Jesse Erickson

Hospitality Manager

Jesse got his first taste of wine off the side of his grandparent’s dinner table in Laguna Beach. Always red and always Italian, he says he can still remember that familiar taste of wicker-covered fiasco bottles that were ever present in days of Chianti past. He admits that his palate really didn’t start to develop until he found his second obsession after wine, cooking. An adamant believer that great wine demands great food, and vice versa; he says that he is studying every time he cooks.

In 2015, he had the opportunity to work at the once-mandatory pit-stop, Dean & Deluca, in Napa Valley where he had a lineup of over a dozen Williams Selyem wines. His friend at the time, and still to this day, was the cellar master at Williams Selyem who helped coach him through the tasting notes.

Being a student in the kitchen and a student of life, his thirst for knowledge has resulted in an array of experience and certifications in the wine industry. From being a Certified Sommelier to a French Wine Scholar, Jesse continues to study when he’s not enjoying time with his wife, any stringed instrument, and clowder of cats.

Jesse’s birth year coincided with the harvest of the 1985 Williams Selyem Rochioli Vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, that is often considered the most seminal wine in the history of California Pinot Noir.

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