Anne Moller-Racke grew up in Oberwesel, Germany, a small town along the Rhine River.  She came to California to work a harvest, but the plan was to return home after it concluded.  Instead, she went to work for Buena Vista Winery as their Viticulturist. Following that, she launched Donum Estate, while also planting a vineyard…

Victoria De Crescenzo was born in Southern California, surrounded by horse farms and orange groves. Wine was not a part of her world until she moved to Des Moines and began attending wine-tasting classes at a local wine shop. After meeting Russell Bevan, a colleague in the dental industry, they began making wine together. Their…

Alice van Ommeren was born in Amsterdam, lived in Belgium and France during her early childhood years, and then, as a teenager, moved to Phoenix, AZ. Although wine was on the communal lunch table in grammar school, the kids were not interested; instead, they fought over the Sprite. Alice went on to pursue degrees in…

Katie Carter grew up in Forestville.  Although her dad loved wine, she didn’t take any interest in the wine industry until she had an opportunity to utilize her college biology and chemistry lab skills during a harvest internship.  That led to working with Greg La Follette and an opportunity go to South Africa to work…

Laurence Donald began his career with a degree in Business Administration and in a few roles in finance and sales but wanted something more.  A friend pointed out that he had grown up in wine country, had talked enthusiastically about his winemaking endeavors with his dad, and was clearly excited about wine, that perhaps he…

Alexis dreamed of being an artist, but the pragmatic side of her thought cooking, or possibly wine, would allow her to utilize her creativity while earning a living. Matt was on his way to being an astronaut when he discovered wine while taking a class at UC Davis. They met while working at Meadowood, where…

Liz Dickson grew up in California’s Central Valley; her father was an auto electrician and her mother worked for the County. She thought she wanted to be a corporate attorney and work on Wall Street. But she eventually discovered her passion is for agriculture, and so she pursued a master’s degree in plant science at Cal…

The Lombardi Family has lived in Petaluma for more than 75 years, passing down the love of wine from generation to generation. But it wasn’t until 2013, that Lombardi Wines was launched to honor the family’s Italian heritage and to provide a living legacy for Tony & Christine Lombardi’s two sons, Aidan and Drew.  It…

Jill Giacomini Basch grew up in Point Reyes on a dairy farm, that was started by her father, a second-generation dairy farmer. After growing his herd to over 500 dairy cows, and successfully operating a fluid-milk dairy widely recognized for its quality product, he realized that an operation of that size was placing stress on…

While attending college in the South Bay, Jay Sweet got a job at San Martin Winery where he would host guests for winetasting and sell their wines at a nearby San Jose flea market. The experience gave him the foundation for a life-long pursuit of learning about and enjoying wine. After college, he became a…

Jose Cruz grew up in Argentina on his family’s sugar cane farm. Wine was present at most family gatherings, and as a child, he was allowed occasional sips while hearing about its health benefits. He inherited his grandfather’s adventurous spirit and began his wine journey after completing his primary education. It has taken him to…

As PGWA celebrates its 5th Anniversary of the approval of the Petaluma Gap American Viticultural Area, we couldn’t think of a better person to highlight in this month’s newsletter than Doug Cover.  He is a retired environmental sciences consultant and was a key member of the team, along with a few of our winemakers, growers…