The People · Page 61
The artisans of taste.
Winemaker
Rudy Zuidema
Napa, California, United States
Rudy Zuidema’s work is anchored in Napa Valley cellar practice, with Cabernet Franc as a recurring throughline. The distinction in his record is not range for its own sake, but…
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Winemaker
Rutger de Vink
Delaplane, Virginia, United States
Rutger De Vink was the Dutch-American founder and winemaker of RdV Vineyards in Delaplane, Virginia, a name closely tied to Bordeaux-style blends and to a simple, place-led…
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Winemaker
Ryan Carr
Santa Barbara, California, United States
## The Path University of Arizona is the training ground named in Ryan Carr’s record, and it matters here as the first formal step before ownership. The sequence is plain: study,…
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Winemaker
Ryan Deovlet
Santa Ynez, California, United States
Ryan Deovlet works in wine with the discipline of someone shaped by cellar repetition, harvest timing, and the demands of making decisions that hold up in the glass. He is…
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Winemaker
Ryan Hodgins
Philo, California, United States
Ryan Hodgins holds the Director of Winemaking role at FEL Wines in Anderson Valley, and the work fits a path built on close reading rather than theatrics. Food, science, and wine…
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Winemaker
Sam Middleton
Yarra Valley, Australia
From the University of Melbourne and Charles Sturt University, Sam Middleton’s route to Mount Mary reads as a sequence of practical steps rather than a quick ascent: study, work…
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Chef
Samuel Franandes
Kraków, Poland
## Coming Up Contemporary restaurant work is measured in repetition as much as invention: the same room, the same pressure points, the same need to make a programme read clearly…
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Winemaker
Samuel Tinon
Olaszliszka, Hungary
His defining fact is exact and compact: Samuel Tinon is named by the winemaking role attached to the estate that bears his name. That kind of alignment keeps the work close to the…
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Winemaker
Sandro Bottega
Bibano di Godega, Italy
"It is a family business that I took over in 1983 when my father passed." Before that handover, he had already spent six years working alongside his father, learning the business…
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Winemaker
Santiago Achaval
Paso Robles, California, United States
Santiago Achaval is an Argentine hands-on winemaker at The Farm Winery in Paso Robles. The work is tied to Malbec, to founding roles, and to a career split between California and…
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Winemaker
Santiago Deicas
Canelones, Uruguay
## The Path Third-generation winemaking at Familia Deicas places Santiago Deicas inside a family line, not outside it. In Uruguay, that continuity is now formalized through his…
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Winemaker
Sara Fowler
Rutherford, California, United States
## The Path Training at Mendocino College and California State University-Fresno gave Sara Fowler the formal grounding behind a career built in the cellar. She entered…
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Winemaker
Sarah Hedges Goedhart
Benton City, Washington, United States
## The Climb Formal training at University of San Diego gave Sarah Hedges Goedhart a base, but the cellar at Hedges Family Estate gave that training its working form. When she…
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Winemaker
Sarah Vandendriessche
Rutherford, California, United States
Sarah Vandendriessche has been the winemaker at Elizabeth Spencer Winery in Rutherford since 2010, and that tenure points to a craft built on repetition, judgment, and timing. In…
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Winemaker
Sarah Wuethrich
Philo, California, United States
Sarah Wuethrich is a winemaker at Maggy Hawk in Philo, United States, where her work is defined by close observation and an almost tactile patience with the raw material in front…
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Winemaker
Sarolta Bárdos
Bodrogkeresztúr, Hungary
## The Climb At the University of Horticulture in Budapest, Sarolta Bárdos built the technical base that would carry into cellar work and winemaking. The path that followed moved…
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Winemaker
Scott Spelbring
Bluemont, Virginia, United States
## The Climb In Virginia’s wine trade, Scott Spelbring works across both grape and apple. He is the Head Winemaker at Bluemont Vineyard, the director of winemaking and viticulture…
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Winemaker
Scott Williams
Benton City, Washington, United States
The work reads less like a set of career turns than a steady commitment to site and season. In Red Mountain, Washington, Scott Williams was part of the labor of putting vines in…
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Winemaker
Sébastien Marquet
Middleburg, Virginia, United States
## The Climb Burgundy is the formative ground in this profile: Sébastien Marquet came up in France’s vine country, where the cadence of the seasons and the work around the vine…
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Winemaker
Sepp Mantler
Gedersdorf, Austria
## Coming Up Commercial academy (secondary school) gave Sepp Mantler the classroom base before the work moved into cellar and vineyard. Practical training at Domaine Parent in…
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Winemaker
