Our Story
Three labels. One winemaker. Sustainably farmed Santa Barbara County grapes, made by hand with minimal intervention, and priced for a Tuesday night. We've been doing it this way since 2007.
Meet Dave Potter
Dave grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, surrounded by some of the oldest vines in California — though he didn't think much of it at the time. He studied economics at UC Santa Barbara and was headed to law school when a detour to Australia's Margaret River changed everything. He earned a master's in winemaking at Curtin University, then worked harvests from the Barossa Valley to Châteauneuf-du-Pape before landing back on the Central Coast.
In 2007, he started Municipal Winemakers in a Funk Zone garage — making wine by hand, selling it out the door. That scrappy idea has grown into three labels: Potek, Municipal, and Nowadays. Different personalities, same conviction that great wine starts with great fruit and doesn't need much else.
He's still in the cellar for every vintage.
Three Labels. One Family.
Named after David Potter's great-grandfather, who emigrated from Romania in 1917 — his name changed at Ellis Island, his spirit intact. These are single-vineyard Santa Barbara wines built on Old World craft and reverence for place: ambitious, layered, and made to age.
Fresh, vibrant, and built for the table. Honest, well-made bottles that punch above their price — for weeknight dinners, picnics, and not overthinking it.
Biodynamic and organic grapes, foot-stomped, fermented with native yeast, and bottled with nothing added. If you like natural wine, start here.
How We Make Wine
Every grape comes from sustainable, herbicide-free farms across Santa Barbara County. We know the growers. We walk the rows.
In the cellar, we stay out of the way — native yeast fermentation, minimal sulfur, no fining or filtering when we can help it. The goal is wine that tastes like where it's from, not what we did to it.
Everything is pressed, fermented, and bottled on-site in the Funk Zone. We ship carbon neutral, always.
Come Say Hi
Two tasting rooms, both open daily. Our original home is in Santa Barbara's Funk Zone. Our second spot is in Ventura. Walk-ins always welcome — reservations recommended for groups.
Call us anytime: 805-931-MUNI
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