Category: Judges

Deanna worked in healthcare for over 20 years, starting out as a Registered Nurse, then spent many years in management for physician medical groups and home healthcare. All of that chemistry background comes in very handy – analyzing wine for just the right balance of components. Besides having had long time interest in wine and winemaking, she is also a gourmet cook who is using her tastebuds to creating flavorful, memorable wines – leaving you always wanting to come back for seconds!

The Starrs love of wine has led them to collecting fine wines. They have an extensive personal cellar and have a passion for Port.

The winery’s name has changed back to the original name of Milano. Many of you may have known the winery as Milone. The winery has operated continuously in the old hop kiln since 1977. The winery produces small lots of handcrafted wines using traditional methods. New creations, in addition to their signature Cabernets and Zinfandels, include Carignane, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Cabernet/Syrah blend, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Late Harvest Zin, Port and more.

Matt Smith discovered his passion for wine when he began working at Beaulieu Vineyards in 1996. His chemistry degree landed him a job in Beaulieu’s lab, where he worked side by side with winemakers, helping them analyze their award-winning Cabernet Sauvignons and other fine wines. During his two years at Beaulieu, he realized he wanted to be winemaker. “I loved everything about it,” he says. “I had finally found a profession that blended science and chemistry with art and creativity.”

Matt was so committed to becoming a winemaker that he quit his job and enrolled in the enology program at Fresno State University. In the summer of 1998, he and his wife Kathy, who was pregnant at the time, left Sonoma and moved to Fresno with their 1-year-old daughter. Matt graduated two years later after working in the university’s Viticultural Research Center, running five graduate programs, and winning the ward for Outstanding Enology Student.

After graduation Matt became assistant winemaker at Dashe Cellars and the enologist at JC Cellars. Both wineries lease space from Rosenblum Cellars in Alameda, CA. Although Matt received several job offers prior to graduation, he decided to work with Mike Dashe and Jeff Cohn because of their commitment to High-quality winemaking, and because they offered him the opportunity to make his own wine.

Matt launched Blacksmith Cellars in 2003 with the release of his 2001 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is truly his creation. He did it all, from tending the grapes, hand-sorting and crushing to punching down, pressing, blending and bottling. His hard work and meticulous attention to detail paid off. “I wanted my first wine to be a top-quality, uncompromising Cabernet,” he says. “I’ve achieved that. This wine is everything I hoped it would be.”

Carol started at UC Davis in 1974 as an undeclared major with a penchant for language and an aptitude for science. While on a tour of Sebastiani Winery, Carol walked into the barrel room, and was moved by the scent of red wine and oak in the air. She was struck by the power and complexity of aromas and decided, in that moment, to be a winemaker. She declared her major as Fermentation Science under the tutelage of Ann Noble, the author of the Aroma Wheel, and threw herself into her enology studies at UC Davis. One of Carol’s research projects on yeast strains proved that different yeast produced different flavor characteristics in wine. This early experience with yeast is reflected today in the delicious, full-flavored wine Carol produces. Armed with her Bachelor’s degree in Enology from Davis, she has never looked back, working her first harvest in 1978 and every harvest since then.

Early in her career, Carol experienced some of the resistance that many of this pioneering class of women winemakers were encountering. In her own words: “women weren’t allowed to work in the cellar. We weren’t considered strong enough, but I think many of us proved this conception to be dead wrong: by hauling hoses, pushing around pumps, shoveling out a tank full of grapes – and yes it’s hard physical labor, but women can do it.” Despite this all too common prejudice of the time, she did have the great fortune to work with legendary winemakers André Tchelistcheff at Buena Vista and Peter Lehmann at Saltram in Australia. Her time making wine with these wine icons would be invaluable as she forged a career as a winemaker in Sonoma County.

In 1981, Carol began working for Rodney Strong and Windsor Vineyards. During her 19-year stint as winemaker at Windsor, Carol had the opportunity to bottle 45 different wines each year, ranging from sparkling wines to port, with Zinfandel coming up as her favorite wine time and time again. It was the unpretentiousness and range of flavors that drew Carol further into the exploration of Zinfandel. This included making various Zinfandels from different growing regions and allowing the terroir to speak through the wine.

Then in 2000, at the urging of Carol’s husband Mitch, she decided to start her own winery, acting as President and Winemaker. However – starting out independently wasn’t easy and it certainly wasn’t cheap. Carol recalls her first vintage for her eponymous label: “We only had enough money to buy the fruit and barrels and make the wine. We came up with the idea of selling barrel futures during that first year, and at the time our customers didn’t know it, but they paid for the glass in which the first vintage of my wine was bottled.” Some of those first supporters that bought barrel futures are still loyal club members at Carol Shelton Wines, and Carol is forever grateful for their early and continued support over the years.

Jerry Seps’ father and grandfather both sold wine, so it was perhaps written in the stars that he become a vintner. Having worked his way through college at the University of California, Berkeley as a sommelier at the distinguished Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, Jerry taught at Stanford University for four years while earning his PhD in European History at Berkeley. (Not coincidentally, wine plays a pivotal role in European history.) He subsequently became a tenured professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

In 1976, Jerry and his German-born wife, Sigrid, discovered an abandoned vineyard and ghost winery, with century-old caves, in the Mayacamas Mountains northwest of Calistoga in far northern Napa Valley. Captivated by this wild, high-elevation site, which dated to the 1880s when it was known as Grimm Brothers Vineyards & Wine Vaults, the couple purchased the property, set about replanting the historic vineyard, and constructed a new winery. While Jerry focused on the vineyard and winemaking, Sigrid supervised retail sales, marketing and the winery’s wine club.

Shauna Rosenblum is the Winemaker for Rock Wall Wine Company. She learned to make wine from her epic father Kent Rosenblum, who is Rock Wall’s CEO. Shauna literally grew up in the cellar and spent her childhood in wineries and vineyards where she worked and learned all the facets of the winemaking business. Shauna has a Master’s degree in Sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute. As an undergraduate, at California College of Arts and Crafts she became very interested in chemistry through the ceramics glaze making process. She realized there were similarities in the ceramics and winemaking processes as far as chemistry and blending. This realization lead to an epiphany that winemaking was art!

Rock Wall Wines

(No longer judging)

Kent Rosenblum brings over 40 years of winemaking experience to Rock Wall Wine Company. After building Rosenblum Winery from a 400- to a 250,000-case producer, Founder/Winemaker Kent Rosenblum sold the winery in 2008. He then started up Rock Wall, with daughter, Shauna as winemaker. “We wanted to go back to a family business that focused on great wines and having a good time,” says Kent. For Kent, making wine has always been about a willingness to explore viticultural regions and experiment with winemaking techniques, which is the legacy he has passed on to his daughter. Today, Shauna heads up the cellar at the 30,000-case family venture, with Kent as CEO. A family affair, Rock Wall is about having fun, while making the best wines from the best regions and sharing the experience with others. As Kent always says, “Never underestimate the value of a little fun.”

Rock Wall Wine