Kevin Hall

Kevin uses multiple yeasts during fermentation, blending varieties and a multitude of coopers to enhance the complexity of Alexander Valley Vineyards’ wines.  “I match specific grape varieties to certain coopers, from as many as eight different cooperage houses.”

Before joining Alexander Valley Vineyards, Kevin explored the world’s major wine regions.  In 1997, after working three years in the cellars of Sebastiani Vineyards and at R.H. Phillips, and then earning a Masters of Science in Enology from the University of California at Davis, Kevin and his wife Paula “took a year off” and went abroad.  They worked at wineries in Bingen, Germany and Hastings, New Zealand.  Between assignments, while traveling through Italy, Spain and all the major wine regions of France and Australia, they talked to as many winemakers as they could, learning key techniques that other winemakers used to produce their best wines.

Returning to California in July 1998, Kevin joined the winemaking staff at AVV.  Proprietor Hank Wetzel appointed Kevin the winemaker at Alexander Valley Vineyards in January 1999.  Under his direction over nearly a decade, Alexander Valley Vineyards has won numerous prestigious awards including Best of Show at both the Atlanta International Wine Competition and the Houston Rodeo International Wine Competition, Best Red Wine at the Eastern International Wine Competition and the Florida State Fair and Best Bordeaux Blend at the California State Fair. His newest project is the Alexander School Top of the Crop bottlings, AVV’s collection of limited production wines crafted from the top vineyard lots