Jonathan Emmerich

The Climb

Training at University of California, Davis (1987) gave Jonathan Emmerich a technical base for a career built on precision. That education reads less like a preface than a working toolset, one that later returned to Silverado Vineyards in support of both sensory judgment and process discipline. Today, Jonathan is winemaker of Silverado Vineyards.

Today

Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot define Jonathan Emmerich’s work at Silverado Vineyards in Napa, California, United States. The wines are drawn from Silverado Vineyard in Stags Leap District and Mount George Vineyard in Coombsville, and those vineyard names are not incidental: they set the boundaries of the job and the character of the finished wine. The craft here is site-specific, with each place carrying weight in the glass. Stags Leap District and Coombsville shape how the wines are read and how the work is understood. Emmerich’s role sits between those sources and the bottle, with structure and expression kept in balance. His standard is direct: the wine must be delicious, and it must give pleasure. His own standard for wine is direct: "Wine has to be delicious. It is meant to be a pleasure." The line points to the center of the work. Technical rigor, lab discipline, and vineyard focus all resolve toward that straightforward aim.

Signature

Jonathan's signature wines include Disney-Silverado Heritage Clone.

In Their Words “Wine has to be delicious. It is meant to be a pleasure.”

Recognition

The clearest recognition attached to Emmerich’s winemaking is the style associated with the wines themselves. They are described in terms of elegance and fragrance rather than weight, which points to restraint in service of fruit and site. That approach gives his work a defined edge. The wines are framed around aroma, balance, and the kind of clarity he names as essential, with Silverado Vineyard in Stags Leap District and Mount George Vineyard in Coombsville remaining central to that outcome.