Joe Healy

The Climb

Training at Fresno State University gave Joe Healy the technical base for a career built on repetition, control, and follow-through. Since 2001, that work has been anchored at Bella Vineyards and Wine Cave in Healdsburg, California, where he has held the winemaker role.

Today

The same post at Bella Vineyards and Wine Cave still frames the work, and Healy ties longevity to cumulative attention rather than spectacle. In his words: “I can’t quite remember when I fell in love with wine, but I can say that the longer I do this for a living, my love of winemaking and all things wine related grows year in and year out.”

Signature

Zinfandel is the throughline in Joe Healy’s cellar work, and he describes the grape in uncompromising terms: “In my humble opinion, zinfandel is the hardest grape to grow and the hardest grape to make wine from.” His named wines include 2010 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, 2014 Big River Ranch zinfandel, 2015 Barrel 32 zinfandel, 2015 Collier Falls zinfandel, and 2015 Florence Vineyard zinfandel.

In Their Words Healy’s own language keeps returning to endurance and volume of practice. He says: “I can’t quite remember when I fell in love with wine, but I can say that the longer I do this for a living, my love of winemaking and all things wine related grows year in and year out.” He also measures the work by repeatable results at Bella: “I’m most proud of the fact that here at Bella we have been very successful at creating many lovely zinfandels every year.”

Recognition

For Healy, the standard is consistency with zinfandel. “I’m most proud of the fact that here at Bella we have been very successful at creating many lovely zinfandels every year.”