Vintage Crew

Waiting patiently for the vines to complete their work is the 2017 vintage team. This year it has both an international and a local flavour. Assisting Clare, Keith, Alex and Gina, from USA, Ben Diaz and Devon Miller, from UK, Victoria Smith and from Melbourne  we have Niles Sheridan. Ben and  Devon  were  introduced by Nico Cueva of Koster Browne, in the Sonoma  Valley, California, who was on our 2010 crew. His stories apparently didn’t put them off!

Ben, a San Diego native, is a Bachelor of Arts from San Francisco State University, where his major was Cinema and his particular interest animation. He came to wine as student while working at Barrique Wine Bar in San Francisco and through the owners, the Weese brothers, got the chance to expand his knowledge.  This lead to him working the 2016 vintage at KB, as we now refer to it. We’ve never had an animator at Moss Wood and Keith is trying to get Ben to keep a vintage sketch book.

Devon, a Texan who took  up climbing and moved to Colorado to be in the Rocky Mountains, worked in The Kitchen restaurant in Denver, eventually becoming the wine buyer. This gave her contact with the Californian industry and led to her completing the 2016 vintage at Wind Gap Wines in Sonoma. Dev is keen on “natural wine”, leading to some interesting discussions with Keith.  To her credit, she listens politely and lets the tirade wash over her.

Victoria is a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Aberystwyth in Wales, with a major in Languages, specifically Italian and Spanish. Her wine interest sparked while living in Italy. Returning to Britain, she joined the management training scheme run by retailer Majestic Wine. A holder of the WSET Level  3 wine qualification, she is focusing on the production side of the business, with a view to staying in Australia to study winemaking. Keith is continuously reminded of the limerick, “There was a young girl from Aberystwyth” but is too polite to say it.

Niles, a man of the Melbourne food and wine scene, completed a Bachelor of Business at La Trobe University, majoring in Marketing and Hospitality. His wine experience is  varied and includes sales with the legendary retailer and Hawthorn nut, Phil Hude, from Armadale Cellars and 3 vintages on the Mornington Peninsula with Ruth and George Mihaly at Paradigm Hill, amongst others. Niles, a keen AFL player, is buying into the local life by training with the local Dunsborough “Muelies” side, alongside Alex Coultas.