Tyler Thomas

The Climb

Tyler Thomas’s training was built before the cellar made its demands. Colorado State University and the University of California, Davis gave him the academic base to work from the grape outward, before he entered the pace and pressure of harvest. At Fiddlehead Cellars in Central Coast, that study met the conditions that actually shape wine: weather, timing, and the consequences of each decision once the fruit is in. The next step was Assistant Winemaker at HDV Wines in Napa until 2013, where precision and patience became part of the daily brief. By then, Thomas had moved through the core stages of the trade—student, harvest hand, Assistant Winemaker—without skipping the slow work each level requires. Since 2013, Tyler has been winemaker of Dierberg and Star Lane Vineyards, a role that extends that same discipline into long-term cellar responsibility.

Today

Since 2013, he has worked as winemaker for Dierberg Vineyard in Santa Ynez, where the job is less about intervention than judgment. Thomas puts that plainly: "Aubert taught me to stay out of the way in winemaking." It reads as a simple rule, but in practice it points to a familiar craft stance: trust the fruit, respect the vineyard, and avoid forcing a result that should come from the wine itself.

In Their Words “Aubert taught me to stay out of the way in winemaking.”

Recognition

Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the clearest fit for Tyler Thomas’s approach: grapes that ask for sensitivity, discipline, and control without excess. Those varieties reward restraint, and that is the space he seems to work in—texture balanced against tension, detail held without overstatement. His own line about the work gives the broader frame: "I'm romantic about wine. It's somewhat novel to me that I can make wine and get paid for doing it!" That outlook runs through the rest of the record. Colorado State University and the University of California, Davis formed the study; Fiddlehead Cellars in Central Coast tested it in harvest; HDV Wines in Napa until 2013 added cellar discipline; Dierberg and Star Lane Vineyards, and Dierberg Vineyard in Santa Ynez since 2013, made it into a sustained practice. The throughline is a career shaped by training, sharpened by harvest, and built around the idea that good wine often comes from knowing when not to interfere.