Meet Our Winemakers
Christopher Nicolson:
Christopher has been the managing winemaker at The Red Hook Winery since its founding in 2008. He began his career in winemaking as a farm intern at a small organic commune near Siena (Tuscany) in 2000. He also spent three vintages with Ted Lemon at Littorai on the Sonoma Coast (northern California) before joining Red Hook.
Christopher's winemaking style is aimed at translation of place and time (of vineyard, provenance, farming, and vintage) to each of his wines. Christopher makes not only makes his own wines for Red Hook but he also produces Red Hook's wines for our 2 consulting winemakers Abe Schoener (Scholium Project) and Robert Foley (Robert Foley Vineyards).
When Christopher isn't making wine, he is running his own commercial fishing vessels in Bristol Bay, Alaska (a summer-seasonal fishery), where he and his family fish for wild Alaskan sockeye salmon. His family has been fishing in Bristol Bay for hundreds of years as a part of the indigenous Alaskan community.
Abraham “Abe” Schoener:
Abe’s journey to becoming a winemaker is as unconventional as his winemaking approach. His first love, philosophy, led him to acquire a doctorate and become a professor for his undergraduate alma mater, St. John’s College in Annapolis. Abe’s passion for philosophy began merging with his love for wine. His fascination with exploring the “outer limits” of wine grew, and eventually led to a midlife career change. He took an internship at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, one of the benchmark Cabernet makers, studied under the infamous John Konsgaard and supplemented experiential learning with extension classes in viticulture.
Abe now runs the Scholium Project, a winery rooted in the philosophical belief that only by experimenting at the precipice, we can challenge our understanding of what wines can be — and create new ones.
Robert “bob” Foley:
Bob Foley began his winemaking career in the Napa Valley in 1977, graduating from UC Davis with degrees in both Viticulture and Enology. Bob’s winemaking style is driven by his extensive experience working in the Napa Valley, gravitating toward Old World winemaking practices.
He became the founding winemaker at the infamous Pride Mountain Vineyards and Markham Vineyards. He also created the highly acclaimed Switchback Ridge, Hourglass, Paloma, School House, and Engel Family Wines. With a reputation for producing very expressive wines that finish gracefully, he now focuses on Robert Foley Vineyards and Switchback Ridge, while creating wines for Dos Lagos Vineyards, Engel Family, and Padis Vineyards in the Napa Valley. When Bob's not making wine, he spends time with his wife, children and granddaughters. You can also find him singing and playing guitar in The Robert Foley Band or scuba diving.
