Dan Cederquist

Dan Cederquist began his winemaking career at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars in 1987, after earning his degree in Viticulture from UC Davis. In 1993, he became the Winemaker at DeLoach Vineyards, where he specialized in Old Vine Zinfandels. Dan left De Loach in 2003 when the company was sold, and became founding winemaker of both Balletto Vineyards and the Crew Wine Company.

Over the years, Dan has developed an unparalleled depth of experience and expertise in working with old vine Zinfandel vineyard sites in the Russian River Valley. He is a believer in letting the incredibly unique characteristics of these old vines speak for themselves. He is also not overly concerned with numbers such as brix, Ph and acidity as long as all are in balance. In the cold climate Russian River area, that equilibrium is usually achieved by waiting as long as possible to pick, and hanging the fruit well into the fall until the leaves start to fall from the vine. At picking time, the fruit is hand sorted in the vineyard and brought to the winery in the cool morning hours.