Description
From the Winery: "After graduating from the University of California, Irvine, with an Economics degree, Rob moved to the Napa Valley, where his mother had recently settled. While she provided the location, it was his father’s love of California Chardonnay that pushed his career in the direction of this classic varietal. Working in the tasting room and harvest nightshift at Cakebread further sparked his interest in the wine business.
After that first harvest, Rob worked in the Tasting Room at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. His interest in wine continued to grow, and he was able to feed this interest by regularly interacting with the winemaking and vineyard staff. These interactions inspired him to go back to school to study enology.
Rob continued to work fulltime in the Tasting Room. At the same time, he attended the Santa Rosa JC and then Sonoma State to fulfill the required chemistry and biology classes. With these requirements complete, he enrolled in the Master’s program in Enology at the University of California, Davis, while interning with renowned winemakers such as Kent Rasmussen.
After graduating from UC Davis in 1999, he landed a position as Enologist and then Assistant Winemaker at La Crema Winery in Sonoma County. Rob later became the Assistant Winemaker at Napa Valley’s Rombauer Estate from 2001 to 2003, the Associate Winemaker from 2003 to 2006, and Winemaker from 2006 to 2008. Ready to make wines the way he prefers, Rob and his wife Bonnie established Lloyd Cellars and Lloyd Consulting in 2008. In 2009, he co-founded JAM Cellars with Butter Chardonnay. Now, Rob continues to focus on crafting world-class wines for Lloyd Cellars and select consulting partners.
Harvested at a lower brix level that previous vintages, this Pinot Noir still retains notes of brambly fruits, cherry cola, and spice, however, there is a more elegant finish to our 2019 than in previous vintages. These integrated flavors are backed by toasty oak providing exceptional depth, length, and texture."