Serge Laville
Walla Walla, Washington, United States
Serge Laville’s work reads as a study in continuity: long tenure, site familiarity, and the kind of repetition that sharpens judgment over time. In 2024, he became founding…
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Winemaker
Servando Calderon
Tequila, Mexico
Servando Calderon has held the General Director post at Casa Sauza in Tequila, Mexico, since 2007, a role built on continuity across agave, production, and place. In a house with…
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Winemaker
Seth Kunin
Santa Barbara, California, United States
Identity in wine is often made in relation to context, and Seth Kunin has treated that as a working premise rather than a slogan. At Kunin Wines in Santa Barbara, California, the…
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Winemaker
Shane Holloway
Pipers Brook, Australia
Shane Holloway works the cool-climate line where Tasmanian sparkling wine, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir are made to show precision rather than weight. At Delamere Vineyards in…
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Winemaker
Simon Colin
Chassagne-Montrachet, France
Simon Colin is a neuroscience researcher and PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin, specializing in brain-computer interfaces (BCI) for stroke rehabilitation using techniques…
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Winemaker
Sonja Magdevski
Los Alamos, California, United States
## The Climb Since 2004, Sonja Magdevski has been learning winegrowing from the ground up by helping plant a vineyard, a start that ties later cellar work back to the field. That…
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Stefano Massa
Sorrento, Italy
## The Path Villa Massa’s identity is built around one house, one place, and one product line, and Stefano Massa has kept his work inside that frame since 1991. That concentration…
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Winemaker
Steffi Tscheppe
Oggau, Austria
At Gut Oggau in Burgenland, Austria, the work is estate-based wine production shaped through biodynamic and Demeter certified practice. Steffi Tscheppe runs the estate with Eduard…
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Winemaker
Stephan Meyer
Clarens, South Africa
His specialty moves across beer, cider, and distillates, with fruit as the common thread. The work is practical rather than ornamental: orchard produce, fermentation, and flavour…
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Winemaker
Stéphane Briday
Rully, France
Stéphane Briday has been winemaker and proprietor of Domaine Michel Briday in Rully since 1988, a role that reads less like a title than a continuation of family cadence, with the…
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Winemaker
Stéphane Vivier
Rutherford, California, United States
"Being a lazy winemaker is all about being patient, letting the place talk, and being gentle with the grapes. Making it simple." Stéphane Vivier, founder and winemaker of Vivier,…
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Winemaker
Stéphanie Berecz
Tarcal, Hungary
Stéphanie Berecz arrived in Tokaj with a working seriousness that tends to show up later in the glass. The Bordeaux training came first, then the years as a winemaker at a large…
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Winemaker
Stephen Barnard
Keswick, Virginia, United States
## The Climb Training at Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute gave Stephen Barnard a base in the agricultural side of winegrowing before he moved into front-of-house work at…
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Steve Cass
Paso Robles, California, United States
Steve Cass is the winemaker of Cass Winery in Paso Robles, and that title reads as the endpoint of a practical second act rather than a sudden turn. For twenty years, from 1980 to…
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Winemaker
Steve Gerbac
Solvang, California, United States
Steve Gerbac has been head winemaker at Rusack Vineyards in Solvang since 2012, a role that puts cellar work ahead of spectacle. Raised in Santa Barbara, he keeps the wines tied…
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Winemaker
Steve Gleason
Paso Robles, California, United States
## The Path The work starts in discipline: training at Gonzaga Prep and Washington State Cougars, then entering the professional game as an undrafted free agent at Indianapolis…
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Winemaker
Steve Glossner
Paso Robles, California, United States
## The Path Wine work often starts with one narrow lane; Steve Glossner’s came in stages. Cornell University and CSU, Fresno gave him the formal base, but the practical education…
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Winemaker
Steve Ledson
Kenwood, California, United States
Steve Ledson is owner and winemaker of Ledson Winery & Vineyards in Kenwood, United States, where he oversees every aspect of the winemaking process. In a trade where many hands…
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Winemaker
Steve Lock
Paso Robles, California, United States
Steve Lock is the winemaker and proprietor of Écluse Wines in Paso Robles, United States, where the work is rooted in Rhône and Bordeaux style wines. His method depends on on-site…
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Winemaker
Steve Lubiana
Granton, Australia
