If and Only If: The Emergence of Sphaerics Wines, with Laura Jones and Brian Ball

Podcast EpisodesWine EducationWomen In WineWine IndustryNapa and SonomaChardonnay

Aug 11

Written By Nicole Lamberti

Episode Links:

Follow Sphaerics on Instagram.

Read the Sa n Francisc o Chronicl e article (by Esther Mobley) th at put them on my radar

Check out this awesome highlight of Sphaerics and Laura's winemaking in Wine Spectator

When a San Francisco Chronicle Headline Stops your Scroll…

There are articles that make you pause mid-scroll — and then there are headlines that make you put the phone down entirely. For me, it was this one from wine writer Esther Mobley in the San Francisco Chronicle: "A California winery will change your mind about Chardonnay." Bold. Intriguing. Maybe even a little bit of a challenge. I had to find out more.

That headline led me to Brian Ball and Laura Jones — a powerhouse husband-and-wife team based right here in Sonoma County, both 15-year veterans of the wine industry, and the founders of Sphaerics Wines. I reached out, they said yes, and we sat down at Skipstone Winery in Alexander Valley to taste through their stunning Chardonnay lineup and hear the story behind one of wine country's most exciting new labels.

This is their story. And honestly? It might just change your mind about Chardonnay, too.

From Wall Street to Wine Country: Brian's Unlikely Journey

Brian grew up in Virginia, went into finance, and found himself on Wall Street in 2008 and 2009 — possibly the most stressful two years in recent banking history. "It drove me to drink," he laughs, "and I said, let's become a professional at this." At 24, with the encouragement of a mentor at J.P. Morgan and the support of his parents, he packed up his car and drove across the country to pursue winemaking. He had never set foot in a winery.

He applied to every job on WineJobs.com, did harvest internships, and eventually enrolled in the renowned viticulture and enology program at UC Davis in 2012. It was there — at a winemaking symposium one month before classes started — that he met Laura Jones.

As for his winemaking ambitions? There was a moment of clarity involving a forklift, an empty barrel, and a winemaker's brand-new car. "I said, man, maybe I'm not going to be an amazing winemaker, so I better marry one instead." Reader, he did.

Burgundy Dreams and a Biologist Who Fell for Wine: Laura's Path

Laura grew up in Wyoming, studied biology at Pepperdine, and discovered the world of winemaking while searching for graduate programs. She made her way to Napa for a harvest internship at Bukella under winemaker Rebecca Weinberg, then traveled to Spy Valley in New Zealand, and ultimately landed at UC Davis — where she and Brian met and have been together every day since.

After graduating, Laura went to work at Armand Rousseau in Burgundy — a moment that Brian credits as the reason he knew he had to propose. (He did, right there in Burgundy.) She went on to work at Cliff Lede Vineyard in Napa, and then spent five years at Aubert, the Calistoga winery celebrated for benchmark California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. It was the dream job, and it was there that her passion for Chardonnay was truly cemented.

Her defining Chardonnay moment? A barrel tasting with Jean-Marc Rouleau at Domaine Roulot in Meursault — working through the estate's entire lineup, from regional bottlings up through the Premier Cru. "Every wine was just more exciting than the last," she recalls. "I remember I think I called Brian after it and told him about it."

Skipstone, a Shared Dream, and the Birth of Sphaerics

Brian had been the General Manager at Skipstone Winery in Alexander Valley for more than eight years when Skipstone's owner, Fari Farvardin, approached him with a request: he wanted to bring on a winemaker to lead the estate's newly completed winery — someone at the very top of their game, someone he already trusted. He had Laura in mind.

Laura joined Skipstone in 2022. That same year, she and Brian launched Sphaerics Wines — the label they had been quietly building toward for their entire careers together. Their answer to "when are you going to start your own winery?" had always been the same: if and only if we can do it right, from day one. In 2022, that moment arrived.

The fruit that unlocked everything was Upper Barn Vineyard — a legendary Chardonnay site owned by the Jackson family, planted in 1982, planted on AXR1 rootstock with heritage Wente clones, and discovered by Helen Turley. It had produced iconic single-vineyard Chardonnays for Peter Michael Winery and Marcassin before the Jackson family kept the fruit exclusively for Stonestreet. Through years of neighborly trust-building with Chris Jackson, Brian and Laura secured access to the site — and the Sphaerics story began.

What's in a Name? The Math, the Sphere, and the Ball

"Sphaerics" is the title of an ancient Greek foundational text on spherical geometry. Brian was a math major, and the name resonated. It also doesn't hurt that his last name is Ball. Every wine in the Sphaerics portfolio carries a name rooted in that mathematical world:

If and Only If — their flagship Upper Barn Alexander Valley Chardonnay, named for the logical statement that represents the closest relationship between two things (and, fittingly, their answer to the question of when they'd start a winery).

The Overline — their Napa Carneros Chardonnay, named because it comes from just over the county line into Napa — and because in ancient Greek, overlining a letter designated it as a number.

