Meet the Maker: Dave Phinney

“Dave Phinney”

Please join us in the Founders’ Club on February 7 at 6:00 pm for an extra special Meet the Maker wine event. This month’s proprietor will be Dave Phinney. While we have had the pleasure of tasting several of Dave’s wines, the opportunity to meet Dave personally and learn about his current and future projects is special.

The history of Dave Phinney’s winemaking career dates back to 1995 when on a lark, he took a friend up on an offer and went to Florence, Italy to spend a semester “studying”. During that time, he was introduced to wine, how it was made, and got hooked. Upon graduating college, he moved to the Napa Valley and landed a job at Robert Mondavi Winery in 1997 as a temporary harvest worker. Deciding that if he was going to work that hard, it would eventually have to be for himself. He founded Orin Swift Cellars in 1998 with two tons of Zinfandel and not much else. He spent the next decade honing his craft, producing a signature winemaking style and an unorthodox design aesthetic that has developed a cult following. Dave and his team have since grown several companies into multinational brands such as The Prisoner, Orin Swift, Department 66, Locations and Savage & Cooke. Dave was awarded Winemaker of the Year by Wine Enthusiast in 2019, graced the cover of Wine Spectator in June 2022 and has made over a hundred 90+ point wines throughout his winemaking career. Our Lady of Guadalupe (OLG) is simply a natural evolution in Dave’s ingenuity and represents his vision to produce world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with a sense of place, personality and pride.

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