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Winemakers |
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Name: |
DON HARTFORD |
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Background: |
Don Hartford grew up on a small strawberry farm in western Massachusetts, and later attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. To cover the cost of tuition and expenses, Don worked as a "straw boss" on a cigar wrapper tobacco farm, a degreaser in a bicycle factory, and a lifeguard at Congamond Lakes in Massachusetts. After earning a B.A., Don spent a year teaching English-as-a-second-language in Spain and later taught Spanish for four years in Massachusetts. Don Hartford met his wife, Jennifer Jackson-Hartford, at Santa Clara University in Northern California in 1979. (Shortly thereafter, Jennifer's father, Jess, started a modest 16,000 case winery called Kendall-Jackson.) In 1982, he graduated from Santa Clara Law School. Don's legal career included a Tokyo law firm, a large San Francisco-based firm, Jess Jackson's practice of Constitutional law, and work at the California Supreme Court. He also was a partner in a small country law partnership, and served for a time as a winery general counsel and vice president. |
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Name: |
FRANCOIS CORDESSE |
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Background: |
Francois' interest in wine at the family dinner table grew into a strong curiosity for viticulture and wine production in his teen years when assisting with cellar work at a local winery. After spending several summers in the cellar and completing his primary education, Francois pursued a Master of Winemaking and Viticultural at University of Montpellier which included winery work experience in the Languedoc. This degree was followed by a Post Degree in Wine Marketing from Burgundy Trade School. True to his belief that “you can make the best wine on earth, but you still need to market and sell it,� Francois served as salesperson and trainer for a large Parisian wine retailer. |
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Name: |
GRAHAM WEERTS |
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Background: |
Graham Weerts joined Stonestreet in May, 2004 fresh from Cape Town, South Africa, where he was working as head winemaker at Bellingham Winery. Graham is a native of Newlands, Cape Town. A family background in farming, and his love of food and wine, led Graham to pursue a career in the wine industry. Graham has a degree in Wine Science, Viticulture and Pomology at Elsenburg Agricultural College in Stellbosch. Graham's wine background spreads across a number of continents. |
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JEFF MANGAHAS |
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Background: |
Jeff grew up in Washington State, graduating from the University of Washington in 1993 with a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology. Beginning his career as a cancer research scientist, Jeff opted to stay in his home state initially—Washington was then a up-and- coming wine region with a handful of world-class producers, affording Jeff the opportunity to taste many good wines for little money. Eventually, his career took him to New York City, where his interest in wine switched into high gear as he discovered the abundant restaurants and the wines of the world they offered.
During this time, Jeff took his love of wine on the road, visiting the wine regions of France, and beginning his wine collection in earnest with the highly touted 1989 and 1990 Bordeaux vintages. With his scientific background, he also discovered he had a real passion for learning about the winemaking process as well, and it soon became clear that his hobby should become his career path. "On a trip to Paris, I had a meal with my wife and some friends at Alain Ducasse. The meal was wonderful but the wine was absolutely sublime. I will never forget the fragrance and power of that Comte de VogĂĽĂ© Musigny." The following year Jeff put research science behind him and enrolled in the UC Davis winemaking program, earning his M.S. in Enology in 2003. |
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Name: |
JESS S. JACKSON |
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Background: |
Born in 1930, Jackson was raised in San Francisco and graduated from UC Berkeley's Boalt Law School. By the early 1970s, he was a highly respected attorney with a thriving practice on the San Francisco peninsula, specializing in land-use and property rights issues. He helped found the American California Trial Lawyer's Association, authored legislation, and rewrote sections of the California Code of Civil procedure.
In 1974, Jackson and his family bought an 80-acre pear and walnut orchard in Lakeport. Jackson had a long-standing interest in wine, so the family went to work converting the orchards to vineyards. For seven years, they sold the ranch's grapes to local wineries. Then, in 1981, a downturn in the market suddenly left them with no buyers.
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Name: |
MATTHEW VAN HEERDEN |
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Background: |
Van Heerden cut his winemaking teeth on Andrew Gunn's Iona estate in Elgin which pioneered the grassy extreme of Sauvignon Blanc production in the Western Cape. Moving to the Helderberg in 2003, Matthew's Sauvignon Blanc now shows more fruit and is the Stellenbosch component in the Californian brand Sauvignon Blanc Republic which showcases this increasingly popular white varietal through benchmark bottlings of regional benchmarks. Brainchild of Californian food guru John Ash, wines from seven of the worlds best Sauvignon regions are presented as a gastronomic range.
In addition to being a member of this magnificent seven, he is also one of the famous five new wave of SA winemakers who look to Europe for inspiration, successors to a generation who misguidedly followed a ripe Australian recipe in a disastrous reaction to the SA defeat in the ill-fated SA Airways test match in 1995 which set back SA wine a generation. |
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Name: |
MELISSA STACKHOUSE |
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Background: |
Melissa joined La Crema in February 2000 as Associate Winemaker. Prior to La Crema, Stackhouse worked with Peter Michael Winery, Hardy's Tintara Winery in McLaren Vale, South Australia and Joseph Phelps Vineyards. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Viticulture and Enology from the University of California, Davis. During her years at Davis, she held positions at Sterling Vineyards and Robert Mondavi Winery.
