PART ART, PART SCIENCE . . . .

At William Harrison Winery we approach the challenge of winemaking as a team. Each person involved brings special talents to the table. Though our group represents decades of experience, each new vintage allows us to further our understanding of the estate fruit, and the wines that can be created from them.

The owner of the winery is William Harrison. "Bill" Harrison has personally worked on each of the 18 vintages of the William Harrison wines. No stranger to winemaking, he has worked with wine daily since the 1960's when he began working for the California Wine Association (CWA), a company owned by his grandfather and his grandfather's sons. "Winemaking is part artistry, part science," Bill says, "As luck would have it, I found a unique vineyard location in the Napa Valley which produces very good fruit, and makes very good wines."

Our Winemaker, Jim McMahon, was raised in Sonoma and attended college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, majoring in Biology. Trying to find a career that built upon his major, Jim explored the wine industry. After working his first harvest in 1997 at a Central Coast Winery, it was apparent he had found his niche. Jim moved home to Sonoma Valley and began working at Kenwood Winery where he received formal training in winemaking under Mike Lee. Starting as a lab tech, he soon moved up the ranks to Assistant Winemaker. After almost nine years at Kenwood, Jim moved on to Luna Vineyards in Napa. Jim was hired as Assistant Winemaker in 2006 and promoted to Winemaker in 2009. Jim’s approach to making wine begins with quality fruit and solid winemaking skills. These fundamentals are critical to creating a good wine. However, to Jim, combining them with passion and pouring his heart and soul into the process is how a good wine becomes something special.