Winery of the Month: Orixe Sotelo
California wine is often associated with a familiar cast of grapes - Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir. Orixe Sotelo is interested in a different question: What else can California be?
Founded in Sonoma in 2019 by husband-and-wife team Gustavo and Jackie Sotelo, Orixe Sotelo tells a story that stretches from California to Mexico to the coastal mountains of Galicia, Spain. Even the name reflects that connection. Orixe - pronounced “o-REE-shay” - is a Galician word meaning “beginning,” “source,” “birth,” or “origin,” while Sotelo honors Gustavo's family name, which traces back to Galicia.
For Gustavo, that connection to Spain became especially meaningful as he began tracing his family history. Born in Mexico City, he eventually followed the Sotelo name back to northern Spain, discovering along the way a wine culture filled with grapes that rarely make it into the California spotlight. While working a harvest in Ribera del Duero, he traveled throughout the region, meeting producers and learning firsthand about its vineyards and traditions. Struck by similarities between the landscapes and coastlines of Spain and California, he began exploring what Spanish grape varieties could become when grown on California soil.
Photo provided by Orixe Sotelo
A husband-and-wife project
Orixe Sotelo is very much a partnership. Gustavo brings a deep background in vineyards and winemaking, with experience at wineries in Napa, Sonoma and Spain, a degree in Viticulture & Enology from UC Davis, and his role as head winemaker at Scribe Winery. Jackie brings a different but complementary perspective, with a background spanning marketing, sales, operations, and real estate. Today, she oversees the administrative side of Orixe Sotelo while helping shape the cultural story behind the brand.
Together, they have built something that feels both deeply personal and distinctly Californian - a winery influenced by Gustavo's Mexican and Galician roots, Jackie's creative and business experience, and their shared curiosity about what California wine still has left to explore.
Spanish grapes, California soil
One of the things that makes Orixe Sotelo so distinctive is its focus on Spanish grape varieties grown in California. Their portfolio includes everything from Tempranillo and Albariño to far less common varieties like Mencía, Prieto Picudo, Treixadura, and Godello - grapes with deep roots in Spain, now being explored through a distinctly Californian lens.
This month, we're especially excited to feature their Godello. Native to Galicia, the grape nearly disappeared by the 1970s before preservation efforts helped bring it back. Today, it remains a rare find in California, and Orixe Sotelo's comes from Birdland Vineyard at the base of Sonoma Mountain, home to what has been described as California's first acre of Godello. It's exactly the kind of wine we love featuring at Cork & Stem: something approachable enough to simply enjoy a glass of, but with a story - and a grape - you may not have encountered before.
Photo provided by Orixe Sotelo
A different lens on California wine
That's perhaps what we love most about Orixe Sotelo: the project isn't trying to make California taste like Spain.
Instead, Gustavo and Jackie are taking grapes with centuries of history in Spain and asking what they can become here.
The winery describes its work through the metaphor of a stereograph, an early photographic technique where two nearly identical images are viewed together to create an entirely new, three-dimensional perspective. California is the familiar image; Spanish varieties and Iberian influences provide the second lens. Put them together, and something new comes into focus.
It's a fitting metaphor for Orixe Sotelo as a whole - a winery simultaneously looking backward toward family history and forward toward a more expansive idea of California wine.
And that's exactly why we're so excited to feature Orixe Sotelo as our Winery of the Month this October! We'll be pouring Godello by the glass through the end of the month and sending our club members home with a bottle to enjoy. You can learn more about the winery - and check out some of their other bottles! - by clicking here.
Want to explore new wines each month? Join our Bottle Club! You can get all the details here.
Sources: Orixe Sotelo Winery, Sonoma Magazine, Wine Enthusiast, ACME Fine Wines
