Description

Having a scientific background was something that Kristie Tacey, 46, found useful. A microbiologist who worked on the Human Genome Project, she yearned for a life outside the lab. At 33, she left to find one among the vines. After working as operations manager and assistant winemaker at several wineries in the Bay Area, Tacey started to make wines under her own label, Tessier Winery, in 2009. Eight years went by before she embraced the project full-time. “It was good to have a foundation of science, to be very analytical and problem-solving,” she says. Over time, she learned to relax into nature, abandon commercial yeasts, embrace native ferments and, ultimately, find her signature style. (Wine Enthusiast)