Kristen McMahan is a native of Atwater, a town in California’s Central Valley. Growing up so close to Yosemite embedded a lifelong love of the outdoors in her. She earned a B.A. in Communication & Journalism from the University of Arizona, where she was in the Honors College. As part of her college experience, Kristen spent six months in the Cross-Cultural Communication program at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. It was there that she fell in love with wine.

Over the next several years, Kristen worked in marketing for various non-profit organizations, including Second Harvest Food Bank of San Juaquin & Stanislaus Counties in Manteca, a location that allowed her to make regular trips to wineries in the Napa, Sonoma, and Anderson Valleys, as well as forays to Oregon and Washington. Leaving Second Harvest in May 2012, she moved to Sonoma County and that Fall secured a position as laboratory technician for Korbel Champagne Cellars. As a side job, she was a wine educator for two years at the Freestone facility of Joseph Phelps Vineyards in the Sonoma Valley, ending that gig in April 2016.

Kristen was promoted to enologist at Korbel in May 2016 and combined work with more formal education by earning an A.S. degree in Wine Studies: Enology from Santa Rosa Junior College in 2018. In March 2019, she accepted a position as enologist at Goldeneye Winery, part of the Duckhorn portfolio and was promoted to assistant winemaker one year later. Kristen became its winemaker, her current position, in June 2021.

With her unparalleled work ethic, gifted palate, and scientific acumen, Kristen’s rapid rise to becoming a winemaker is no surprise. She is proud to be building on the traditions of those who preceded her at Goldeneye. The winery is focused on producing wines from the Pinot Noir grape, and in Kristen’s opinion, “This is one of the world’s most remarkable regions for Pinot Noir. From the vibrant red fruit purity of our Confluence Vineyard wines to the voluptuous depth and blue fruit complexity of Gowan Creek to the fascinating terroir-driven rusticity of The Narrows Vineyard, the wines from this region inspire me with their beauty, sophistication, and profound sense of place.”