by Millie Howie
Although I was born in California,” Steve Reeder explains, “I grew up in an Air Force family which meant that we moved every couple of years. So I grew up with wanderlust.” When Steve was 17 he returned to the United States and in 1975 fate stepped in to change his life irrevocably. Steve describes a chance meeting at the Middleburg (Virginia) Wine Festival. “I was sitting on a porch drinking wine with a gentleman named Dinsmoor Webb. He said he was the chairman of the viticulture and enology department at the University of California at Davis. I was amazed. I did not know such an opportunity to learn about wine existed. Professor Webb said that if I would transfer to UCD he’d see that I got into his department, so as a junior there I was aiming for a degree in Fermentation Science.”
When Steve graduated in 1979 he went to work for Kirigin Cellars, a 30,000-case winery in Gilroy. Then spent the next 13 years adding to his winemaking skills. From Kirigin, Steve moved to the Finger Lakes district in New York and spent a year as winemaker at Glenora Wine Cellar in Dundee, New York. “That year set the tone for my entire career,” he says, “fulfilling a desire to take existing wines to the next level.”
After nine years in the East Steve and his wife Donna decided it was time to go back to California where another chance encounter in 1992 brought him to the attention of Jess Jackson who hired Steve to run his Lake County winery. When Jackson bought Vinwood Cellars a year later Steve was named winemaker. Over time, however, his management duties increased until he found he wasn’t having fun any more and decided it was time to move on. His move took him to Chateau St. Jean.
“I have learned,” says Steve, “that there are no secrets in winemaking. There are just details. The difference between wines lies in not only paying attention to details, but paying attention to the right details. For me, it’s all about quality.”
In August 2003, when Steve became Simi’s winemaker, he and Donna moved into a home just across Healdsburg Avenue from Simi. “Now I can walk to work,” he says with a big smile. In his present post Steve makes seven wines in national distribution plus three, including his first Petite Sirah and Pinot Gris, which are sold only in the tasting room.
“The best thing about my job,” he says, “is that even after more than 25 years in the industry I am learning something new every day. This year I made my first Carneros Pinot Noir and 120 cases of an Alexander Valley Viognier which we will release in the fall.”
Steve’s wines can be tasted at Simi Winery, 16275 Healdsburg Avenue, any day between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Related Information

• Simi Winery
• Simi Winery Harvest Winemakers Dinner