Ed Kurtzman

Ed first discovered his love for wine while he took a summer job at a large wine shop during his undergrad studies at UMass Amherst in the late 1980s. Within a year of being bitten by the wine bug, he was on his way to California to immerse himself fully in the world of wine. He enrolled in the enology program at Fresno State and got his degree in 1994. Starting his professional winemaking career in Monterey County, Ed worked at Bernardus and Chalone. He then moved to the Silicon Valley and was the winemaker at Testarossa Vineyards in Los Gatos for four vintages, from 1999 through 2002. During this time, he established the August West label, followed soon by the Sandler Wine Company. After Testarossa, Ed embarked on a consulting winemaker journey which continues today. Since the 2003 vintage, Ed has been the consulting winemaker for Freeman Vineyard & Winery in Sebastopol, CA. The wineries he has worked with since that time include Mansfield-Dunne (which Ed inherited in 2021), Fort Ross, Roar, Theopolis, Lester, Montagne Russe, 3 Monkeys, Ryan Cochrane, Nfinity and a countless number of private labels.