Key New Positions Announced

This January we gave our members the opportunity to taste every vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon since our debut wine in 2009. These wines all had garnered great praise, receiving 90-point scores in leading wine magazines as well as the highest awards in competition. One of our guests declared this a track record any winemaker should be content with. Why, then, was I insisting upon restructuring our program? Plain and simple, there is still so much more to discover with our fabled terroir, still so much more that we can bring out.

I concluded early last year that the way forward is to bring farming in house. To express the unique attributes of our terroir, we must be willing to change the way we grow our fruit. I also needed to change the way we make our wine, renewing many of the time-honored practices that have all but disappeared. And, that is why after much thought I replaced the position of associate winemaker with winemaker and viticulturist. Last November, after a global search, I hired two new team members that I believe will make a name for themselves in Livermore Valley: David Hendrickson (winemaker) and Stella Proukaki (viticulturist).

Dave Hendrickson

I had strict requirements for my Winemaker: an exceptional palate, solid grounding in both modern and classical winemaking methods, and a deft hand with terroir winemaking practices. I found this, and more, in Dave Hendrickson. Dave graduated with a Master of Science degree in Viticulture and Enology from the University of California, Davis, this past year. His master’s thesis explored methods of harvest on wine quality. While at Davis, Dave was a recipient of the prestigious Wine Spectator scholarship.

Dave spent his internships at Navarro and Peay wineries, where he honed his skills with some of the finest producers of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Now in Livermore, he will begin to adapt the nuanced Burgundian techniques to the world of Bordeaux varietals. I expect great things from this young man, and am excited to welcome him to my team. Expect to see his influence beginning with the 2014 harvest wines.

Stella Proukaki

All great wines begin with great fruit, and although there is wonderful fruit here in Livermore, it is typically harvested in the modern California style. In our search for a Livermore style, we must adapt our vineyards to the unique soils and climates of our region. We must become farmers of our fruit, and to this end, I have hired Stella to be our viticulturalist, or as I like to call her, our “farmer in residence.”

Stella was born on the island of Crete, surrounded by her family’s historic vineyards and olive groves. She received her Masters Degree from the University of Athens, graduating in Agricultural Sciences. Her thesis delved into developing drought tolerant rootstocks for alkaline soils. Rootstocks are an extremely important element of quality, and are one of the key areas we are exploring for our new micro farming effort. Expect to begin to see Stella’s influence beginning with the 2015 harvest.