A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes:
Biodynamic wines are wines made employing the biodynamic methods both to grow the fruit and during the post-harvest processing. Biodynamic wine production uses organic farming methods while also employing soil supplements prepared according to Rudolf Steiner's formulas, following a planting calendar that depends upon astrological configurations, and treating the earth as "a living and receptive organism."
The Rubicon Estate Winery is located in Rutherford, California, United States. The winery sits on a portion of the historic Napa Valley property first acquired in 1879 by a Finnish Sea Captain Gustave Niebaum, founder of the Inglenook Winery.
California wine has a long and continuing history, and in the late twentieth century became recognized as producing some of the world's finest wine. While wine is made in all fifty U.S. states, up to 90% of American wine is produced in the state. California would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world if it were an independent nation.
Émile Peynaud was a French oenologist and researcher who has been credited with revolutionizing winemaking in the latter half of the 20th century, and has been called "the forefather of modern oenology".
Enologix is a privately held California corporation that designs predictive analytics for luxury winegrowing. The company sells grape and wine quality indices, models, software and consulting products. Enologix created the first algorithms that predict grape harvest dates, grading new wines, digital blends, and future market price, volume and taste scores. The most important metric among winemakers are digital blends and a taste index which predicts 100-point scores of consumer critics such as Robert Parker. It claims that the quality of wine can be measured chemically, and a score assessed, much like a wine critic. Clients include Beaulieu, Cakebread Cellars, Diamond Creek, Ridge Vineyards. Enologix's metrics have been correlated with market performance metrics, including 100-points critics' scores.
Paul Draper is a California winemaker who has been the chief winemaker at Ridge Vineyards in California since 1969. Without any formal training in winemaking, Draper first gained recognition for his 1971 Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon when it placed fifth at the Judgment of Paris wine tasting. Draper has played a significant role in the history of California wine through his pioneering work in popularizing "vineyard-designated" wines as well as instigating the resurgence of old vine Zinfandel. Along with Ravenswood Winery's Joel Peterson, Draper is considered one of the most important figures in the history of Californian Zinfandel, rescuing the grape from obscurity and demonstrating its full potential as a serious wine. Draper was featured in a short film titled Terroir and directed by Christopher McGilvray which was shown at the 2017 Cinequest Film Festival.
The Mountain Winery, formerly the Paul Masson Mountain Winery, is a winery in Saratoga, California, United States, North America. It was founded by Paul Masson, a pioneer of the California wine industry. The winery became famous for its slogan, voiced by Orson Welles in television commercials: "We will sell no wine before its time."
Stony Hill Vineyard is located south of the Bothe-Napa Valley State Park in the northern reaches of the city of Saint Helena, California. The vineyard is a family-owned business which remained under family control after the death of the founders in 1977. Annual output as of 2007 was 3,400 cases from 40 planted acres (160,000 m2), c. 60% of which are planted with Chardonnay. The vineyard's business model focuses on mail order sales direct to individuals in California and indirectly to individuals in other states of the United States, as well as sales to fine-dining restaurants in major metropolitan areas in the United States.
Dawnine Sample Dyer is an American winemaker and entrepreneur who pioneered the use of champagne-making methods in California's fledgling sparkling wine industry in the 1970s.
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted Vitis vinifera vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. In the 1770s, Spanish missionaries continued the practice under the direction of the Father Junípero Serra who planted California's first vineyard at Mission San Juan Capistrano.
Purcari is a brand of wine distributed in Central and Eastern Europe. The winery is located in Purcari Wine Region, within the Ștefan Vodă District of Moldova. Through the years, Purcari Winery has won over 250 medals at international contests like Decanter World Wine Awards, International Wine & Spirits Competition, International Wine Challenge and many other competitions.
David Lake was a Washington winemaker and Master of Wine. Born in England to Canadian parents, Lake started in the wine industry working for a British wholesaler. In 1975 he earned his Master of Wine certification before traveling to the United States to enroll into the enology program of University of California-Davis. In 1978 he accepted a position of enologist with the Washington winery Associated Vintners where he soon rose to the position of chief winemaker. Among Lake's accomplishments was releasing Washington's first single vineyard designated wines and making the states first Cabernet franc, Syrah and Pinot gris wines. He was the first US winemaker to hold a Master of Wine accreditation.
Changyu Pioneer Wine Co. Inc., located in Yantai, Shandong, is China's oldest and largest winery. It was founded in 1892 by Cheong Fatt Tze.
Giaconda is an Australian winery in Beechworth, Victoria.
Page Springs Cellars & Vineyards is a family-owned Arizona winery and vineyard tucked into the volcanic landscape overlooking pristine Oak Creek Canyon, just 15 minutes south of Sedona in the Verde Valley. Page Springs Cellars produces Rhone style wines, working primarily with Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache and Mourvedre.
Chinook is a Washington winery located in the Yakima Valley AVA. Founded in 1983 by the wife and husband team of Kay Simon and Clay Mackey, Chinook was one of the pioneering wineries that established Prosser, Washington as a major wine-producing region in Washington state. Kay Simon, who began her career after graduating in 1976 from University of California-Davis in California's San Joaquin Valley and at Chateau Ste. Michelle, was one of the first female winemaker in Washington State. Chinook wines are widely regarded for their quality and help spread recognition for Washington wines. They are considered by wine experts such as Paul Gregutt to be "the classic expression of Yakima Valley fruit". Chinook's work with Cabernet franc, in particular, has garnered the statewide acclaim with the dry Cabernet franc rosé often described in wine reviews as a "Washington Chinon".
Blackbird Vineyards is a Napa Valley based winery. It is part of the Bespoke Collection. Founder Michael Polenske wanted to create a winery that focused on producing wines from Merlot grapes, which fits with the name "Blackbird", as merlot means "young blackbird", in French patois. Blackbird Vineyards creates wines inspired by the Pomerol area of France. The winery calls their wines "California Bordeaux".
Daniel Baron is an American winemaker. He is best known for his work with the Duncan family-owned Silver Oak Cellars and Twomey Cellars, and was Director of Winemaking for both. After his retirement in 2017, he launched Complant Wine with his son, Sam Baron, to produce small production, artisanal, single vineyard wines. Originally a field worker for John Rolleri at Chateau Montelena, he gained experience in the Bordeaux region of France and was mentored by the likes of grape geneticist Professor Harold Olmo, and winemakers Jean-Claude Berrouet and Justin Meyer. He became general manager of Christian Moueix's Dominus Estate in the 1980s. He became winemaker for Silver Oak, an exclusive Cabernet Sauvignon producer, in 1994, and was trained by Justin Meyer to follow in his footsteps as Silver Oak's winemaker before Meyer’s retirement in 2001. In 1999, Baron was instrumental in persuading the Duncans to establish Twomey to pursue Merlot, Pinot noir, and Sauvignon blanc after discovering high quality Merlot grapes on Silver Oak’s Soda Canyon Ranch Vineyard. He has served on boards such as the American Society of Enology and Viticulture and the Napa Valley Wine Technical Group.
Dick Ponzi is an American winemaker, a pioneer of the Oregon wine industry and the Oregon brewing industry, and the founder of Ponzi Vineyards, one of the Willamette Valley's founding wineries. He also had a successful career as a structural engineer. Ponzi is regarded as an enological and viticultural innovator. He was a founding member and the first president of the Oregon Winegrowers Association and a founding director of the Oregon Wine Board. He and his wife also established Oregon's first craft brewery, Bridgeport Brewing Company.
