Skipstone Ranch
People

Fahri Diner and Jill Layman

Proprietors

To Fahri Diner and Jill Layman, Skipstone Ranch is more than a family home and winegrowing estate. It is a devoted partnership with the earth.

Fahri Diner and Jill Layman
Fahri Diner and Jill Layman
Andrew Levi

Winemaker

Andrew believes that the role of a great winemaker is to listen to the vineyard and hear the spirit of its terroir, to be the conduit between vineyard and bottle.

 
Philippe Melka

Winemaker

Philippe spent much of his early life in Bordeaux, receiving his geology degree in 1989 from the University of Bordeaux. In his final year of study, he took a wine course out of sheer curiosity, and from that moment on realized his passion—and future—lay with wine.

Philippe Melka
Philippe Melka
Emily Wines

Master Sommelier

Emily Wines joins Skipstone with an impressive background in the wine industry.

Ulises Valdez

Vineyard Manager

Ulises was Born in Los Cuachalalates, a tiny village in Michoacan, Mexico. Driven to succeed and eager to find his calling, Ulises made his way to California in December 1985, to work in the vineyards of Sonoma County.

Ulises Valdez
Ulises Valdez
Amigo Bob Cantisano

Organic Farming Specialist

One of the most respected and influential figures in California organic agriculture today, Amigo Bob has led Skipstone Ranch in its transformation to a fully sustainable winegrowing estate.

Brook Drummond

Director of National Sales, Marketing and Public Relations

Brook felt a striking sense of excitement the first time she saw Skipstone. The estate immediately struck her as a special place, and she knew she had to be part of it.

 
Brook Drummond