GM and Winemaker for Alpha Omega
www.aowinery.com
Consulting Winemaker for
- Audace Wines
- Sunshine Valley Wines
- Virage
- Clark-Claudon
- The Debate
- Red Tail Hawk Winery
- Armanino Family Cellars
- Decades5
- Monteverro, Capalbia, Italy
- Maldonado Vineyard
Formerly,
- Winemaker, Newton Vineyard
- Asst Winemaker, Chateau Lynch-Bages
- Asst Winemaker, Chateau Carbonnieux
From www.premiernapawines.com,
Country born: Switzerland
Education: Winemaking and viticulture degree at the Swiss Federal School of Changins.
Bio: Jean Hoefliger was born and raised in Switzerland. His experience took him from Switzerland to Bordeaux and South Africa, making wine at the esteemed estates of Chateau Lynch-Bages, Chateau Carbonnieux and Meerlust. Completing a winemaking and viticulture degree at the Swiss Federal School of Changins, Jean came to California in 2001 where he spent five years as winemaker for Newton Vineyard. He joined Alpha Omega in 2006.
Winemaking philosophy: Jean’s winemaking decisions are based solely on taste, starting in the vineyards and continuing through fermentation. Jean tries to bring the true character of the vine and the terroir into the wine by making naturally fermented, unfined and unfiltered wines that show elegance, finesse and the capacity to age
Honors / Awards: While at Newton Vineyards, Jean’s Epic Merlot and Puzzle 2002 received 94 points from Robert Parker, and 97 points on the 2003 Unfiltered Chardonnay. Most recently, with his new project Alpha Omega, the AO flagship wine ERA 2006 scored 94 from the Wine Spectator on its first release. The ERA 2007 scored 92 points from Robert Parker and the Proprietary Red 2006 scored 95 points from the Wine Enthusiast and was also chosen as a “Top Cellar Collection” for the year. The Chardonnay 2007 received a 94 in Wine Spectator and the To Kalon 2007 received a 97 from the Wine Enthusiast.
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