William Knuttel brings a broad range of practical and artistic winemaking talent to Dry Creek Vineyard. Bill, who began as winemaker in July 2003, joins an established family winery committed to quality with great estate vineyards and long-term contracts with highly regarded local growers.
 

For the past 20 years, Bill has focused his winemaking on ultra-premium and luxury wines, gathering a wide range of experience not only in winemaking but also in viticulture, winery construction and wine education. While his training is rooted in science, Bill’s approach to winemaking hinges on an artistic approach, letting instinct and experience set the tone while minimizing the use of technology. Prior to joining Dry Creek Vineyard, Bill was the winemaker at Chalk Hill Estate Vineyards & Winery for seven years and at Saintsbury for 13 years. In both cases he was recognized for his superlative Chardonnay and, at Saintsbury, exceptional Pinot Noir. His wines are some of the most respected in California.

A native of Philadelphia, Bill moved to Rancho Cucamonga, California, with his family when he was a teenager. Intrigued by the pre-Prohibition wineries there, his walks to school often detoured through old vineyards. He graduated from California Polytechnic University, Pomona, with a BS in Chemical Engineering in 1976. His interest in the arts and humanities and his studies of literature and history, however, made him a Renaissance man instead of a techie.
 

With degree in hand, he entered the work world at Dow Chemical in San Francisco, specializing in plant design and start-up—great tools for a winemaker, who essentially builds new wines each vintage. While his days were full of analysis and lab work, he spent much of his free time reading, listening to music and pursuing fine wines.

Lisa Bishop Forbes is an integral part of our winemaking team. With more than 20 years of winemaking experience, Lisa is the day-to-day decision maker in our cellar, ultimately responsible for ensuring that we produce only the highest quality wines.

Following graduation from California State University, Fresno, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Enology, Lisa cut her teeth at one of Napa Valley’s most esteemed properties, Joseph Phelps Vineyards. As enologist, Lisa was responsible for managing the laboratory, supervising cellar work and working with the assistant winemaker and winemaker in making blending decisions. For almost ten years, Lisa learned the winemaking ropes at Phelps, educating herself in every aspect of the business. In 1995, Lisa joined Chalk Hill Estate Winery as assistant winemaker. Leaving one well regarded winery and heading for another, Lisa became the right hand of winemaker Bill Knuttel as they worked together to make world class estate wines. In addition, Lisa was responsible for the entire cellar ensuring the high standards set by Bill and the Chalk Hill family.

The opportunity to work again with Bill brought Lisa to Dry Creek Vineyard in July 2004. Both Bill and Lisa share a similar philosophy and vision for winemaking and their partnership has created a whole new mentality in the cellar at Dry Creek Vineyard. Attention to detail, quality control and superior winemaking talents set Lisa apart in many ways. With Lisa overseeing the cellar at Dry Creek Vineyard, our family is confident that the quality of wines produced will only improve in the coming years.

When she is not putting in long hours at Dry Creek, Lisa can be found spending quality time with her husband, Ken, and 3 year-old son, Colin.

Alex graduated from California State University, Fresno in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science degree in analytical chemistry.  His first job out of college honed his skills as an analytical chemist in a drinking water and soils laboratory.  Looking for more of a challenge, Alex became the technical superintendent and production manager for a chemical plant in Fresno, which specialized in sulfur based fertilizers. He eventually became Director of Research and Development, where he’s credited with several new processes and products that revolutionized the industry. Again, looking for more challenges, Alex turned to his love of home brewing to explore a career in the fermentation sciences. Still working full-time at the chemical plant, he went back to school and completed all the classes in the enology department at Fresno State.
 

His first job in the wine industry was as the Enologist in a state of the art laboratory in one of the largest wineries in California. There they produced table wine, Christian Brothers Brandy and dessert wine. After twelve years in the Fresno area, it was finally time to move back to the Bay Area where he was born and raised. Alex landed at Paul Hobbs for the 2003 vintage, where his expertise was instrumental in setting up and establishing lab and cellar procedures for Hobbs’ new facility.  Alex came to Dry Creek Vineyard in March of 2004 as one of the new additions to Bill Knuttel’s winemaking team. Dry Creek Valley has always been Alex’s first choice of appellations to work in and Dry Creek Vineyard is perfectly suited to his wide range of talents. His main philosophy is to bring fine winemaking techniques used in small lot production to Dry Creek Vineyard.

Alex has several sport and artistic interests away from the winery. He loves to ski in the winter and plays baseball in the summer. He shares a large art studio with his wife Annie at home where he works in silver, copper and burl. Alex also has two grown sons.