Lisa Amaroli

Coming Up

Training at Sonoma State University set the frame for a career that moved through enology, production, and winemaking without abrupt turns. Amaroli began as enologist at Benziger Family Winery in 1999, then became Production Manager at Martini and Prati Winery, Assistant Winemaker at Benziger Family Winery from 2004, and winemaker at Benziger Family Winery from 2008. Each role added responsibility in sequence, building authority through repetition, scale, and practical familiarity with the work. In 2015, she became Senior Winemaker at Benziger Family Winery, and today she serves as director of winemaking, North Coast of Benziger Family Winery (since 2015). The progression reads as layered responsibility rather than reinvention: closer access to the decisions that shape the wine, while remaining tied to the day-to-day rhythm of the winery.

Where They Are Now

Certified Biodynamic and Organic wines define the specialty here, and that kind of production requires attention to both vineyard practice and the finished wine. For Amaroli, the work depends on timing, restraint, and reading what the fruit offers in a given season, with each choice carrying from farm to cellar to bottle. The North Coast title gives the work a regional frame, while Glen Ellen keeps it anchored in Sonoma County. Amaroli’s description of the winery’s rhythm is direct: "The Benziger way is to play hard, work hard and just have fun while making really good wine." The line matches a place that knows its own pace. It also tracks with the way she works: serious without stiffness, exacting without pretense, and aligned with a method that values care over display. That sentence fits a career built around one winery, one region, and a sustained commitment to farming and winemaking practice. Across each title and year, Amaroli has accumulated experience through continuity, keeping her methods and the wines she helps produce in the same frame.

In Their Words “The Benziger way is to play hard, work hard and just have fun while making really good wine.”