At La Crema, Stackhouse has worked very closely with the award-winning La Crema Chardonnays, Pinot Noirs and Syrahs. She has focused on the cool climate vineyards and terroirs in the Russian River Valley and along the cool, fog drenched Sonoma Coast. As a result she is very adept at working with small, intensely flavored berries which provide the elegance and balance that mark the signature of La Crema wines.
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Name: |
PETER FRASER |
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Background: |
Previously Peter has made wine for St Hallett wines in the Barossa Valley and Normans Wines, Clarendon. Whilst with Normans Peter was responsible for making the 1998 Chais Clarendon Shiraz that won the 2002 Winestate Wine of the Year and blending the 1996 Normans Cabernet winning Red Wine of the Year at the London Wine Challenge in 1998. Peter also has winemaking experience in Spain and France working vintage in 1999.
Peter’s winemaking philosophy is that it is less about the actual winemaking and more about the vineyard. He wants to craft wines that are expressive of the place from which they come. When it comes to making the wine, Peter uses traditional winemaking methods such as open fermentation, hand punch down, and wild yeast fermentations which add to the fullness, softness and complexity of the wines.
Peter spends most of his time in Australia, making the Yangarra Estate Vineyard wines and since 2003 he has been travelling to the United States during harvest, as winemaker for “Ballou� Syrah souring grapes from the Jackson family’s best Syrah vineyards in California.
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Name: |
PIERRE SEILLAN |
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Background: |
Pierre Seillan's experience begins in Armagnac working with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot at his family estate. Pierre's experience extends to Chateau de Targé in the Saumur-Champigny AOC of the Loire Valley where he makes wine from the fickle Cabernet Franc variety. Pierre then focuses on Bordeaux where he spends two decades as Technical Director and Winemaker for seven chateaux in Lalande de Pomerol, Saint Emilion, St. Estèphe, Haut-Médoc, Premières Côtes de Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur.
Pierre arrived in California in 1997 as Vigneron at Vérité. "I had a chance to come back to California after studying here many years ago…I am very excited by the opportunities and potential of mountain terroirs here, especially in Sonoma…". He had briefly interned in California several years prior and jumped at the opportunity to also have the freedom to blend wines to craft superior wines. Pierre now can now blend between varietals and appellations, something he could not do in France. |
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Name: |
RANDY ULLOM |
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Background: |
Randy Ullom is well aware of the responsibility he has as Winemaster for Kendall-Jackson. "It's a daunting job," he says. "Five years ago I never imagined I'd be the head winemaker for one of America's most successful wineries."
A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ullom became interested in wine during a three-year stay in Chile, while on sabbatical from college in the early 1970s. His stay inspired a cross-county trek through Chile's vast wine-growing regions. It was an education in various climates and soils that has proved invaluable throughout Ullom's winemaking career. On his return to the United States, Ullom entered Ohio State University to study crop production with a specialty in Viticulture and Enology. He received his degree in 1975.
After six years as a vineyard manager and winemaker in Ohio and upstate New York, Ullom moved to California to become associate winemaker at De Loach Vineyards in Sonoma County. He was promoted to winemaker and vice president in 1991, and contributed to the winery's meteoric growth from 10,000 to 120,000 cases. Ullom also spearheaded the development of De Loach's reserve wines and vineyard-designated Zinfandels. The wines he produced during his tenure were consistent gold medal winners at wine competitions. |
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Name: |
VAN WILLIAMSON |
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Background: |
His mix of technical craftsmanship and native inspiration puts Edmeades out in front among the wines born in the coastal ridges of Mendocino County.
Van's mission is simple: "I want to make wines that are pleasing to people who have no experience with wine, as well as to the connoisseur," he said. His inclusive approach recalls his own roots in Cottonwood, a rural California town near Redding.
"I grew up in a non-wine cowtown where rodeo day is the biggest day of the year," he said. Like many of his friends, he enrolled at Chico State University nearby. Also like his friends, beer was his beverage of choice. But when a Chico wine merchant introduced him to a Pommard Burgundy, he discovered his love for wine and his gift for tasting. Soon his engineering major gave way to enology.
He packed his bags for Fresno, where he earned a degree in 1984 at California State University. On breaks, he worked crush for Ficklin Vineyards and Fetzer Vineyards. His first job after graduation was with Chateau Montelena as cellar foreman and bottling line supervisor. It was in Mendocino that he found his first job as winemaker in 1988 at Greenwood Ridge Vineyards.
His singular style established Greenwood as a leader in Zinfandels and Pinot Noirs. Those remain his specialties at Edmeades, where he has made wine since 1994.
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