Brittany (Britt) Richards seemed destined for a career in the wine industry because she had a crush on a boy whose mother owned a winery and vineyard in the Sierra Foothills; she thought the mother was “the absolute coolest.” Britt’s love of science and her impressions of the mother’s activities made winemaking a goal for her.

She entered California State University, Fresno, in 2007 and graduated from there four years later, earning a B.S. in Enology. Immediately after graduating, she completed a harvest internship at Constellation Brands in Madera before joining Cima Collina Winery in the Carmel Valley as assistant winemaker/enologist. This was followed by another harvest internship, this time with Chappellet Vineyard in the Napa Valley for the 2008 vintage. After a six-month stint with Jordan Vineyard & Winery in the Sonoma Valley, Britt spent a year as enologist for Keller Estate in Sonoma before moving to Peter Michael Winery in the Napa Valley where she was its enologist for two years.

She then embarked on half-year appointments at St. Clement Winery in St. Helena, Ledson Winery & Vineyards in Sonoma, and Atelier Melka also in St. Helena, during which she served as an assistant winemaker. In mid-2014, Britt was appointed associate winemaker for COHO Wines in Napa and remained there for four years before accepting the position of winemaker for Head High Wines in Sonoma, where she has been since mid-2018. She is also a winemaker for Wine Access, a crush pad in Napa, and has been a consulting winemaker since 2014.

Brittany’s approach to winemaking is captured in her own words, “I have learned to follow my gut and how something tastes. While I feel it is very important to maintain proper quality standards with wines, at the end of the day I think it should just taste amazing.” Her goal for those who are drinking her wines is “To remember to enjoy it. It’s my job to obsess over the details of a wine. Once you have bought that bottle, please sit back, relax, and hopefully I have made your day a little lighter.”