2025 Sommeliers and panelists

Greg Brewer ’s primary focus in the winery is the pursuit of refinement. He is engaged in every aspect of his work from vineyards to market, and every level of the process is given equal attention. To him, a mindful approach where strategic and efficient actions are taken to incorporate the needs of the entire ecosystem is essential. This pursuit creates a confident and calming environment, yielding a space where everyone and everything is appreciated. The goal is the synchronicity of the system. The result is wine that is honest and driven, expressive of the place and the team who collectively stewards them.

Greg has always followed a distinct and deliberate arcinh is work, where the priority is service, subtracting extraneous elements and minimizing the insertion of self. He reveres the repetitive and monastic nature of the winemaking craft, and after thirty years in the business is firmly committed to the immediate task at hand. This focus shifts the motivation behind the wine from me go towards humility. For Greg, it is only along this path that the resultant product conveys the sincerity and vulnerability that are his goals, both
professionally and personally.

Greg started his career as a French instructor at UC Santa Barbara before being trained in wine production at Santa Barbara Winery starting in 1991. He created his eponymous label, Brewer-Clifton with original partner Steve Clifton in 1996 and later designed Melville where he worked as winemaker from inception in 1997 through the end of 2015. Greg created Diatom in 2005 focusing on starkly raised Chardonnay and additionally ExPost Facto in 2016 dedicated to cold climate Syrah. In 2020, Greg was named Wine maker of the Year by Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s Wine Star Awards. The entirety of his career has been rooted in the Sta. Rita Hills appellation which he helped to map, define and establish in 1997.

Clementine Carter Wines
I approach my work with a lifetime of exquisite flavors, travel and experiences.  A journalist by training and winemaker by drive, the two professions challenge me to craft timeless stories as each vintage unravels a new chapter.  My goal is to create vibrant, elegant and transportive wines bursting with integrity using three main ingredients: premium Santa Barbara county fruit, dedication and hard work.

Wine revealed itself to me later in life in 2004, after I helped plant a vineyard seeking new discoveries.  A few years prior I received a Fulbright Scholarship to North Macedonia (my family’s birthplace) in 1998-1999 to study ethnic issues.  My pursuit was to discover paths toward peace.  I still believe this is possible.  With a commitment to this landscape and the amazing humans that make wine happen, we do our part now more effectively and joyously, one bottle at a time. 

Entering my 21st vintage with harvest 2025, we have been welcoming guests to our tasting room in the center of historic Los Alamos, California, since 2011.  In 2013, we added Babi’s Beer Emporium next door where we curate domestic craft beers and snacks.  Babi’s is named after my grandmother, Ilinka, who exemplified love and forgiveness and always welcomed everyone to our table. 

As we continue our evolution, our priority is to elevate our cool climate Rhône varieties to the distinction they deserve.  To show our dedication to the potential these wines have for impact, we have committed exclusively to sourcing Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre from the Sta. Rita Hills appellation.

Kristy Melton has over 2 decades of experience crafting wines with structure, finesse, and ageworthiness. Before joining Freemark Abbey, Kristy held winemaking roles at several Napa Valley and Sonoma County wineries including Clos Du Val, Bootleg, Kendall-Jackson, Saintsbury, and others. In her role as Director of Winemaking at Napa Valley’s iconic Clos Du Val, her exceptional ability to craft modern wines of balance and elegance was widely credited for the winery’s reemergence as a leader in Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon production. An El Paso, Texas native, Kristy graduated with a BS in Biology and Animal Science from Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. Following a passion for science, she began her career as a research scientist at the prestigious National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. To afford living in the metropolitan area, she supplemented her wages by bartending and working at a winery in Maryland. This brought her into contact with food and wine aficionados and piqued her interest in both. A trip to Napa Valley brought the realization of the science that underlies winemaking and inspired her to shift her focus towards wine. She enrolled at the University of California at Davis where she earned a Masters in Viticulture and Enology in 2007. Honored to be named among Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s “Top 40 under 40 Tastemakers”, Drinks Business’ “Top 30 under 40 Winemakers to Watch”, and 2 time “Top 100 Master Winemakers”, Kristy leverages her meticulous attention to detail to craft wines of structure, finesse and balance.