## Coming Up In Granton, Tasmania, Australia, at Stefano Lubiana, Steve Lubiana built his reputation on refusing the easy scale-up. The work was set up for premium wine rather…
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Chef
Steve Santana
Miami, Florida, United States
Steve Santana is chef/partner at Taquiza in Miami Beach, where the work is organized around Mexican tacos, house-made masa, and blue corn tortillas made by hand in-house daily.…
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Winemaker
Steve Tonella
Rutherford, California, United States
Steve Tonella is president and fourth-generation vintner of S. R. Tonella Cellars in Rutherford, where family continuity and Rutherford fruit define the work. A business…
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Winemaker
Steven DeAngelo
Brooklyn, New York, United States
## The Path Wall Street trained a different kind of precision: fast reads, disciplined adjustment, and decisions with long reach. Steven DeAngelo came out of that environment and…
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Winemaker
Stuart Bewley
Laytonville, California, United States
## Coming Up In beverage, the early work was already about method. Stuart Bewley came in as co-founder and inventor at California Cooler, bringing a maker’s instinct to…
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Winemaker
Stuart Blackwell
Barossa Valley, Australia
His defining specialty is Barossa Shiraz, handled with minimum intervention and maximum attention — the sort of cellar discipline that lets fruit, place, and time carry the work.…
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Winemaker
Susan A. Mahler
Paso Robles, California, United States
Paso Robles gives Susan A. Mahler the kind of ground where fruit can register cleanly, and at Cypher Winery that material is shaped into wines that stay generous without losing…
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Winemaker
Szabolcs Homola
Paloznak, Hungary
## The Climb Ownership at Homola Pincészet is not framed as arrival so much as accumulation: land read closely, decisions carried through, and a site shaped into a working estate…
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Winemaker
Szentesi József
Érd, Hungary
Since 1998, Szentesi József has worked as winemaker at Szentesi Pince in Budaörs. That fixed address matters here: the work has been tied to one place long enough for repetition,…
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Winemaker
Szőke Mátyás
Gyöngyös, Hungary
Szőke Mátyás Winery in Gyöngyöstarján is carried by a winemaker’s job that is measured in seasons, not slogans. Szőke Mátyás is the winemaker there, and the line between name and…
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Winemaker
Szöllősi Mihály
Neszmély, Hungary
## Coming Up Viticulture and winemaking sit at the same point in Szöllősi Mih’s early work: the place where vineyard decisions meet cellar discipline. As director of the…
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Winemaker
Tamás Günzer
Villány, Hungary
## Coming Up Training at Vocational School in Szentlőrinc gave Tamás Günzer an early grounding in the practical discipline of a working trade. Before wine took over as the center…
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Winemaker
Tamás Illés
Pannonhalma, Hungary
## The Climb Training in Budapest and Pécs gave Tamás Ill the technical base for a career built on precision and composure. Since 2007, he has served as marketing and commercial…
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Winemaker
Tamás Kovács
Csopak, Hungary
Tamás Kovács works as winemaker and owner of Szent Donát Winery in Csopak, where the job reads as continuity rather than reinvention. Near Lake Balaton, vineyard work, cellar…
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Chef
Tanka Sapkota
Lisbon, Portugal
## The Climb In a chef-owner portfolio, continuity matters as much as output. Tanka Sapkota has built his reputation through long-run ownership and steady control of the room and…
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Winemaker
Ted Bennett
Philo, California, United States
Ted Bennett built Navarro Vineyards around a narrow brief: make wine from one place, over a long stretch of time, with patience and fidelity to the fruit. The estate in Philo,…
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Winemaker
Teresa Heuzenroeder
Pipers River, Australia
Senior sparkling winemaker at Jansz Tasmania in Pipers River, Australia, is Teresa Heuzenroeder’s defining title in 2025, but the work behind it is what matters: sparkling wine…
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Winemaker
Theodora R. Lee
Yorkville, California, United States
The work here sits at the point where field sense and legal discipline meet. At Theopolis Vineyards in Yorkville Highlands, California, Theodora R. Lee brings the habits of…
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Chef
Thierry Breton
Paris, France
Thierry Breton was the French former owner and chef of Chez Michel in Paris, France, a role he held from 1995 to 2015. Over those twenty years, the work at Chez Michel was shaped…
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Thomas Hausin
Sopot, Poland
## Coming Up Apprenticeship at Burgrestaurant Staufeneck set the base: the daily tempo of a professional kitchen, the discipline of repetition, and the first habits of speed,…
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Winemaker
Thomas Schmelz
Joching, Austria
In Joching, Austria, the work at Weingut Schmelz is built from place and naming: vineyard sites on the label, vintages fixed to year, and Wachau terms such as Federspiel carrying…
