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    Winemaker

    Max Bruening

    Winemaker, Ponzi Vineyards

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    Winemaker
    Portrait of Max Bruening

    Portrait of Max Bruening

    i. Biography

    Max Bruening is the winemaker at Ponzi Vineyards in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and in 2024 he became the first person outside the Ponzi family to hold the winemaker title there. A Northern Michigan native, he began his wine career in 2009, worked in Michigan wineries, harvested in California and New Zealand, and joined Ponzi Vineyards in January 2016.