Jerry Seps

Winemaker, Storybook Mountain Vineyards/Seps Estate

Dr. Seps, a former professor of European history, received his Ph.D. at U.C. Berkeley. He taught at Stanford University and was tenured at one of the California State Universities. A native of California, he has long been familiar with the wine industry. His grandfather was in the retail wine and liquor trade; his father was in the wholesale wine and liquor trade, and he worked as a sommelier in his college years.

Dr. Seps’ winemaking skills grew from theory, practice and personal philosophy. Courses at U.C. Davis and intensive discussions with the winemakers in and outside the Napa Valley provided the theoretical framework. An apprenticeship, encompassing all aspects of winemaking from picking the grapes to bottling the wine, with one of the most famous Zinfandel makers in California (the late Joe Swan), yielded the necessary practical background. A very competitive nature and his “why not” approach to achieving goals, coupled with both a willingness for hard work and the satisfactions to be gained from recreating a major wine estate, have provided the drive and focus for producing Storybook wines

Country born: United States

Education: PhD from UC Berkeley

Years in the wine industry: 10-15 years

Winemaking Philosophy:
In 1976, after a long search, with the vital aid and encouragement of his German born wife, Sigrid, Dr. Seps gave up his tenured professorship and moved to the Napa Valley. Here, he and his wife accepted the daunting challenge of creating a successful wine estate from nothing (a burned-out winery and abandoned vineyard). It was a good test of his lifelong credo of “Why Not?”