Nicole Bertotti Pope is a winemaker who has spent more than 15 years crafting cool climate wines from the coastal regions of California. She and her husband, Lucas Pope, founded Haliotide Wines in 2016 as an exploration of traditional method, single vineyard sparkling wine grown on the SLO Coast. They are producing complex, age-worthy wines that depict the distinctive ocean influences of grapes grown in extreme proximity to the ocean.

Before focusing on Haliotide, Nicole was the winemaker at Stolo Vineyards in Cambria, where she spent nearly a decade helping to plant the estate and establish the winery’s reputation as a premium producer of cool climate wines.

She's served as Assistant Winemaker at Talley Vineyards in the Arroyo Grande Valley, specializing in coastal Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. She contributed technical expertise and gained sparkling wine experience while she was the Enologist/Lab Manager at Domaine Carneros Winery in Napa. Earlier in her career this Cal Poly grad and Division I athlete worked harvests across the globe in both South Africa and Australia.

Consistently hard-working season after season, Nicole’s talent earns acclaim—from being named San Francisco Chronicle’s 2019 Winemaker to Watch by Esther Mobley to numerous Top 100 Wines and accolades for the wines she has produced.

Nicole is a panelist for the Translating Terroir Through Bubbles seminar on Saturday, March 4, from 9:30 am - 11:30 am.