DEBRA HATCHER
SAM TANNAHILL
CHERYL FRANCIS
WINEMAKING
VINEYARDS
SALES
FINANCE
HUMAN RESOURCES
REX HILL’s winemaking philosophy is simple: with great integrity and honesty we craft the finest wines we can aiming to truly represent their origins and varietal character. In order to accomplish this philosophy and goal, we farm our own vineyards biodynamically and carefully select growers to work with who share our intentions in the vineyard. We are proud to be among the oldest Oregon wineries and to farm some of the oldest vineyards in the Willamette Valley. We strive to reflect our sense of place in everything we do. At REX HILL, we respect what the fruit brings to us and then work to produce wines with quiet power, elegance and eloquence, giving true expression of site, vintage and climate.
SAM TANNAHILL: Director of Viticulture & Winemaking. Sam graduated from Washington and Lee with an East Asian Studies degree that he uses on a daily basis in the winery. After traveling through Central Asia for a year he settled down working in the wineries and vineyards of Burgundy for two years and managed to bluff his way to a post-graduate degree in winemaking from the University de Dijon. He reentered the wine industry in the United States by working with Ted Lemon at Littorai, but soon heard the siren song of Yamhill County, Oregon and Archery Summit. 7 years later after laying a foundation as winemaker at Archery Summit he decided the time was ripe and stuck out for further fame, glory and new horizons in the form of A to Z Wineworks with his wife, Cheryl Francis, and Bill and Deb Hatcher. Sam and Cheryl also own Francis Tannahill – a new winery and biodynamic vineyard founded in 2001. As if that wasn’t enough to think about he also is enjoying his 3 1⁄2 year old son, Theo, his 1 1⁄2 year old son, Oliver, and new daughter Stella.
CHERYL FRANCIS: Winemaking Consultant. Came to Oregon from Los Angeles to attend Lewis and Clark College in Portland. She took her Biology degree to France where she studied Enology after which she worked in the industry for three years in New Zealand. She returned to Oregon to make wine for Chehalem for eight years and then joined her husband, Sam, and Deb and Bill Hatcher in A to Z Wineworks. She and Sam also own Francis Tannahill winery and their biodynamic vineyard.
MICHAEL DAVIES: Winemaker. Born in a small town in New Zealand, Michael had a relatively normal upbringing, before attending the University of Auckland and completing there a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Scandinavian Studies and Political Science. Then, after a checkered employment history (typical of an Arts graduate) including selling steel products on the wholesale market, managing a bungee-jumping business in the United Kingdom and running a youth hostel (these consecutively being done rather than concurrently) he found the world of wine.
In 1997 he graduated from Lincoln University with a post-graduate diploma in Viticulture & Enology. Prior to joining the A to Z team he was working for 6 years at Chehalem, employed as the Vineyard Manager and Assistant Winemaker. He has also directly experienced winemaking and grape harvests in Burgundy, California, the Hunter Valley of Australia and numerous regions of New Zealand.
His wife, Anna Matzinger, is the winemaker at Archery Summit and most recently they have celebrated the arrival of their son, Otto.
MAITLAND FINLEY: Assistant Winemaker / Lab Manager, grew up around Seattle, Washington. His childhood was pretty normal; his family moved around a lot, University District, Vashon Island, Snohomish, Kenmore and Bellevue. He developed his superpowers at age 14 (still secret). He was first introduced to the wine industry in the summer of 1990. The next year, his family became involved in the wine industry (Mt Baker Vineyards, Bellingham WA.) The first harvest he was a part of was in 1993 at MBV. Mait graduated from Western Washington University in 1996 and went to work for Columbia Winery. The following year he spent abroad working the 1997 Harvest in France. Upon his return to the NW he spent 1998 and 1999 as the Winemaker at MBV. In 2000, he left the family business and moved south to McMinnville, Oregon and the Eyrie Vineyard as Assistant Winemaker. He came on board at REX HILL in 2004, just in time to lend his experience to another successful year!
BLAIR TRATHEN: Assistant Winemaker. Blair is another New Zealander who grew up in a town that is definitely bigger than the one REX HILL Winemaker, Michael, grew up in, and as a result, has less sheep.
After graduating from Otago University with a Science degree in Geography and Geology, Blair worked his way across the America's, Europe and Asia doing various jobs from driving Snow Cats in Colorado to renting out beach umbrellas in Greece. After six years of travel, Blair returned to New Zealand where he completed a post graduate degree in Viticulture and Oenology from Lincoln University. After working in New Zealand (predominantly Central Otago),Western Australia, South Africa and New York , Blair is happy to be back in Oregon making wine, (when he's not too busy fishing).
Blair is married to Arabella who is also in the wine industry.
CYNDI KOON: Lab Assistant. Cyndi started her college career in biology before being seduced by the lure of the theater. She majored in costume design and moved to New York City, where she worked in movies and children's television shows for several years. A move to the Hudson Valley soon found Cyndi working in Millbrook Winery. After three harvests there, i she followed her love of Pinot Noir to Oregon and found her way to the lab at A to Z. She dragged her dog and husband to Oregon with her, and sometimes forces her husband, a professional writer and illustrator, to help her write her bios.
DANA BOOTH: Bottling Line Manager. Dana started in the wine industry right after high school working in cellars in the Willamette Valley and Washington for seven years. He joined REX HILL / A to Z Wineworks in the summer of 2007. In the 2009, the A to Z team sent Dana to work the harvest in the Marlborough region of New Zealand!
