in some of the world’s best wines.
Mark Pulido & Donna Walker
Proprietors
Mark and Donna were both raised in pharmacy families, a practice that set the foundation for their winemaking philosophy. Their approach is one of scientific curiosity and a belief that to create anything great, one must walk a path of patience, discipline and determination.
The couple’s roots in Napa Valley started in the early 1980s, meeting with vintners and learning the rhythms of crafting a single vineyard, terroir-driven wine. The result of that patient journey is Pulido~Walker, three vineyards that produce extraordinary natural wines, each a strong reflection of its own unique sense of place.
THOMAS RIVERS BROWN
Winemaker/Proprietor
In 1995, Thomas left his home in the South and moved to California and he’s been studying Napa Valley winemaking ever since. Thomas’ approach is less by design and more by feel, to let the grapes and the land, and all of its incalculably subtle variables, determine how a wine is grown and produced. Because of this, no two of Thomas’ wines are ever quite the same, each an embodiment of the place and conditions that created it.
Thomas is the youngest winemaker ever to receive a 100-point score from Robert Parker. (He’s earned 20+ since.) He was awarded two 100-point scores from Wine Spectator, the first American winemaker to receive a perfect score. And Food & Wine Magazine named Thomas 2010 Winemaker of the Year.