Issue link: http://tcnj.uberflip.com/i/1543060
39 Class Notes WINTER 2026 The label's name calls back to her early musical passions — ottavino means "little octave" and is how the piccolo is notated on a musical score in Italian. To register, please visit alumni.tcnj.edu/events. Please join President Michael A. Bernstein at these alumni receptions Jupiter, Florida Hosted by Robert Kaye February 13, 2026 5–7 p.m. Washington, D.C. Hosted by Jim Schulz '93 February 26, 2026 6–8 p.m. A self-proclaimed nerd who likes to study, she enrolled along the way in the viticulture and enology program at Fresno State University to learn the science of growing grapes and making wine. Then it was on to what would be a years-long apprenticeship in winemaking. "After you finish school, you think you're qualified to be a winemaker, but you're not," she says. "You get to be a harvest intern again and again and again." She worked harvests and in the cellars of well-known wineries such as Stag 's Leap Wine Cellars and Williams Selyem, gaining expertise in working with pinot noir, a popular dry, red, fruity wine. She soon earned the title of winemaker — the person who makes all the decisions, from when to pick to what yeasts to use to the analysis of grape chemistry, to name a few. She focused her winemaking on three clients: Neely, an estate in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Waits-Mast Family Cellars in Mendocino County, and Xander Soren Wines in Santa Rita Hills. In 2015, Sekhar won winemaker of the year at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. Not long after the acclaim, Sekhar had the opportunity to start her own wine label, Ottavino. Her first vintage came out in 2020. The label's name calls back to her early musical passions — ottavino means "little octave" and is how the piccolo is notated on a musical score in Italian. With Ottavino, Sekhar began by making different wines from the pinot noir she had previously been known for. Ottavino focuses on relatively obscure Austrian grape varieties — grüner veltliner and St. Laurent — grown in northern California. "That's the fun part," she says. "Opening people's eyes to something else out there." — Jason Wilson