Winemaker of the Year for 2019 Francoise Peschon is best known as winemaker for Araujo Estate from 1993 to 2013, she is now a consultant, making the wines for Heimark, Cornell, Accendo, Matt Morris and Piedra Hill in addition to Vine Hill Ranch, plus a small label, Drinkward Peschon, which she co-owns with her best friend, Lisa Drinkward.

But unlike many of Napa’s premier winemaking consultants, known for imprinting a homogeneous style on all the wines they touch, Peschon has no signature stamp. She believes “a winemaker is a means to an end,” she says. “You have to justify the site.” Her wines, though mostly Napa Valley Cabernet, are each as distinctive as those individual Vine Hill Ranch barrels.