Winemaking Update

Dear Members, It is with immense pleasure that I pen this first communication to our greatest ambassadors, our wine club members. I thought I’d start by telling you why I’m excited to make wine at Pine Ridge Vineyards.

First off, Pine Ridge feels like coming home for me. The Stags Leap District is where I did my first harvest internship, and where early in my career I spent six years working my way up to the role of Assistant Winemaker. Though I’ve since worked in other Napa Valley AVAs and have experience with spectacular fruit from all over the valley, there’s something about the Stags Leap District and its wines that has always stayed with me. In terms of wine, it is my birthplace.

Second, I’ve followed the wines of Pine Ridge and former Winemaker Michael Beaulac for years, most notably at the annual Barrel Trial Tasting at the winery. This is an event put on for fellow winemakers that allows us to taste the same wine aged in barrels from different forests, producers and at different toast levels. I looked forward to this every year, not only for the educational aspect, but because it gave me a chance to revisit Pine Ridge wines. I was always impressed and have enormous respect for how Michael and his team have evolved the wines over the years.

Speaking of team, I am tremendously excited to work with the people here at Pine Ridge – Gustavo Aviña, Michael Conversano, Colleen Fitzgerald, to name a few – who make this such a dynamic place to make wine. I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to walk into a place with such talent, dedication and professionalism, from our teammates working the vines by hand, to those crafting the wines in the cellar and our guest staff creating personalized experiences. The heartfelt welcome of this long tenured team has made the transition as smooth as possible.

Finally, I can’t overstate how much I look forward to working with the phenomenal vineyard properties in our portfolio. Pine Ridge owns and farms grapes in some of the best regions not only in Napa Valley, but in the world, and the care and attention to detail that goes into these vineyards is obvious. We are truly winegrowers first and foremost, and I can’t wait to work alongside our vineyard team with these estate sites in the future.

In closing, I hope I meet many if not all of our wine club members in the months and years ahead, and I can’t wait to share this next chapter of Pine Ridge with you. As I look to the future, I’m aware of the visionary people who’ve come before me at Pine Ridge, all the way back to our founders, Gary and Nancy Andrus, who were explorers and pioneers in this region. In honoring my predecessors, my intent is to continue pushing boundaries and getting the best out of every block, taking Pine Ridge wines to even greater height

Josh Widaman
Estate Winemaker