Although officially the winemaker at Peterson only since 2006, the joke is Jamie has 43 years of experience in the winemaking life. Jamie was born at Mount Eden Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1981, where father Fred was winemaker from 1979 to 1983, and was raised in the cellar and vineyards there. After the family moved to Dry Creek Valley outside of the town of Healdsburg in 1983, Peterson Winery grew out of the vineyards that his father managed and took him to visit in his youth.
Prior to joining the family winery as assistant in 2002, he worked harvests abroad in both Australia and New Zealand. As Peterson’s winemaker, he follows the same winemaking philosophy and commitment to wines with an honest sense of place that his father has always practiced, while updating a few of the finer points in the process. When not in the winery or vineyards, Jamie can be found hiking, spending time with his two children, playing or watching baseball, trying new recipes, or working in his garden.