The Winemaker

Mark Davis

Mark Davis grew up in Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. (not exactly wine country). After graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in chemical engineering, his love of fermentation science (and boredom at his government job) brought him to California to see what winemaking was really like, outside of a small, home-based hobby he had dabbled with.

Mark quickly fell in love with the whole winemaking process: from tasting grapes to check for ripeness, to pumping over tanks, to shoveling out grape skins, and generally getting your hands dirty making great wine. After his first vintage, Mark applied to the world-renowned UC Davis viticulture and enology program. He was accepted and spent two years learning as much as possible about everything having to do with growing grapes and making wine. Mark graduated with high honors in 2010 and also received the honorary department citation for outstanding achievement in viticulture and enology.

After several vintages across northern California as well as in Australia and South Africa, Mark eventually was given the opportunity to start his own label and in 2012 Cobden Wini Wines was born. As well as handling all the winemaking for the Cobden Wini label, Mark also consults for several small brands throughout California. For nearly 10 years, Mark was also the winemaker at O'Brien Estate winery in Oak Knoll before stepping aside to focus on Cobden Wini as well as his consulting brands. Mark continues to learn every day and strives to make the best wines possible while still making sure to have fun every step along the way.

But there’s more to the Cobden Wini story; Helping Mark with everything at Cobden Wini are his wife Megan and their new crazy pup, Butter.

The Real BossMegan Raphael-Davis

Megan officially joined the Cobden Wini team in 2020 but really has been assisting us behind-the-scenes since 2017. Although she is originally from Kentucky (she’s a Kentucky Colonel no less), New York City is really where she calls home. After attending college at The University of Miami (Go Canes!) where she earned degrees in Public Relations, International Business, and Marketing, Megan moved to New York City where she immersed herself in arguably the greatest culinary scene in the world. Serving as the publicist for some of the country’s top celebrity chefs and most famous restaurants, she quickly fell in love with everything food and wine related. This led her to completing a Restaurant Business Management degree from the Institute of Culinary Education, a Hospitality Management degree from New York University, and in 2012 she started her own Restaurant Consulting business. Following her incredible success in NYC, Megan took her consulting business bi-coastal and eventually relocated to Napa full time and began working with a number of boutique wineries, helping them grow their businesses. Through that work, she met Mark and Paddy and the rest is history! If you've ever had a bottle of our sparkling, you may have noticed "For Meggy" hidden on the label. Well, Megan has never been able to drink anything carbonated (soda, champagne, nothing) so naturally Mark decided to dedicate the sparkling wine to her as a fun joke (it's OK, she approved it beforehand ).

The New Wine DogBUTTER

Butter was adopted in August of 2023. He was part of a litter that had been neglected and left to starve. Luckily, the litter was brought in by a local rescue (Pack Lyfe Rescue) and the pups were nursed back to health. Due to his early malnutrition, initially Butter was a little small for his breed so we liked to call him our pocket pitty. He has since gotten his weight up and has filled out a good amount. He's still a little small for his breed but we think he a perfect little butter ball.  Butter is not big on the noises at the winery but loves meeting everyone at the tasting room. If you catch a day when he's there, just look for the little dog with a big head and one wonky ear.  Be sure to follow his antics on Instagram, @littlebuddybutter.

The O.G. Wine DogPaddy

With great sorrow, Paddy passed away suddenly due to cancer in 2023 at the age of 10. He was the greatest pup and will forever be memorialized on our corks (and rosé bottle), as he has been since 2014. Paddy was found as a stray puppy in 2013 on St. Patrick’s Day (hence the name ;). Sadly, he was diagnosed as having Parvovirus; a canine disease that can be particularly lethal for puppies. Luckily for us, he was found in time by Yolo County animal services, treated, and survived. Soon after, Paddy was in his forever home in Napa with Mark. Paddy loved hanging out in the vineyard, chewing tennis balls on the crush pad (occasionally stealing grapes during harvest), and overseeing each Cobden Wini vintage to ensure the utmost quality of the wine.  You can find all his old exploits on Instagram (@paddythepittie). You can also find him in multiple additions of the famous Wine Dogs books and as their 2022 calendar cover star. We miss you dearly, Paddy boy; you were the best dog ever.