On Days and Nights — their Russian River Valley Chardonnay, from a warmer site that brings a touch more richness and texture to the glass.

And a fourth wine — a Pinot Noir — is coming in January, with a name Laura is keeping under wraps for now. (She's the one who's named everything so far. Brian just answers the phone.)

Sip Spotlight: The 2023 Overline and a Barrel Sample You'll Never Forget

We tasted two wines during our conversation — and I have to be honest, I was struggling to keep talking once the glasses were poured.

The 2023 Overline from Napa Carneros is a blend of three clones — Wente, Mount Eden, and Hyde — from what Laura describes as the coolest and most mineral-driven site in their portfolio. The winemaking is Burgundian through and through: whole-cluster pressed, barrel fermented, with fermentations that stretch nine months through spring and into early summer. It finishes in stainless steel — a reductive environment that preserves tension and precision — and is bottled unfined and unfiltered.

What hits you first is the energy. Brian describes it as "electrifying" — that pop of acidity that makes your mouth water. I call it the exclamation point at the end of the sip. The finish keeps going long after you've put the glass down, evolving, dancing, inviting another taste. It's not buttery. It's not flabby. It's full of life.

Then Brian pulled out a barrel sample — the 2024 If and Only If, drawn that very morning. Seeing those tears roll down the glass in the afternoon sun, I knew this wine was something else. Rich and viscous in texture, yet restrained and elegant on the palate. Complex. Layered. The kind of Chardonnay that holds its own at any table, next to any red wine, in any company.

For food pairings, Brian suggests everything from lobster bisque and triple-cream cheese to hamachi crudo — proof of just how versatile a wine with genuine energy can be.

The Winemaker's Grape — And Why It Matters

One of my favorite things we explored in this episode is the nickname I've used as a wine educator for years: Chardonnay as "the winemaker's grape." It's a neutral variety that acts as a canvas, picking up the character of its site, its clone, its fermentation. Change any variable and you change the wine.

Laura illustrated this beautifully: across Sphaerics's three Chardonnays, the winemaking is identical. Same techniques, same care. And yet — the Overline is mineral and precise, the On Days and Nights is rounder and richer, and the If and Only If is something unto itself, a high-elevation wine from 40-year-old vines at 1,800 feet that simply cannot be replicated anywhere else. The site speaks. Laura just listens.

This is what gets lost when people say they "don't like Chardonnay." They've usually encountered the commodity end of the spectrum — big, blowsy, oak-forward wines that substitute butter for complexity. What Sphaerics is making is the opposite of that. It's the argument for why Chardonnay deserves to be on your table, in your glass, and in the conversation alongside the world's great wines.

The Partnership Behind the Bottle

Running a winery together as a married couple is one of those things that sounds impossibly romantic — and I tried to romanticize it on the podcast. Laura set me straight, in the best way.

"What's so great about it is that we do different things and we're both great at what we do, but it's totally separate." Laura makes the wine. Brian sells it, runs the business, and is on call for late-night cellar emergencies. (He describes himself as "the B team in the cellar" — a designation earned by the infamous barrel-off-the-forklift incident.)

There's a story Laura tells about an early dinner party after the 2022 harvest, still in the phase of getting the business set up — no website, no name yet. She found herself talking to a wine collector who was immediately interested in what they were doing and asked how he could get some. Her answer? "We don't have a website up. Just check in a year." Brian overheard, pulled her aside, and said: get his email. He had already set up a Google Doc on her phone. That's how the mailing list started.

"Most winemakers are bad at sales," Laura admits with a laugh. "That's so nice for me to have just not have to worry about." The partnership works because both people are genuinely exceptional at their half of the equation.

A Vineyard of Their Own — The Next Chapter

If the Chardonnay story wasn't compelling enough, Brian and Laura saved the biggest news for the end of our conversation: earlier this year, they acquired their own estate vineyard.

It's 13 acres in the Occidental-Freestone area of the Sonoma Coast — the exact spot Laura had pointed to years earlier when Brian asked where she'd put a vineyard if she could wave a magic wand. Gold Ridge soils. Rolling hills. A mix of established and new plantings that will come online over the next few years.

Their first estate Pinot Noir from the 2025 vintage is already underway. Estate Chardonnay will follow. For a label that started with just a few hundred cases of one wine in 2022, this is an extraordinary milestone — and proof that when you build something with intention, patience, and genuine love for what you do, the magic tends to follow.

How to Get Your Hands on Sphaerics Wines

Sphaerics is a small, allocation-only label. The best way to access their wines is to join the mailing list at here. Each January, they reach out to list members with their annual release — the four 2024 wines are coming this January, including the first Pinot Noir.

If you're visiting Sonoma County wine country, reach out to them directly to arrange a barrel or tank tasting in Healdsburg — especially during summer and fall, when you can taste the wines in progress. There's no tasting room experience quite like standing in the cellar with the winemaker herself, glass in hand.