OUR WINEMAKERS

Manveer has been with us since 2011. Under the direct tutelage of Penny Gadd-Coster he has mastered the art of Méthode Champenoise, advancing from Production Winemaker to Director of Winemaking (2020). He manages day-to-day winemaking operations for sparkling wine production as well as overseeing the winemaking team. Under the direction of Penny, he mentors the team to not only advance the art of winemaking, but to pass on the Méthode Champenoise tradition.

A graduate of UC Davis with a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology, he studied for two years under noted viticulturist Dr. David Smart. Post-graduation he worked for Delicato Wines as a lab technician and eventually as enologist. That was followed by Gallo in Modesto as a lab supervisor, and two years as lab manager at Lodi Winery Laboratory before joining Rack & Riddle.

Manveer is a dedicated family man, who enjoys cooking, woodworking and outdoor activities with his wife Kiran and their two daughters, Kimber and Kamrin.

Sandhu says about his role at Rack & Riddle, “Wine has been my passion for many years, and working for Rack & Riddle has given me the opportunity to help craft amazing sparkling wines. Sharing this passion with our clients and team members has been a rewarding experience.”

Jenn Zeek joined Rack & Riddle in 2014 and brings over 10 years winemaking experience. Originally from D.C., Jenn came to California in 2004 to pursue a career in wine. While working harvest positions in Napa at Big Horn Cellars and Lewis Cellars Jenn pursued a B.S. in Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis, graduating in 2008. Following graduation, she took a job working harvest at Balletto Vineyards before moving to lush New Zealand for the 2009 harvest at Mud House Wines.

Upon returning to the States, Jenn began working for Sonoma Wine Company as a lab tech, where she was promoted to lab manager. She then worked as winemaker for Murphy Family Custom Crush. In 2014 when Rack & Riddle took over the facility, she happily accepted our offer to continue on working for us — doing custom crush for both still and sparkling winemaking.

When Jenn is not at the winery, she enjoys spending time with her husband and pup. Together they enjoy golf, skiing and travel — and life in Santa Rosa.

Zeek says of Custom Crush winemaking, “The pool of experience you get to draw from working with a myriad of client winemakers is invaluable. I am curious by nature so I enjoy embracing client protocols while also recommending new advances and sharing my own winemaking style.”

Sandrine has recently joined our team as our Sparkling Winemaker. She’s responsible for ensuring all Custom Client products meet and exceed established standards for the highest caliber of sparkling wine. She also helps to coordinate all Custom Clients of Rack & Riddle, ensuring excellent customer service, as well as client development. Sandrine also participates in all wine operations, and is in the process of learning, developing and mastering every aspect of our sparkling wine production.

Hailing from France, Sandrine studied Oenology, Chemisry and Biology, and holds degrees from: University of Toulouse (National Diploma of Oenology), University of Technology, Orsay (Diploma of Chemistry Technologist) and University of Technology, Quimper (Diploma of Biology Technologist).

Prior to taking on her role here at Rack & Riddle, Sandrine was Head Winemaker at Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery in the Niagara area of Canada. She’s also worked for Stonechurch Vineyards in the same region, having created the winery’s laboratory for regular wine analysis, and more.

We’re excited to have Sandrine on board here at Rack & Riddle — and look forward to sharing our collective expertise with each other, as the Winemaking Team and technologies expand.

Penny’s interest in wine began when her family moved to the Livermore Valley. However, it took a few years and the words of a friend to convince her that making wine was a career that did not require belonging to a winemaking family. In 1986 she landed a job as crush help at Jordan Vineyards & Winery, which lead to a 13-year career at Jordan. She was there for the inception of J Vineyards and Winery. In 1999 she was hired as the Assistant Winemaker for J, eventually working her way up to the Sparkling Winemaker position.

In 2007, Penny left J to work as a Winemaker for Rack & Riddle Custom Wine Services. She also has her own brand, Coral Mustang, making Tempranillo wines.

Penny’s talents have garnered more than 100 medals and awards in the past few years; more than 30 Best of Class, Double Gold and Gold medals in the past few years alone for Rack & Riddle and client wines. Penny was named “Winemaker of the Year” in Dec. 2013, honoring her significant contributions to winemaking. An incredible achievement, as contenders included the top winemakers from Sonoma, Napa and the greater Bay Area.

An accomplished writer and speaker, she was also selected as an expert panelist at the WIN Expo in Sonoma County, the 2015 Women in Wine event in Napa, and most recently at the 2018 Women in Conversation for Sonoma State University.

Outside of wine, she loves cooking, fly fishing, gardening, traveling and motorcycling through the countryside on her Harley.

“Working for R&R has given me the opportunity to be an integral part of a new company that is being built from the ground up, just like my career”.

Casey feels that joining Rack and Riddle has given him a chance to use all of his previous experience, plus stretch his legs with new winemaking challenges. He works with still wine clients to arrange shipment of their wines into our Healdsburg facilities, as well as handling blending and filtration leading up to bottling. He enjoys working with client winemakers from many different backgrounds, and he observes and participates in a wide variety of winemaking styles — learning something new every day on the job.

He is responsible for developing and implementing a plan for visiting, sampling, and analyzing the vineyards from which Rack & Riddle sources its grapes for both still and sparkling wines. This is something Casey finds incredibly rewarding. He has over 20 years of winery production experience, however this is the first time in his career that he’s been able to get up close and personal with the grapes while still in the field. Casey says, “In meeting the farmers and vineyard managers, I am struck with how much they truly love what they do and the pride they take in producing premium wine grapes.”

Casey came to California in 1997 from The Southern Outer Banks of North Carolina. There, he had enjoyed a career in radio broadcasting — and the creativity and collaborative nature of the work. However, the feeling of never being able to obtain a tangible product for all of his efforts felt lacking to him.

In the mid-90’s, his friend had married an Australian woman who told tales of working in wineries all over the world, and how she followed harvest around the globe. This caught Casey’s interests, and became his intention for moving to Sonoma County. He was offered a full-time position at Clos du Bois wines after his first harvest — something he remembers fondly. He worked for 10 years in their cellar, eventually working as a lead cellar hand, organizing a crew of 30.

He also squeezed-in a rewarding harvest season in Marlborough, New Zealand in 2004. After returning, he transitioned into the wine lab where his cellar experience helped bridge the information gap and enhance communications between winemakers, cellar and lab staff.

For fun, he’s constantly exploring the backroads of Sonoma and Marin Counties, as well as north into Oregon and Washington. Coastal views of the West never get old to him. He also spends time in record stores flipping through bins of vinyl, looking for gems, old and new.

Megan recently joined the Rack & Riddle winemaking team with thirteen years of experience in fine winemaking. She is appreciative of Rack & Riddle’s adherence to pandemic safety protocols and the chance to focus on data management while assisting with winemaking at the Alexander Valley Rack & Riddle facility. 

Megan brings a broad perspective from her prior experiences around the North Coast and overseas after completing dual Bachelor’s degrees concentrated on Viticulture & Enology. She has played a key role in both large and small wineries, in the custom crush and estate winemaking. Megan has experience with traditional method sparkling and a wide range of still winemaking techniques and varieties.

In addition to her passion for wines from all over the world, she likes to cook, work in her garden, and travel as often as possible, even for a quick trout fishing trip with her family. She also tries to get out to hike our Sonoma coastline in pursuit of porcini and chanterelle mushrooms each season, just as wine grape harvest wraps up. As a local with a family history of several generations in the area, Megan loves the diversity and quality of wine our region has to offer. She looks forward to working with the multitude of wine styles and varieties at Rack & Riddle.