i. Biography
Jean-Pierre Perrin works in wine through roles that require continuity more than display: winemaker at Château de Selle in Barsac, France; partner / founder at Tablas Creek Vineyard in California from 1987; and winemaker, manager and shareholder of Famille Perrin. The through-line is practical stewardship — site, cellar, timing, responsibility, and the long interval between decision and finished bottle.
Coming Up
Founding a vineyard asks for a different clock than finishing a vintage. At Tablas Creek Vineyard in California, Jean-Pierre Perrin became partner / founder from 1987, a role tied to building a place as much as making wine from it. The work sits at the intersection of site selection, cellar judgment and collaboration, with the understanding that a vineyard’s identity is established over time rather than declared at the start. The combined position of founder, partner and winemaker carries three disciplines at once. Founding requires a view beyond the immediate crop. Partnership requires shared standards and trust. Winemaking requires attention to fruit, timing and restraint. Jean-Pierre Perrin’s early association with Tablas Creek Vineyard brought those responsibilities into the same frame, where building the platform and making the wine were part of the same practice. Family wine work adds another register of accountability. As winemaker, manager and shareholder of Famille Perrin, Jean-Pierre Perrin holds roles that span production, oversight and continuity. The title set matters: one role stays close to tasting and technical decisions, one carries operational responsibility, and one links present work to the longer life of a family name.
Where They Are Now
The current post of winemaker at Château de Selle in Barsac, France, places the craft back in the cellar and the vineyard cycle. The work is measured in observation, tasting, adjustment and waiting. Jean-Pierre Perrin’s position there gives a clear present tense: a winemaker attached to a named place, working within the pace that wine imposes. That role gathers earlier and parallel responsibilities without reducing them to résumé. The builder’s work at Tablas Creek Vineyard in California, the production and management responsibilities at Famille Perrin, and the present post at Château de Selle all point to the same trade requirement: decisions made close to place, carried over time, and judged in the glass.
Honors
Man of the Year (2014) marks formal recognition within a career defined by durable wine responsibilities. For Jean-Pierre Perrin, the honor sits alongside founding, managing, making and sustaining — work measured less by announcement than by repeated decisions across seasons and institutions.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Jean-Pierre
Where did Jean-Pierre Perrin work before?
Earlier in their career, Jean-Pierre Perrin worked at Tablas Creek Vineyard.
What recognition has Jean-Pierre Perrin received?
Man of the Year (2014).
