Winemaker Ashley Herzberg
Ashley Herzberg came to love wine early in her life. Her parents had a role in this, instilling in her the importance of cooking and eating together as a family and having wine on the table at mealtime. Despite this exposure, however, Ashley initially intended to attend medical school after earning her university degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. Four years of working in a hospital convinced her that medicine was not her calling, and modified her career goal by turning to the wine industry. Her background in science and engineering came in handy when she accepted a job as a laboratory technician at Owl Ridge Wine Services in Sebastopol.
At Owl Ridge, Ashley quickly moved up from Lab Technician to Lab Manager, benefiting from valuable mentoring by some of the top Pinot Noir vintners in California such as Merry Edwards, Greg Lafollette, Anthony Austin, and Scot Covington. Because it was a custom-crush facility with over 40 clients at the time, Owl Ridge provided her with the opportunity to gain the perspective and knowledge that would prove invaluable as she moved on in her career.
By mid-2007, Ashley found herself at Mauritson Wines as Enologist and soon was named Assistant Winemaker. She is now the Consulting Winemaker for Amista Winery, Bacigalupi Vineyards, and Saini Vineyards, all of which are in Sonoma County. Ashley is involved in crafting a number of varietals, including Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon.
She and her husband David, who is also a winemaker, enjoy camping, traveling and spending time with their two small children.
Leave a Reply
Winemaker Ashley Herzberg
Ashley fell into the wine industry in a roundabout way. Growing up, wine was always on the table. Her mom and dad loved to cook and make dinner together and wine was always a part of that togetherness and bonding. Ashley loved how wine brought people together but never gave it much more thought than that. In college, Ashley decided to study Chemical Engineering, thinking that would be a good degree to use to go to medical school, which had always been plan. During college, she worked in a hospital doing wound care and working with patients in the physical therapy department, and although she loved it, she realized being inside a hospital was definitely not where she was meant to be.
With a nudge from one of her Chemical Engineering professors, Ashley started applying to wineries, thinking only of working one harvest and then going back to graduate school. A week after graduation, she moved to Sonoma County to start work at a custom crush winery in Sebastopol called Owl Ridge. By day two, she knew she was in love with this work and that she would stay in this industry for her career.
At Owl Ridge, Ashley quickly moved up from Lab Technician to Lab Manager, benefiting from valuable mentoring by some of the top Pinot Noir vintners in California such as Merry Edwards, Greg Lafollette, Anthony Austin, and Scot Covington. Because it was a custom-crush facility with over 40 clients at the time, Owl Ridge provided her with the opportunity to gain the perspective and knowledge that would prove invaluable as she moved on in her career.
By mid-2007, Ashley found herself at Mauritson Wines as Enologist and soon was named Assistant Winemaker. In 2011, after four years there, she had her daughter and decided to take the leap into consulting. She started making Chardonnay for Bacigalupi Vineyards for their inaugural vintage of 2011, and also making wine for Amista Vineyards in Dry Creek Valley. In the last 9 years, she has grown with Bacigalupi to now making our whole lineup of wines, including Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Sparkling, two dessert wines, and of course, Chardonnay!
Wine is a lifestyle for Ashley. Her two children spend lots of time wandering vineyards and sampling with her. She can’t imagine doing anything else with her life. Ashley loves to travel and visit wineries in other wine regions around the world in her (limited) free time. She also loves to garden, cook, ski, and spend lots of time outdoors in any capacity possible.
