Elyse Perry found her way into winemaking in an unusual way. This is because her first two post high-school degrees were a B.A. in Political Science from Hofstra University in 1994 and an M.A. in Public Administration from San Jose State University in 2001. She started her odyssey toward becoming a winemaker in 2008 by working at Fosters Wine Estates/Cellar 360 in Paso Robles as a hospitality specialist. A year before leaving that position in 2010, Elyse was also employed as cellar worker (aka “cellar rat”) at Bin to Bottle Winery, a custom-crush facility in the Napa Valley. In early 2011, she became assistant winemaker at Bin to Bottle. Elyse held this position until January 2013 when she moved to Galvan Family Cellars in Fairfield as its assistant winemaker. She somehow found time in 2011 to found her own winery, Egan Cellars, in San Francisco, where she makes small lots of Spanish and Italian varietals.

December 2013 found Elyse at Bokisch Vineyards in Lodi, again as assistant winemaker. In January 2016, she was named as its winemaker and specializes in making Spanish varietals such as Garnacha, Verdejo, and Albariño, among others.

When her duties at the winery permit, Elyse can be found at a SF Giants game or hiking, skiing, biking, running . . . in other words, she loves the outdoors and has energy to burn. Elyse’s passion and energy have always been evident as reflected in the fact that in her younger years she was a ballet and tap dancer.