Martin M. Reyes, MW
Founder
Accolades & Acclaim
IMPORTATION
- Top 40 Under 40 “Tastemakers of America” Wine Enthusiast Magazine, Oct 2015 Issue.
- Named among 2020’s Wine Industry Leaders by Wine Business Monthly, October 2020
WINEMAKING
- Named one of “US Best Cabernets” – Wine & Spirits Magazine, two of past three vintages (2016-93pts and 2018-94pts)
- 93 Pts – Wine & Spirits Magazine Dec 2019 Issue
- 2016 Peter Paul Napa Valley Master’s Blend – 92 Pts Wine & Spirits Magazine
- 2017 Peter Paul Bacigalupi Chardonnay – 93pts Wine Advocate.
- 2017 Peter Paul “Mary” Russian River Pinot Noir – 93pts Wine Advocate
CLIMATE ACTION
- Winery client (Spottswoode) featured in USA Today for climate action, mitigation & adaptation research
- Co-founder Napa Thrives
ACADEMIA
- Writing featured in JancisRobinson.com, American Association of Wine Economics Conference, (Best paper award, Vienna-2019) & Napa Valley Viticultural Society.
- Best Paper Award: by American Association of Wine Economics Conference, Vienna July 2019
The Rise of the Consumer-Critic: Is Purchasing Behavior Impacted in a Wine Retail Environment?
Co-Author with Christopher P. Cheng, Stanford Ph.D & C.S.W. - WSET Instructor for GrapeExperience.com during its short-listing for 2017 and 2018 Educator of the Year.
INTERNATIONAL JUDGING
- London: International Wine Challenge, London (Panel Chair)
- Singapore: Wine Pinnacle Awards (Jury Panel)
- USA: James Beard Foundation: 2020 Judge (Category Confidential)
- Past Judge for: Decanter World Wine Awards, Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, IntoTheWine & Taittinger Somm d’Or, Mexico City
A first-generation American, Martin has held influential roles in many sectors of the wine industry since 2002: wine director, importer, educator, international judge, winemaker, climate activist, and writer. His wine story began with an over-indulgent Parisian dinner as a Stanford undergrad; soon he was stocking shelves at his local wine wineshop. In 2011, Martin became the principal buyer for national wine club programs including The New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, Williams-Sonoma and was named one of Wine Enthusiast’s Top Forty under Forty Tastemakers in 2015. After working harvest at Solomon Undhof in 2016, he became the winemaker for Sonoma-based Peter Paul Wines for seven years.
Highlights from Martin’s multifarious career include: being the first Master of Wine of Mexican descent in 2018, winning Best Paper at Vienna’s 2019 AAWE Conference for his research in consumer purchasing behavior, twice producing one of Wine & Spirits Magazine’s “US Best Cabernets” under the Peter Paul Wines aegis… and twice being named one of Wine Business Monthly’s Industry Leaders for co-founding Wine Unify, empowering diversity, equity, and inclusion in wine and co-founding Napa RISE – a groundbreaking, community-driven symposium accelerating meaningful sustainability & climate action leadership in Napa County. In 2022, Martin became a Partner at WineWise, a well-respected importer responsible for bringing producers like Lopez de Heredia, Filipa Pato, and Tissot into the California market.
During his spare time, Martin occasionally writes (his work has been featured in JancisRobinson.com and Napa Valley Viticultural Society’s Journal), co-hosts the James Beard-awarded FourTop podcast on the culture and future of our industry, judges for several international competitions, attempts to become fluent in a fifth language, and unfortunately for dinner guests, is an incorrigible purveyor of dad humor.