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James F. Verhey is Chairman and CEO of Premiere Viticultural Services, which he and Al Buckland founded in 2001 in response the growing complexities and challenges that growers and wineries were facing in consistently and cost-effectively producing high quality winegrapes from their vineyards. Mr. Verhey is also President of UCC Vineyards Group, which owns several ultra-premium vineyards in Napa, and a Director and Manager of Silverado WineGrowers, which owns and operates 13 premium vineyards, totaling over 2,000 acres, located in the Napa, Sonoma, Lodi and Monterey winegrowing regions. Mr. Verhey has been involved in growing ultra-premium winegrapes since 1986.
In addition, Mr. Verhey co-founded, along with Mr. David Freed, the Wine Industry Financial Symposium, held each year in Napa, which has become the premier annual event for bringing together the senior management of the virtually all major wineries, growers and financial institutions in and around California and the western United States. The Wine Industry Financial Symposium, which is currently in its 14th year, also sponsors wine and vineyard related symposiums in California locations.
Mr. Verhey began his business career at Price Waterhouse in Los Angeles and is a CPA. Prior to his involvement in the Wine Industry, Mr. Verhey held a number of senior financial and operational positions in both public and private companies. Most recently he was Executive Vice President and CFO of Kaiser Ventures, the former Kaiser Steel Corporation, located in Ontario, California.
Mr. Verhey was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. He received his BA from Stanford University in 1969 and his MBA from UCLA in 1974. Mr. Verhey and his family live on their vineyard in Napa, California.
Steve Matthiasson is President of Premiere Viticultural Services, through his consulting experiences throughout the state and his Masters Degree in Horticulture (viticulture/pest management) from UC Davis, Mr. Matthiasson has continued to gain the wealth of viticultural experience and expertise that he brings to Premiere's clients.
After providing viticultural consulting services to clients in the northern San Joaquin Valley as part of Four Seasons Ag Consulting, based in Modesto, Mr. Matthiasson joined the Lodi-Woodbridge Wine Grape Commission to co-author, with Dr. Clifford Ohmart, the acclaimed Lodi Winegrower's Workbook: A Self-Assessment of Integrated Farming, which provides growers with a resource guide and self-assessment tool for their winegrape farming and viticultural practices. The viticulture sections of the workbook, that Steve co-authored, were incorporated by Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) into the Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices, for use by all California growers.
After finishing the Lodi Winegrower's Workbook, Mr. Matthiasson moved to R.H. Phillips Wine Company as Director of Viticultural Research. Mr. Matthiasson had viticultural responsibility for all of R.H. Phillips' 2,400 acres. In addition, Mr. Matthiasson managed R.H. Phillips' research program which included 23 vineyard trials addressing issues such as irrigation, crop levels, and canopy management.
Mr. Matthiasson received his BA, with honors, from Whittier College in 1991 and his MS from UC Davis in 1996. Mr. Matthiasson is a licensed Pest Control Advisor, a member of the review committee for the American Vineyard Foundation, the past President of the Association of Applied Integrated Pest Management Ecologists, and chair of the Viticulture Committee for the California Enological Research Association. Mr. Matthiasson and his family live in Napa, California, where they also own and operate a small successful high-end wine label.
Garrett Buckland is Vice President of Premiere Viticultural Services, born and raised in the Napa Valley, Mr. Buckland grew up raising cattle and growing grapes. Given his father's business, Buckland Vineyard Management, Mr. Buckland has been involved in every aspect of farming ultra-premium winegrapes since before he was in high school.
Mr. Buckland continued working with his father at Buckland Vineyard Management developing and managing vineyards across Napa, Sonoma, and El Dorado counties until attending UC Davis. Mr. Buckland received his B.S. in Viticulture and Enology from the University of California at Davis in 2004. Graduating with Honors, he started working for Premiere Viticultural Services Inc. while attending UC Davis.
UC Davis provided Mr. Buckland with an extensive background in the technical aspects of viticulture and winemaking and combined with extensive practical experience, allows him better understand the science and relationship between premium grapes and premium wines. While at Davis he worked for Foundation Plant Services assisting with rootstock virus trials and for the Department of Plant Pathology assisting with mealybug transmission research for grape viruses.
In addition to Premiere, Mr. Buckland is also a consulting winemaker working with over 15,000 cases of ultra premium wines, and his own small high-end wine label. Mr. Buckland also serves on the Board of the Napa Viticultural Technical Group as president, Association of Applied IPM ecologists, Viticultural committee for the California Enological Research Association(CERA), and serves on several committees with the Napa Valley Grape Growers Association.
Al Buckland is Founder and Director of Premiere Viticultural Services, Mr. Buckland is also President of Buckland Vineyard Management, Inc., which has been developing and managing ultra premium wine grape vineyards for over 25 years, in Napa, Sonoma, and El Dorado Counties. Buckland Vineyard Management currently manages over 400 acres of vineyards.
Throughout his career, Mr. Buckland has been involved in numerous aspects and associations of the wine grape industry. Mr. Buckland is a past president of the Napa Valley Grape Growers Assoc., past president of the Napa County Farm Bureau, and currently serving on the Napa County Resource Conservation District's Board of Directors. In addition, Mr. Buckland has served on committees of the California Association of Winegrowers, and of the California Farm Bureau. Mr. Buckland was also instrumental in starting the Napa Sustainable Winegrowing Group and the Dry Creek Stewardship group in Napa County and served on the committees that helped draft the Napa County "Winery Definition" and "Hillside Ordinance".
Mr. Buckland has resided in Napa County since 1959 . He attended Napa Community College and Calif. State University, Sacramento, majoring in Liberal Studies.
Blake Wood is a Viticulturist for Premiere Viticultural Services, born and raised in Napa, Mr. Wood chose to make the wine-business his career. While Attending Cal Poly, he held several summer internships at local wineries, complimenting his coursework with on-the-ground experience.
Receiving his B.S. in Agricultural Business and his B.S. in Wine and Viticulture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, in 2006, Blake began working for PVS right out of College.
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