Winemaker · Since the 2025 vintage
About Michael
“I am convinced Michael is a brilliant winemaker and one of the most talented of his generation.”
Jared Brandt, founding winemaker, after tasting Michael’s first releases
His story
From Austin to Berkeley
You can hear where Michael has been in his accent: born in Austin, Texas, raised in the Yorkshire Dales, and finished at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
His winemaking started on a walk in those foothills when he was 15. Lost, and trespassing, he was confronted by the owner of a winery, who soon after gave him his first job in wine.
He worked in the Edna Valley while studying wine at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. After graduating he made wine in Central Otago, New Zealand, and then in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. He farmed a small vineyard and made wine on the Philo-Greenwood ridge in Elk, on the Mendocino coast, and has also worked in the Petaluma Gap and parts of the Sonoma Coast.
In 2019 he started his own label, OUTIS, an ancient Greek word meaning “nobody.” It’s the name Odysseus gave himself on his long journey home, and that is what wine is for Michael: a journey. His new home is Donkey & Goat, where he took over winemaking with the 2025 harvest.
“2012 was my first vintage working with Pinot Noir. Then I worked with it in college on the Central Coast, in New Zealand after college, then in the Willamette Valley, on the Mendocino Ridge, and again in the Petaluma Gap and parts of the Sonoma Coast.”
15
First job in wine, in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Cal Poly
Studies wine and works in the Edna Valley.
New Zealand
Harvests in Central Otago.
Oregon
Makes wine in the Willamette Valley.
Elk
Farms a small vineyard on the Philo-Greenwood ridge, Mendocino.
2019
Starts his own label, OUTIS.
2025
Takes over winemaking at Donkey & Goat.
2025
Something special is happening again
“I don’t want my winemaking style to be on display. I want to elevate the fruit, the vintage and the site.”
2025 was Michael McCullough’s first vintage making Donkey & Goat, with founding winemaker Jared Brandt alongside. He took over the cellar with the 2025 harvest, after vintages in the Edna Valley, Central Otago, the Willamette Valley, on the Mendocino coast, and in the Petaluma Gap and parts of the Sonoma Coast.
“One thing I really respect about Jared, in the transition between winemakers, is that he didn’t say, oh, you’ve got to do this, this is how we make this wine. I have a good sense of what the house palate is here, and we’re very aligned in so many ways.”
Michael McCullough, winemaker
How we make wine
In Michael’s words
01
Nothing added
“We don’t adjust the must. We don’t acidulate, we don’t ameliorate. All of our quote-unquote adjustments come through the choices we make.”
02
Patience at the pick
“You have to have the courage and patience to give it a chance, because 99% of the time in California you’re not fighting to get something ripe.”
03
Stillness when the fruit comes in
“That first hour you spend really observing has a way of shifting the outcome for that wine for the rest of its life.”
04
Built to last
“Our wines go into barrel with a lot of tension, and they’re still evolving, still on the way up.”
Harvest 2025
His first harvest here
- August 18 The first pick of the year, the NDA Chardonnay. Michael hadn’t hired his harvest help yet, so he was in the building on his own, learning a new press, when the fruit came in.
- A gentle press The press never goes above 1.6 bar. Long, slow pressing, chasing quality, not yield.
- November The Falanghina came off in the second week of November, the day before the rain, two months later than usual. Everyone else had picked. Michael waited for the seeds and skins to be ready.
- No shortcuts No sulfur at crush, neutral barrels, long time on the lees. His adjustments are the choices he makes, not additions.
Taste his first vintage
Read Michael on each of the 2025 wines, then come taste them at the winery.
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