Our Story

Nue Wilde was created in 2018 by Ben Herod.

Ben was born and raised in Northern California, his Father an Artist and Carpenter, Mother a Nurse. He first learned to create by watching his Dad paint large scale paintings, build houses, and make art. He gained his attention to detail and curiosity to learn from his Mother.

His childhood filled with little league, big wheels and summers in the hills. In his early teens, team sports gave way to skateboarding and live music. Skateboarding is a highly individualistic sport, often taking many months and years to learn and perfect a trick. This gave him the grit needed to make it as a small production winemaker.

At age 19, a 3 month backpacking trip around Europe exposed him to the world of wine. While drinking champagne in Marseilles on Bastille day, fireworks and French music filling La Rue de la Republique, the fuse was lit.

He returned to the US and started college at UCDavis. While working in restaurants and attending school, his interest in wine exploded. This was it. A light bulb moment while tasting in Sonoma. This was his calling.

Wine classes, harvests in Napa, and a deep interest in wines from all over the world kept him inspired. He started making wine with a few friends in a San Francisco garage in 2004. In 2005 he made a few barrels while working a grueling harvest in Napa. In 2010, he and two friends started Oro En Paz, a winery in San Francisco. After 7 harvests the three friends decided to break up the band. Unsure of what would come next, Ben took a year off from winemaking in 2017. The genesis of Nue Wilde was starting to ferment…

Knowing that a lot of hard work lay ahead, he was determined to continue making wine and decided to go it alone. Something new. A new beginning to a wine that would be his vision alone. Also something wild. Something inspired by nature and long walks in the wilderness. Wild ferments and new vineyards to complement the old friends he had made over the 15+ years he has made wine.

Nue Wilde was born.