Brooks Painter has been the Director of Winemaking at V. Sattui Winery since 2005 and is responsible for the winery’s portfolio of 45 different wines as well for viticultural and grape growing operations, supervising 230 acres of estate vineyards as well as contracts/grower relations with outside growers. He is responsible for growing or sourcing ultra-premium varietal wines from throughout California, and the winery’s steady stream of accolades substantiates his expertise.
Born in San Francisco, Brooks Painter grew up in northern California. He graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz with a double major in Chemistry and Biology. He went on to complete additional coursework and seminars in viticulture and winemaking.
Brooks has been called ‘the winemaker’s winemaker,’ because of his extensive expertise and prominence as a wine industry leader among his peers. He has been a winemaker at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa, Leeward Winery in Ventura, CA and Felton-Empire Vineyards in Felton, CA. Brooks has served as President and Board Member for the Napa Valley Wine Technical Group and has been a technical reviewer for enology research proposals submitted to the American Vineyard Foundation, a non-profit organization funded by the wine industry to provide grant money for research and development projects. His research on biochemistry and sensory evaluation of wine has been published in The American Journal of Viticulture and Enology, Biochemistry, Practical Winery & Vineyard and Wines & Vines. Brooks is a member of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture and a former chair of the Microbiology Committee for C.E.R.A. (California Enological Research Association). He has taught adult-education classes on wine and grape growing for the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.
Brooks and his wife Beth have lived in Napa for the past fifteen years. Their two grown children, Miles and Emily, are now enjoying the wine tasting and winery visits that used to bore them to tears! Brooks and Beth are involved in charitable organizations in Napa Valley as well as being active in local community and public planning issues. As a family, they enjoy traveling, skiing/snowboarding, sailing, hiking and cooking.