Craig Becker

Somerston Estate

St. Helena, California

Somerston’s founder, Craig Becker, was born to make wine. He studied viticulture and oenology at UC Davis before training at Robert Mondavi Winery and working at Spring Mountain Vineyard, where he was promoted to winemaker at the age of 23. In 1999, he founded his consulting business, Becker Wines and Vineyard Management. As an amateur pilot, he flew throughout California sourcing fruit. In his travels, he discovered the future Somerston Estate site. Today, he oversees winemaking and vineyard operations at Somerston and Priest Ranch, which encompass nearly 1,700 acres. The size of the estate allows him to sell fruit to top Napa wineries and select the grapes best suited for his two labels: Bordeaux varieties for Somerston, and cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel and petite sirah for Priest Ranch. “The great wines of the world all have a sense of place,” Becker says. “It is the winemaker’s role to capture the estate’s potential in every bottle, without a heavy hand.”