Adversity Cellars

Adversity Cellars is a small Napa winery built around making great wine that comes from vines that have to struggle. The project is run by winemaker Russell Bevan and his wife Heidi with the idea of making low-yield, bold, structured wines.​

History
Adversity Cellars released its first vintage in 2019, but the story goes way back. Russell Bevan developed a deep interest in wine in the 1990s, first as an enthusiastic taster and online commentator, before eventually becoming a full-time winemaker who has produced more than 38 wines that received perfect 100-point scores from major critics. After building a name with Bevan Cellars and other projects, he and Heidi launched Adversity Cellars as a separate label to highlight vineyards where vines face real stress with slopes that are steep, rocky soils, wind, and low vigor, conditions that can translate into concentrated fruit and distinctive textures in the glass.​

Heidi, who previously ran an aviation company, is responsible for the operational and brand side of the winery. Together, they have positioned Adversity Cellars as a limited-production, high-end label.

The Vineyards
Adversity Cellars does not own a large estate; instead, it sources fruit from carefully chosen Napa and Sonoma vineyards. The high-end vineyards include Sage Ridge, a vineyard east of Napa Valley at elevations around 800 to 1,500 feet, Erba Vineyard in the Atlas Peak AVA, and Phelan Ranch in the hills above Lake Hennessey. These locations are known for their steep slopes, rocky soils, and often windy, exposed aspects, which naturally limit yields.​

The label also works with vineyards that are among the last to be picked in a given harvest, another sign of challenging conditions and slow, steady ripening. In Sonoma County, Adversity Cellars sources Chardonnay from the 5 Wells Vineyard near Sebastopol, where sandy soils and cooler weather shape a different style of wine from the richer Napa reds. Overall annual production is small, generally between 1,000 and 1,500 cases, and most bottles are sold directly to consumers.​

The Terroir
The unifying theme across Adversity Cellars’ vineyards is adversity itself: mountain terrain, rocky and low-fertility soils, and sites that force vines to dig deep for water and nutrients. At Erba Vineyard on Atlas Peak, the soils are extremely rocky and the site can be windy. These conditions leads to small berries and concentrated juice, ideal for powerful Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.​

Sage Ridge, another key source, sits high above the valley with varied exposures and elevations, producing very tight Cabernet Sauvignon clusters with small berries and thick skins. Phelan Ranch, above Lake Hennessey, also contributes Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grown on hillside blocks that deliver dense fruit and firm structure. Even the Chardonnay site, 5 Wells, fits the theme: sandy soils in a cool, windy area that challenge the vines.​

Way of Winemaking
In the cellar, Adversity Cellars follows a hands-on approach. Grapes are picked by hand, and small-lot fermentations allow close tracking of each vineyard block. There is a strong emphasis on managing tannins and extraction. Even during techniques like foot-treading, Russell  watches the entire process of winemaking, even to avoiding crushing seeds, which can lead to harshness in the finished wine.​

The red wines spend extended time in oak, often in French barrels, with some Syrah lots aging around three years in wood. Chardonnay sees careful élevage to have richer California styles with more restrained, European-inspired profiles. The overall goal is clear: make bold wines that still show where they come from.

Three Fun Facts
First, the entire brand is built around the idea of “adversity” not just in vineyards, but in life. The name resembles both the tough conditions in the sites they farm and the personal belief that overcoming difficulty leads to something stronger—an idea Russell and Heidi link directly to their wines.​

Second, Russell Bevan’s path into winemaking started in an unusual place: online wine forums in the late 1990s. He became known to other wine lovers as a go-to voice for advice and recommendations long before he ever had his own label, which helped build a following when he eventually launched his own projects.​

Third, one of Adversity Cellars’ Cabernet bottlings is called “Catastrophe,” and the 2021 vintage even carries a playful misspelling—“Catostrophy”—on the front label while the back label shows the word spelled correctly. The wine itself comes from tough, high-elevation sites and is styled as a big, crowd-pleasing Napa Cabernet, turning the idea of disaster into something people are eager to open and share.​