Owner/ winemaker Fred Scherrer first made wine at home from the family vineyard as a teenager. This lead to technical training with a degree at U.C. Davis and then back to the “real world” to learn where, when, how, and importantly if to apply science to the art of winemaking. This real-world experience included some early days making wine in Alexander Valley and in Mendocino County. He returned to Sonoma County in 1988, making wine at Dehlinger for 10 years. During this time, Fred refined his original philosophy that “winemaking revolves around the vineyard”.

“In 1991 while I was at Dehlinger, I began Scherrer Winery by making Zinfandel from vines my grandfather planted in 1912. During this time, it became obvious to me that Zinfandel, when not harvested over-ripe, shows a similar level of site expression as Pinot Noir. After becoming fully self-employed in 1998, production was gradually expanded to include Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Syrah and Grenache. I make both single-vineyard wines and blends of sites that offer great components rather than complete, signatures of site, as well as multi-varietal and multi-vintage blends when it makes the best wine, such as our non-vintage Zinfandoodle.

Outside of harvest and bottling, I do most all of the cellar work myself. Following my father’s passing late 2020, I also work in the family vineyard where I grew up. Our annual production is currently about 3500 cases. Judi, my wife, has handled administrative and compliance for the winery since 2002, keeping me out of trouble with bureaucrats and making sure we are able to conform with the complex and changing direct shipping laws.”

For over 25 years Kaena has been utilizing native Hawaiian intuition to craft unique balanced wines of style, elegance, and power. This is achieved by selecting only the finest vineyards and working closely with growers to ensure the highest quality fruit possible. The wines are made utilizing the best techniques the old and new world has to offer. Fermentations occur naturally with native yeasts, and caps are mixed by hand to ensure gentle extraction, creating long-lived wines with a deep sense of varietal character and terroir. Kaena is recognized as one of North Americas best Rhone-varietal wineries. Founder and winemaker Mikael Sigouin an Oahu native is hailed by his peers as the “The King of Grenache.”

WINEMAKER & GENERAL MANAGER

It’s hard to imagine a more fitting successor to Copain’s winemaking legacy than Winemaker and General Manager Ryan Zepaltas. Beyond his impressive winemaking pedigree, Ryan’s true passion lies in Copain’s signature style – the same approach he championed under his own critically acclaimed Zepaltas Wines. Ryan’s path to winemaking was anything but conventional. Growing up in Wisconsin’s beerdrinking culture, wine wasn’t on his radar. After college, he moved to Sebastopol, CA to pursue skateboarding but quickly found himself broke. A friend offered him a harvest job at La Crema, where his interest in winemaking first sparked. This curiosity took him to New Zealand’s Villa Maria, where a transformative experience solidified his lifelong passion for winemaking. In the summer of 2000, Ryan interviewed with Siduri, a then relatively unknown Pinot Noir producer housed in a Santa Rosa warehouse.

Excited by the opportunity to work with his favorite varietal, Pinot Noir, Ryan quickly connected with Siduri’s winemakers Adam and Dianna Lee. Their dedication to crafting small-batch, site-specific wines inspired Ryan, and over the next two decades, he played an integral role in shaping Siduri’s wines, progressing from Cellar Master to Assistant Winemaker and eventually Winemaker. In 2004, Ryan launched his own label, Zepaltas Wines, to focus on small-lot, cool-climate Pinot Noir, Syrah, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. In 2018, he achieved his “dream job” as Copain’s Winemaker and General Manager, where he continues to uphold the winery’s commitment to elegant, balanced, and food-friendly wines.