Elliot Stern, Founder and Owner
A third generation wine industry veteran, Elliot has senior management experience that dates back to GM of Sam’s Wine & Spirits in Chicago, VP of Sales and Marketing at Wilson Daniels and founding Partner and COO of the Sorting Table, a luxury wine sales and marketing company. Later, he conceived and directed the founding of Yao Ming Family Wines.
As an educator in the Wine Studies Program offered by the Culinary Institute of America in St Helena, Napa Valley, he teaches students on the business of wine and offers consulting services in the wine industry.
Currently, as Chief Sales officer of Clos Pegase, founder and CEO of LAKEGIRLwines and founder and partner in TreVigne LLC., importers he still finds a moment here and there to hit a few golf balls. (Hence, the name of his parent company, Divot Enterprises).
At Oakville East, the family business where he is the Chief of Everything, dreams of passing his one-of-a-kind luxury wine on to the next generation of Sterns looks promising.
Sara Gott, Consulting Winemaker
Internationally renowned winemaker, Sara Gott , gained well deserved recognition at Joseph Phelps and Quintessa before joining Oakville East. “It’s a fabulous project,” says Sarah. “This beautifully shaped area with excellent soils of decomposed core stones from the collapsed Vaca Mountain is perfect for growing Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. What makes the project so unique is the handful of micro-vineyards producing the excellent fruit for this wine. Each parcel features a single, relatively homogeneous profile that gives the grapes their distinct flavor and balance. We harvest each vineyard individually and perform multiple pickings at each site to guarantee only ripe, mature grapes. It’s exciting to work with individual growers who lavish resources and attention on their small vineyard blocks. It allows farming practices that guarantee spectacular fruit.”
Marie-Laure Ammons, Head Winemaker
French native Marie-Laure, grew up in the rural Limousin region. She pursued a career in wine by obtaining winemaking diplomas in both Burgundy and Bordeaux. In 1998, after working in France at Domaine Lejeune in Pommard, Chateau de Pressac Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, Dulong Negociant in Bordeaux, Marie-Laure moved to California. Fascinated by the energy and potential for great wine in California, she has been working with Philippe Melka since the 2003 harvest and she has now joined Sara Gott in the Oakville East wine project.