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Sabelli-Frisch

California’s older grape varieties, made as small, single-site wines by Adam Sabelli-Frisch.

The producer

Sabelli-Frisch is a family-owned, Los Angeles-based California producer led by owner and winemaker Adam Sabelli-Frisch. Since the first commercial vintage in 2018, he has sourced fruit mainly from Lodi and Santa Barbara, making small lots from named vineyards and historic grapes. Mission is the signature: Marina, from Somers Vineyard in Mokelumne River, shows the variety as a dry wine with strawberry fruit, pepper and herbal bitterness.

The range also follows Flame Tokay, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rhône varieties and fortified Angelica-style wines. Natural fermentation, low sulfites, limited oak and extended winery ageing keep the grape and site in view. Lanterna uses skin contact with pink-skinned Flame Tokay for colour and grip, while El Aliso turns Mission into a warming, port-like fortified wine.

Known for

Single-site California wines centred on Mission and other historic grape varieties.

Notable facts

The story

The photograph that led to Lanterna

Flame Tokay entered the Sabelli-Frisch range through a photograph. Adam Sabelli-Frisch’s vineyard manager, who worked with his Mission vines, sent him an image of an unfamiliar pink cluster. It was Flame Tokay, and Sabelli-Frisch began investigating the variety before finding a source at Blodgett Vineyard in Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA. The vines there were planted in 1926 and still grow on their own roots. He made Lanterna with skin contact, drawing colour and structure from the pink skins. The producer has used both orange-wine and rosé terminology for the bottle, but it is a skin-contact Flame Tokay from those old Blodgett vines.

From the atlas

Sabelli-Frisch

At A Glance

Sabelli-Frisch is a family-owned California producer led by owner and winemaker Adam Sabelli-Frisch. Its first commercial vintage was 2018, and production was roughly 1,500 cases a year by July 2025. The wines move between Lodi and Santa Barbara vineyards, with Mission at their centre: an old California grape made here as a dry, peppery table wine, a skin-contact wine, and a fortified Angelica-style wine.

The Producer

Adam Sabelli-Frisch makes single-variety, single-site wines rather than building the range around one estate address. Mission is the defining grape: Marina, from Somers Vineyard in Mokelumne River, shows its strawberry fruit, pepper and herbal bitterness as a dry wine. The same focus on older California plant material also brings Flame Tokay and Zinfandel into the Heritage Series, so each bottle begins with a named grape and vineyard rather than a blended house style.

Place

The producer is based in Los Angeles, but the vineyard addresses stretch across Northern and Central California. Fruit comes mainly from Santa Barbara and Lodi, with wines also tied to Mokelumne River, Clements Hills, Cosumnes River and Santa Ynez. Those place names matter on the label because Sabelli-Frisch works by site: Marina names Somers Vineyard in Mokelumne River, while the Biograf Series includes Syrah from White Hawk Vineyard in Santa Barbara County and Knowles Vineyard in Mokelumne River.

Soil And Site

Sabelli-Frisch does not present one uniform patchwork of ground; its site story is carried by individual vineyards and vines. Blodgett Vineyard in Mokelumne River supplies the Flame Tokay for Lanterna. Its vines were planted in 1926 and remain on their own roots, which makes the bottle a direct encounter with an old pink-skinned California planting. Somers Vineyard provides the Mission for Marina, while White Hawk and Knowles distinguish the separate Syrah bottlings.

Story

Before wine, Sabelli-Frisch worked as a cinematographer in London and Hollywood, shooting commercials and music videos. Born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, he entered California wine with his first commercial vintage in 2018, then began working independently in 2020 after two years with a supervising winemaker. The project settled on grapes with a long California history, especially Mission, so the resulting wines turn a grape more often associated with the state’s past into dry, vineyard-named bottles.

Vineyards And Cellar

The cellar approach keeps the vineyard lot in view. Sabelli-Frisch generally uses natural fermentation, no added chemicals and low sulfites; filtration and fining are avoided when possible. Oak is limited unless a particular wine needs it, and wines are generally held at the winery for at least eighteen months before release. In Marina, that leaves room for Mission’s strawberry fruit, pepper and herbal notes rather than an overt oak character. In Lanterna, skin contact with Flame Tokay supplies colour and structure from the grape’s pink skins.

Wines

The Heritage Series is the core collection of historic California varieties. Mission is its central grape, with Marina showing it as a dry varietal wine from Somers Vineyard; the warmer 2020 vintage made a fuller wine than 2019, while keeping strawberry, pepper and herbal-bitters character. Lanterna takes another heritage variety, Flame Tokay, and makes it through skin contact, so its colour and grip come from the pink skins rather than from blending.

Paul Frisch Cabs contains ultra-small-batch Cabernet Sauvignon from California areas beyond Napa. The Biograf Series follows Rhône varieties, particularly Syrah, through vineyard-designated bottlings such as White Hawk Vineyard in Santa Barbara County and Knowles Vineyard in Mokelumne River. The Aperitif Series changes Mission’s role again: El Aliso is a fortified, port-like Mission wine, built around warmth and sweetness rather than the dry fruit and herbal bite of Marina.

In The Glass

Mission is the clearest thread through the range. Marina carries strawberry fruit first, followed by pepper and herb notes with a Campari-like bitter edge; the 2020 has more body than the cooler-shaped 2019 because the growing year was warmer. Lanterna trades that dry Mission profile for colour and structure drawn from Flame Tokay skins. El Aliso moves in the opposite direction from Marina: fortification makes the Mission feel warming and sweet, with a port-like weight on the palate.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the 2020 Marina, a 14% alcohol varietal Mission from Somers Vineyard in Mokelumne River. It is fuller than the 2019 because of the warmer 2020 season, but its strawberry fruit, pepper, herbal notes and bitter lift still keep the grape in focus. Serve it slightly chilled. Marina comes first because it puts Sabelli-Frisch’s signature variety, single-site sourcing and dry table-wine approach into one bottle.

Anecdote

Flame Tokay entered the Sabelli-Frisch range through a photograph. Adam Sabelli-Frisch’s vineyard manager, who worked with his Mission vines, sent him an image of an unfamiliar cluster. It was Flame Tokay, a pink-skinned variety, and Sabelli-Frisch began investigating it. The search led to Blodgett Vineyard in Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA, where the vines had been planted in 1926 and still grew on their own roots. He made Lanterna with skin contact, allowing the pink skins to contribute both colour and structure. The producer has used both orange-wine and rosé terminology for Lanterna, but the wine remains a skin-contact Flame Tokay from those old Blodgett vines.

Final Word

Sabelli-Frisch is useful to seek out for its different readings of old California grapes. Marina shows Mission as a dry wine with strawberry, pepper and herbal bitterness; Lanterna uses Flame Tokay skins for colour and grip; El Aliso turns Mission toward fortified warmth. The vineyard name and grape on each label are the practical clues to what is in the glass.

Sources

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