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Winemaker
Thomas T. Thomas
Philo, California, United States
## The Climb ## Today Farming and quality are set out without ornament: “The goal has been and will always be to develop the highest quality wines and to farm all my properties…
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Winemaker
Thys Smit
Cape Town, South Africa
Thys Smit’s work at Meerendal Wine Estate sits on a specific read of site: vineyard conditions are treated as part of the wine’s structure, not just the source of its fruit. At…
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Winemaker
Tim Drake
Fredericksburg, Texas, United States
In Fredericksburg, United States, Tim Drake’s work gathers around the practical rooms and rows where wine takes shape: the cellar, the lab bench, the vineyard, and the shared…
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Winemaker
Tim Jones
Dundee, Oregon, United States
His route into wine runs through Willamette University, the University of California, Davis, Washington State University, and a current post that ties study to cellar work and…
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Winemaker
Tim Whitfield
Paarl, South Africa
Tim Whitfield works in winemaking through skin contact, low intervention and cellar restraint. That frame places texture, patience and fruit character ahead of embellishment. ##…
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Winemaker
Timo Mayer
Yarra Valley, Australia
From Germany to Wagga Wagga, then through De Bortoli and Gembrook in the Yarra Valley, Timo Mayer’s route maps a maker’s method: move, observe, narrow the field, and keep…
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Winemaker
Todd Crowell
Hye, Texas, United States
Todd Crowell works as winemaker at Ron Yates Wines, and his professional life has been built inside the rhythms of production: watching, adjusting, and making small decisions that…
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Winemaker
Tom Farella
Napa, California, United States
Tom Farella has served as Winemaker / Farm Manager at Farella Vineyard in Napa since 1991, and the work has stayed centered on one practical aim: preserving the place. That kind…
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Winemaker
Tom Garrett
Oakville, California, United States
## Coming Up The apprenticeship that shaped Tom Garrett was long and incremental: Middlebury College, then the cellar at Turley Wine Cellars in St. Helena (1999–2013). That span…
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Winemaker
Tom Higgins
Union Springs, New York, United States
## The Climb Pinot Noir rewards tight decisions, and Tom Higgins’s path into it moved through a series of jobs that built that discipline from different angles. Bradley University…
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Winemaker
Tom Myers
Templeton, California, United States
## Coming Up Since 1990, Tom Myers has been the winemaker at Castoro Cellars in Templeton, a role that has given the work shape and continuity over a long run. His Paso Robles…
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Winemaker
Tom Rinaldi
Oakville, California, United States
## Coming Up Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon gives Tom Rinaldi his present material: vineyard fruit from Teaderman Vineyards in Oakville, United States, handled by a winemaker whose…
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Winemaker
Tom Rochioli
Healdsburg, California, United States
## The Climb Winemaker/Owner at Rochioli Vineyards & Winery has been Tom Rochioli’s role since 1983, with the work anchored in Healdsburg and in the Russian River Valley, Sonoma…
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Winemaker
Tom Rodrigues
Yorkville, California, United States
## The Path Wine, design, and land management sit close together in Tom Rodrigues’s practice. The work is not split between a studio and a cellar so much as carried across them,…
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Winemaker
Tom Rosicki
Southold, New York, United States
Tom Rosicki is the owner and vintner at Sparkling Pointe in Southold, New York, a lawyer-trained winemaker working in a field that rewards precision as much as timing. He…
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Winemaker
Tomer Goren
Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
## The Climb Running 2 bars at 21 put Tomer Goren into the practical end of the trade early: service pace, room control, stock decisions, and the daily repetition that teaches…
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Chef
Tomohiro Naito
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Tomohiro Naito’s route to TOMO in Atlanta is built on movement between kitchens, markets, and roles that demand control. Queens College, Manhattan restaurants, seafood sourcing,…
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Winemaker
Ton Mata
Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, Spain
At Recaredo, Ton Mata works inside a three-generation family line that has been sharpened by use rather than softened by habit. In Corpinnat and the Penedès, his role has been to…
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Winemaker
Tony Arcudi
St. Helena, California, United States
Tony Arcudi serves as Consulting Winemaker for Fantesca Estate & Winery in St. Helena, United States. The work reads as concentration rather than accumulation, with Pinot Noir as…
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Winemaker
Tony Biagi
Oakville, California, United States
