RORY WILLIAMS

Rory Williams grew up on his family’s ranch in west Rutherford, Napa Valley, the first ranch farmed entirely by the family winery, Frog’s Leap. He was immediately pressed into service for the family business, first as head forklift rider before promotion to assistant barrel scrubber. While studying for his B.A. in Liberal Arts at St. John’s College and studying oenology and flavour chemistry at Cornell University, Rory worked several harvests abroad in Italy, France, and Argentina. Discovering that he still loved wine, despite being yelled at in languages he barely understood, he decided to return home to Napa to immerse himself in the family business.

After returning home, Rory started Calder Wine Company before joining the vineyard team at Frog’s Leap for the 2012 harvest. He has spent several years working on the vineyard team, learning every aspect of viticulture from the guys who know the vines best. For the past three years, he has brought that knowledge to the winemaking side of Frog’s Leap, looking to tailor the way we make wine on a block-by-block, and sometimes vine-by-vine, basis. In addition to his work with Frog’s Leap and Calder, Rory has returned to the original family ranch (now Tres Sabores Winery), where he farms the vines he grew up with.