"Cultivating excellence" as a vintner in Napa is like the term "terroir" when it comes to winemaking. It is an all-encompassing phrase that isn't specific to any individual facet. From farming to winemaking, hospitality, sales, events and more, there is so much that needs to be fostered in order to achieve excellence within the world of wine.

It was my first job interview as a cellar hand at Raymond Vineyards in 2009. Nuias Depina walked me into their cellar and told me to put together a couple of hoses and connect them to a pump. I bumbled a bit but got it done at which point he asked when I could start. It was a simple thing but it was the first time I felt confident around wine or winemaking. Looking back, it still feels silly that such a simple task is what connected with me but here we are.

There are so many... the first two that come to mind would be Cathy Corison and Mike Chelini, whose wines I have loved over the years. Their styles, without a doubt, have stood the test of time and remained uniquely theirs while the majority of Napa pushed toward bigger, more extracted and heavy styles of wine. Third, but not any less important, would have to be David Tate who has been not only inspirational but also an amazing friend over the years as I began my own winemaking journey. His experience, expertise and honesty about winemaking have been a regular sounding board over the years.

My first harvest was in 2010. I had to pick our Merlot myself after shifts at work, which was done the last Friday in October and the first Friday in November so I could use my weekend to focus on winemaking. It was late in the season, rained both nights and was a miserable—albeit rewarding—experience. That first harvest was very much a "rough draft" and more of a home-winemaking project than anything resembling a business plan. That said, it served as a springboard to the 2011 and 2012 vintages where our label, MTGA, started to take shape.

I don't know if it is surprising but I have a huge passion for sports and video games. It doesn't really matter what it is— I'll probably give playing or watching it a shot. Whether it is diving into something like World of Warcraft or my days spent on a crew team in college, anything and everything is fair game (pun intended).

McDonald's cheeseburger but not the burger itself... the onion, cheese, ketchup concoction within it. Thank you to that unfiltered Greek orange wine for that one.

Minimalistic would be the quick answer. I actively try to avoid as many mechanical processes as possible to stick to a "less is more" kind of mentality. I don't believe you can be completely hands-off but you can act more as a guiding hand rather than pushing a wine in a specific direction. The result, in my opinion, tends to have much more finesse and balance.

Dave Grohl, David Bowie and—just so there isn't another "David" or musician in the mix—Mary Magdalene. Imagine those stories!

My family moved to St. Helena in 1983 after purchasing about 40 acres of land to start Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards. Being born in 1987, and my siblings shortly thereafter, we joke that "child labor was always free on the family farm." From an early age, we were involved with vineyard work and winemaking though it took some time to understand what our chores were actually working towards. I left to go to school and started working in the wine industry again in 2008 and held many positions from cellar rat to marketing, hospitality, management, shipping, compliance and much more.

Yikes! Frankly, I have no idea. My college degree is in criminal justice and sociology so I imagine something to do with law or law enforcement. That said, video games were always a passion and form of catharsis so perhaps I would have gone that route in development, testing or marketing.

Champagne and Lay's potato chips. Don't bother with the baked version or fancy kettle chips. The original Lay's are the best.