Winemaker Randall Watkins grew up on a vineyard located in the foothills of
Taylor Mountain in Sonoma County. When he was only 10 years old, Randall
worked with his father to plant the Watkins Family Zinfandel and Chardonnay
vineyard. After receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Davis, he worked briefly for a management consulting firm in San Francisco, before feeling the call of wine country. He went to work in
the cellars and labs of Buena Vista Winery and Hartford Family Winery in
Sonoma County, at Carmen Vineyards in Chile, and as assistant winemaker at
S. Anderson Vineyards in Napa. Randall then returned to UC Davis, where he
completed a master's degree in enology in 1999. Over the next seven years,
Randall produced some of the most highly regarded wines in Sonoma County as
the winemaker for Carmenet Winery and Moon Mountain Vineyard.
