Employees, Advisors and Inspirations!
Tessa Norris
Tessa is our daughter - an experienced, accomplished, enthusiastic wine lover, who has taken over as manager of Vare Vineyards to carry on our dream.
Javier Robledo
Javier is our vineyard manager who now also oversees all the work in the cellar. Javier started in the spring of 2004 in a program to upgrade the vineyards and improve the quality of our grapes.
Steve Matthiasson
Steve has been our viticultural consultant since 2004 in our program to produce the finest grapes possible. Steve went to Friuli and Slovenia with us in August 2005 to learn about Ribolla Gialla grapes in the vineyard. Steve makes his own wines under the Matthiasson label.
Robbie Meyer
Robbie is our consulting winemaker as of January 2006. He comes with a stellar background with Peter Michael Wines and Lewis Cellars. He makes his own wines under the L’Angevin label.
Michael McDermott
Michael designed the label. The idea for the canoe came from the kayak that George built that was on the lawn when the design concept was started. Michael also created the concept for this website, using the doors of the winery as a backdrop. These doors were made by George and Javier from redwood trees on the property.
John Kongsgaard
John encouraged us to make our own wines from our vineyard -- "home brew" as he calls it. John is also our inspiration to make the wines naturally in the vineyard and not "screw" them up in the winery! John makes his own Kongsgaard wines.
Our friends in the grape growing, viticulture region composed of parts of Friuli, Italy, and Brda, Slovenia -- some of the most renowned winemakers in the area.
Serena Palazzolo
Special friend and owner of Ronco del Gnemiz winery who helps so much with our contacts and understanding the culture in the region. We may be importing some of her wines into California.
Josko Gravner
The articulate, informal “leader” of the natural wine movement in the Oslavia region of Friuli and owner of Gravner wines. He strongly encouraged our planting Ribolla Gialla and has visited us in Napa to see our growing conditions.
Enzo Pontoni
Owner of Miani wines who has been very helpful in tasting our wines and providing thoughtful advice on wine style and important vineyard considerations.
Aleks Simcic
Owner of Simcic wines in Goriska Brda, Slovenia. Aleks has been instrumental in helping us understand Ribolla Gialla through vertical tastings of his Ribolla, and accept the idiosyncrasies of growing this unusual grape.
Stanko Radikon
A pioneer of natural wines in Oslavia, and a real help to us with wines and vineyards of the area since 1997 when we first visited the region. Owner of Radikon wines.
Giorgio Bensa
Owner of La Castellada wines in Oslavia with his brother Nicolo. Giorgio's Bianco is the model for our Bianco.
Marco Simonitt
A superb vineyard consultant who has helped us with visits to special wineries and vineyards. Marco convinced us to plant our vineyard to tighter spacing, and came to Napa to guide our Guyot (cane) pruning techniques on Ribolla Gialla.
