Andy Erickson

The Path

At University of California, Davis, the work was framed as study, not slogan: wine as a discipline to be learned in method and carried into the cellar. Erickson started at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars in Napa Valley as a harvest worker from 1994, a position that put him in the middle of crush work and the pace of fruit-driven production. From there, he moved through assistant winemaker at Harlan Estate in Napa Valley, then consulting winemaker at Napa wineries and Jonata in Napa Valley; Santa Barbara County until 2011, taking on roles that asked for broader oversight and a wider read on site, cellar, and style. He later served as winemaker at Screaming Eagle in Napa Valley from 2006, adding another established name to a resume already shaped by high-trust cellar work. He also worked as winemaker at Dalla Valle in Napa Valley and as winemaking program leader at Mayacamas Vineyards in Napa Valley, extending that same line through properties with distinct expectations and operating standards. Read together, the appointments show a maker repeatedly brought in where precision and consistency are part of the brief. Today, Andy is consulting winemaker of Independent consulting since 2011, winemaker of Favia Wines since 2002, founder and winemaker of Leviathan since 2004, winemaker of Arietta, winemaker of Dancing Hares Vineyard, and winemaker of Ovid. The range is less about breadth for its own sake than about a career organized around multiple forms of responsibility at once: advising, directing, and returning to the same work over time.

The Work Today

Since 2011, Erickson has worked through Independent consulting, which functions as the main structure for his current practice. In trade terms, consulting means moving between cellars with accumulated judgment and adjusting to each site on its own terms. That work sits alongside longer appointments that began years earlier, giving the whole body of work a clear sense of continuity. At Favia Wines in Coombsville, he has been winemaker since 2002, a long run that points to sustained familiarity with the place and the expectations attached to it. At Leviathan, he has been founder and winemaker since 2004, a role that joins authorship and oversight. Together, those two posts anchor a career that also reaches into consulting and additional winery work. Taken together, they show a working life still rooted in the region where it started, while moving across a wider set of established names. The pattern is one of earned trust: a winemaker moving between estates and personal projects with a consistent point of view.

Signature

Andy’s signature dishes include Leviathan. Within his portfolio, the name carries the clearest mark of his authorship: compact, direct, and tied to the role he has held as founder and winemaker.

In Their Words “I ended up quitting my job to pursue the wine business.”

Acclaim

The recognition around Erickson is measured less by awards than by the caliber and continuity of the wineries that have placed winemaking in his hands. His named winemaker credits include Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle, Arietta, and Ovid, alongside ongoing work at Favia Wines and Leviathan. The list reflects repeated confidence from serious producers and a record built on sustained responsibility. What gives the arc its form is the overlap between independent consulting and long-running winery posts. Since 2011, he has maintained consulting work through Independent consulting while continuing in roles that began in 2002 and 2004. The result is a practice that moves between advising and making, with continuity and range held in balance.