Tony Biagi’s work sits inside modern California wine as a sequence of cellar jobs, founding roles, and consulting assignments tied to specific places. He is the winemaker of To…
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Tornai family
Somlójenő, Hungary
The Tornai family’s work is tied directly to Tornai Winery in Somló, Hungary. Their professional lives have stayed rooted there since they joined at age 24, but the relationship…
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Winemaker
Trace Brueske
Santa Ynez, California, United States
He is a Wisconsin-born winemaker whose résumé is built from formal study and repeated time in the vineyard and cellar. Trace Brueske’s profile is less about spectacle than about…
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Winemaker
Tyler Thomas
Santa Ynez, California, United States
## 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…
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Winemaker
Uwe Schiefer
Welgersdorf, Austria
Uwe Schiefer is the winemaker behind Weingut Uwe Schiefer in Welgersdorf, Austria. ## The Climb A formal grounding in hospitality came first at Hotelfachschule, where service…
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Winemaker
Vailia From
Paso Robles, California, United States
Vailia From is the winemaker and owner of Desparada Wines in Paso Robles, a position shaped by mobility across the trade and a clear sense of purpose. She started her own winery…
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Winemaker
Valeria Antolin
Cafayate, Argentina
Her work is framed by family craft rather than individual reinvention. Valeria Antolin says, “My father was a well known Winemaker, as was my Uncle & Grandfather.” That…
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Winemaker
Van Williamson
Philo, California, United States
Winemaking at Witching Stick Wines in Philo, California rests on enology training, harvest work, and years in cellar roles across Northern California. Van Williamson’s path runs…
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Winemaker
Vassilis Kanellakopoulos
Korakochori, Greece
Vassilis Kanellakopoulos runs Mercouri Estate in Korakochori, Greece, where the work has been to replant, renovate, expand, and turn the vineyard into a modern winery. The scale…
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Winemaker
Vassilis Papagiannakos
Markopoulo, Greece
Vassilis Papagiannakos is the wine producer at Papagiannakos Winery in Markopoulo, Greece, and his name is closely bound to Attica through Domaine Papagiannakos, where he is…
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Winemaker
Vassilis Tsaktsarlis
Kokkinochori, Greece
His work has been built around one producer, Ktima Biblia Chora, the co-founded project that has anchored Vassilis Tsaktsarlis’s professional life since 1998. In a trade where…
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Winemaker
Victor Hugo Roberts
Templeton, California, United States
Victor Hugo Roberts is the owner and winemaker of Victor Hugo Winery in Templeton, United States, and the work is anchored in estate fruit and place. In 1985, he began building…
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Vincent Quenin
Paradou, France
## The Path At Le Bistrot du Paradou, Vincent Quenin works to a fixed address and a fixed register: Provençal cooking handled with discipline, continuity, and a clear sense of…
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Winemaker
Vincenzo Bambina
Castiglione di Sicilia, Italy
Vincenzo Bambina works as an oenological consultant, but the center of his practice is not a style imposed from above. It is the exchange between technical direction and the…
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Winemaker
Vusi Dalicuba
Stellenbosch, South Africa
## The Path Cape Peninsula University of Technology provided the formal base for Vusi Dalicuba’s work, giving structure to a practice built around discipline, field observation,…
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Winemaker
Walter Bressia
Agrelo, Argentina
His work in Argentine wine is built on a commitment to local production and the family business model, a position Walter Bressia has described without ornament: “We started out in…
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Winemaker
Walter Filippini
Paso Robles, California, United States
Walter Filippini's work at Le Vigne Winery in Paso Robles, California, brings Italian culinary heritage into a winery setting, with an Old World perspective that shapes both…
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Chef
Walter Leiva
Calistoga, California, United States
Napa Valley College gave Walter Leiva the formal base for a production style built on control and repetition. Cabernet Sauvignon sits at the center of that work, and by 2023 he…
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Winemaker
Walter Skoff
Gamlitz, Austria
## The Climb Ownership and winemaking sit together at Weingut Walter Skoff, Gamlitz, where Walter Skoff’s work is defined by stewardship of the estate and control of the cellar.…
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Winemaker
Wayne Bailey
McMinnville, Oregon, United States
## The Climb Wine work for Wayne Bailey was learned hands-on, not from a distance. He worked side by side with vineyard workers and cellar rats, and that practical exposure —…
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Winemaker
Werner Psenner
Termeno, Italy
Werner Psenner works in two timeframes at once: the demands of production today, and the slower logic of style, continuity, and aging years ahead. At Distilleria Psenner in…
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