Welcome to Leveque Wine Consulting.  I am Steve Leveque and I am a consulting winemaker.  I’ve made wine for my entire adult life, spanning some 25 years, and I am branching out to help others in pursuit of making delicious and compelling wines. So, how did I become a consulting winemaker? It wasn’t your typical path…

Growing up in Napa

I was born and raised in Napa Valley, although not from a vintner family.  Napa Valley was a much different place when I was growing up than it is now.  My parents were not wine drinkers.  We didn’t live Up Valley, which was Napa’s epicenter of wine, but in the town of Napa.  As kids, we didn’t tend to vineyards or meander through our family’s cellar.  I wasn’t born into Napa’s wine industry, it later found me. 

Being the youngest of six kids made me fiercely competitive, a trait I have yet to relinquish. My five siblings and I endured the rigors of a Catholic school upbringing, attending both St. Apollinaris Elementary School and Justin-Siena High School.  Some of my classmates had surnames like Sebastiani, Mondavi, Sangiacomo, Bundschu and Renteria.  Some of these future vintners were teammates on the basketball and football teams.  Others became lifelong friends.  Napa is small, and fostering relationships is important.

Off to University

I went off to San Diego to college, studying genetics at a time when Biotechnology was just gaining momentum.  At SDSU, I enrolled in the Recombinant DNA technology program, and studied super geeky stuff often straight from scientific journals.  I quickly realized in my career that great wines are not created by formulas and equations, rather by intuition, artistry, understanding vine balance and the influence of harmony when blending -- all of which cannot be found in a textbook. Winemaking by the numbers is too reliant on following the safe and correct way to make wine, which leads to safe and mostly boring wines.  Great winemaking begins when you check your analytical hat at the vineyard gate and cellar door.

The Robert Mondavi Winery

I moved back to Napa and realized, hey, this winemaking thing could be really cool.  I imagined work = taking a few winemaking and viticulture courses, spending time walking vineyards, making/tasting/blending wine, and selling wine. How do I sign up?  Turns out, it’s a bit more involved than that.  While taking UCD extension courses, I applied for a harvest lab tech position at Robert Mondavi Winery and launched my winemaking career.  After a decade of truly inspirational work -- conducting advanced research, gleaning from amazing mentors and consultants, working with many of Napa’s best vineyards (like ToKalon), committing to innovative techniques and building my palate -- I moved onto Chalk Hill Winery, where I was Executive VP, Winemaking. 

Chalk Hill Winery and Hall

David Ramey, who put Chalk Hill Winery on the map, was the consulting winemaker when he reached out to me for an interview, and I was hired. After the initial harvest, I had full reign, focused on improving the Chardonnays and building the Red Wine program.  It was at CHW where I adopted my “no shortcuts, no excuses” philosophy of winemaking.  Fred and Peggy Furth, founders of CHW, never let me forget it either. I was dogmatic in my approach: sustainable viticulture, cluster by cluster farming, gravity feeding, native fermentation and ML, no press inclusion, unfined and unfiltered wines, and a million other things.  Although I was at CHW for only five seasons, my time and efforts were validated by the many significant winegrowing advancements which heightened vineyard expression of that great estate.

I went on to Hall and hit the ground running.  Hall was a brand in its infancy with great aspirations and a dedication to taking a lot of risks -- right up my alley.  I implemented many techniques that I had learned over the years, which I knew would have an immediate impact, while appreciating the need to adapt to new vineyard and winery conditions. Craig and Kathryn Hall gave me great latitude to drive the style and set the standards for cultivating success.  With success came growth, and that is always daunting.  I committed to improving the wine quality during this growth, which is predicated on having great vineyards and proper winemaking facilities. I made calls to some of those former classmates and childhood friends during the 2008 economic downturn, and we pounced on vineyard opportunities with elite growers and quickly had vineyard holdings and grower contracts in 14 of Napa’s 16 AVA’s. A new, state-of-the-art winery was carefully constructed, focusing on honoring individual vineyard lots. Walt Wines, dedicated to Pinot and Chardonnay along the Pacific coastline, and BACA, a Zinfandel-based brand showcasing the diversity of California, were added to the portfolio during my tenure as VP of Winemaking. I felt my contributions at Hall would be long-lasting, but I needed a new challenge. So, on to the Next Chapter: Leveque Wine Consulting.