Melissa Kuhn

Melissa Kuhn

After moving to Sonoma County in 2005, Melissa decided to transfer her environmental laboratory skills to the wine industry. She fell in love with the wine industry after working as a lab intern and in 2006 took a permanent lab job at Owl Ridge Wine Services.

In 2011, Melissa began working directly under John Tierney, Taft Street’s first winemaker, she ran the winery’s day-to-day operations. In this role, Melissa met and was influenced by more than 20 prominent Sonoma County winemakers including Anthony Austin, Hugh Chapelle, Kerry Damskey, Greg LaFollette, and Ginny Lambrix. By observing and executing their winemaking directions, Melissa learned various winemaking techniques.

Melissa hand crafts our “Get Your Own Damn Coffee” Russian River Chardonnay’s.

Crystalyn Hoffman

From humble roots, the winery was founded in 2011 by female entrepreneur, Crystalyn Hoffman with a vision to create a distinctively fresh winery with a spirit of fun. Three years into her journey, Crystalyn met Doug Hackett, now partner, husband and winemaker extraordinaire of Spicy Vines. A true artisan at his craft, Doug brings over 24 years of winemaking experience to the partnership, having worked with some of the most coveted vineyards across Sonoma and Mendocino counties. 

The dynamic duo joined forces and have never looked back, as they continue to focus on making world class wines that exude purity, depth and balance and that are honest expressions of their soil, varietal, climate and character.

Crystalyn & Doug produce our Stonewall wines from Pine Mountain and Dry Creek Valley.  

Iron Horse Vineyards, Joy Sterling

When the fog lifts in the Green Valley of Sonoma, the gentle hills roll like waves of green across a plain. It’s an ideal place to harvest; one might even call it ‘presidential.’ In fact, Iron Horse sparkling wines have been served at the White House during five consecutive inaugurations.

Iron Horse produces exclusively estate-bottled wines imbuing a distinct “sense of place”. They are specific to the Green Valley AVA. The wines are elegant, bright, focused, highly nuanced, soft and silky. They exude quality and class.

Winemaker Meghan Hill, who perfected her craft under former winemaker David Munksgard, strives for exquisite balance, believing that great wine starts with great grapes. All Iron Horse sparkling wines exceed French standards for vintage quality, belonging to the category of “Grower Champagne”.

Iron Horse owner and wine pioneer Joy Sterling and her team believe in equality; Iron Horse Rainbow Cuvée was featured at annual White House LGBT events in June 2014 and 2015.

Wine(s) crafted for Equality Vines: 2008 Love Wins Cuvée, 2013 Love Wins Cuvée, 2013 Love Wins Blanc de Noirs, 2014 Love Wins Cuvée

Edgar Torres

Bodega de Edgar Wines. A first generation Mexican winemaker, Edgar’s father’s journey into the coastal town of Cambria, CA opened the eyes of Edgar’s father, a young immigrant, to a better life for his family.

Bodega is the Spaniard term for a winery or cellar. Considering Edgar’s Hispanic heritage and passion for Spanish wines, the brand name is a natural fit.

Edgar’s journey started as a waiter in Paso Robles, CA. There he was exposed to many great wine producers. Several became friends and eventually opened their doors to a young “Cellar Rat”. Edgar’s enthusiasm for producing great wines led to the development of the brand, Bodega de Edgar, in 2007.

Starting at just 250 cases, Bodega de Edgar is now approaching 3,500 cases with the 2018 vintage. As always, Edgar’s focus is on sourcing the highest quality fruit to produce the best wines.

Edgar produces The Migrant 2018 Paso Red Blend.

Giovanni “Gio” Balistreri

Gio is a product of four generations of Sonoma County farmers. Gio was seven years old when he went to work on his family’s dairy farm. Up at dawn each day with his Grandfather, Les, Gio did the chores and learned the skills of his family’s livelihood.

By the time Gio was set to leave for college, he already had ten years of practical farming experience. But Gio’s father Jack Balistreri had realized the potential of the family farm for growing wine grapes. So Gio and his father planted four acres of Pinot Noir grapes in Freestone, CA. With his first wine harvest already pending, Gio attended Fresno State University, where he majored in Agricultural business with concentrations in Winery Management, Wine Marketing, & Wine sales.

In 2008, Gio was tapped by legendary winemaker Anthony Austin to join a team that acquired Russian River Vineyards. Under Anthony’s tutelage, Gio learned the “light touch” approach to winemaking that has become a hallmark of Russian River Vineyards. Since then, Russian River Vineyards wines have won more than 200 medals, 75 of them gold.

Gio produces our 2018 Decision Pinot Noir.