When Linda Trotta, our winemaker for over twenty years, let me know she wished to move on and try her hand with some other fruit after the 2008 harvest, I immediately contacted Keith Emerson for the job, and am excited to introduce most of you to one of the most talented young winemakers in the business today.
Keith is the director of winemaking for Vineyard 29 in St. Helena, Calif., consults for three respected wineries and produces a proprietary Cabernet sauvignon, Emerson Brown. And now Keith is Winemaker for Gundlach Bundschu.
After graduating from UC Davis in 1999, Keith spent a year at Cakebread before joining Gundlach Bundschu. He served as associate winemaker from 2000 to 2004 and developed an encyclopedic knowledge of our vineyard and wines. We new early on he was a rock star and encouraged him to take a next step that would expand his horizons. Did he ever.
At Vineyard 29, Keith works closely with consultant Philippe Melka on the estate and Aida labels and directs all aspects of winemaking for the CRU Napa Valley label. He also oversees the program for custom-crush clientele, including Andy Erickson and Celia Masyczek, and works with several respected growers, including David Abreu, Mike Wolf, Jim Barbour, Piña Vineyard Management and Silverado Farming Company, among others.
At Gundlach Bundschu, we are lucky that Keith has a most talented crew to work with. Directing day to day winemaking is Lead Associate Winemaker Anne Dempsey, who oversees all day to day winemaking. Anne has experienced harvests in a number of countries,including South Africa and New Zealand, and served as assistant winemaker at Clos Pegase winery where she worked directly with Paul Hobbs. Anne is assisted by Associate Winemaker Jessica Koga who runs the lab and oversees other winery projects. Jessica also has extensive experience, including a harvest position at Cloudy Bay in New Zealand and as enologist for Shramsberg Vineyards.
Keith, Anne, and Jessica all share our passion and belief in our property and our legacy, and bring a honed vision and proven capacity for making exceptional wines of power and elegance. As talented as the team is, equally important is that they are all good people. Full of energy and spice. We have already made some very big progress on 07 and 08 wines, and they started out very good. Expect some exciting wines in our future.
