A Washington, D.C., native, Rebekah’s passion for winemaking began when she visited the Napa Valley with her parents and participated in tours of several wineries. Discussions of wine and winemaking on this visit left such a lasting impression that Rebekah went on to pursue a dual degree in chemistry and biology at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, with the dream of becoming a winemaker. While studying abroad in Australia, she shadowing a local winemaker and was further drawn to the craft. She then enrolled in the winemaking program at the University of California, Davis, where she earned a master’s degree in Viticulture & Enology in 2003.

Her love for wine led her to Tuscany, where she was harvest enologist at Tenuta dell’Ornellaia and gained valuable experience there. Returning to the U.S., she worked as enologist for the Staglin Family Vineyard in Napa Valley. As her experience grew, Rebekah moved to Rudd Winery in Napa, where she accepted a position as assistant winemaker. While at Rudd, she directly managed all winemaking operations from harvest to bottling, and worked closely with consulting winemaker Michel Rolland to produce wines of both power and finesse. Rebekah then became the winemaker for Buccella in 2009 and remained there until June, 2015, when she moved on to Quintessa as its winemaker. She also has her own project, Post & Vine, which she started in 2012 jointly with Erica Kincaid, a colleague at Quintessa.

Although Rebekah worked one harvest, at Jekel Vineyards before enrolling at UC Davis, her advice to aspiring winemakers is to experience three or four harvests before committing to winemaking by way of pursuing a relevant academic degree. This number of harvests can be accomplished in two years by working in both hemispheres.