People
At the age of 22, Michael took the reins of his struggling, family vineyard and winery. With an old meat locker for an office, a shoebox marked "miscellaneous" for an accounting system and no training, he began canvassing the streets of San Francisco, selling wine and delivering it himself. As president of the winery, he has built a strong team and transformed the business into a success. With his seemingly endless energy, Michael is often referred to as "the James Brown of the wine industry" and spends 75% of his time out in the world introducing people to Honig wines. A leader in sustainable farming, he chaired the first California initiative to develop a "Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices," a voluntary program establishing statewide guidelines for sustainable farming and winemaking. He is also involved in an innovative pilot program that trains yellow lab puppies to detect vine mealy bugs in the vineyard.
Michael sits on the board of directors of the Napa Valley Vintners Association, whose mission is to promote, protect and enhance the Napa Valley appellation and its wines. He also serves on the boards of several organizations including: the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance; California Farm Service Agency State Committee; Napa Crimestoppers; Tower Road Wine Storage; and is a past board member of the Wine Institute.
He lives on the Honig estate in Rutherford with wife Stephanie, daughters Sophia and Lola and son Sebastian, and their dogs Raisin and Kota.
While attending UC Davis, Kristin serendipitously stumbled upon an answer to a daunting career puzzle. For someone unable to choose between a multitude of disciplines, winemaking was an elegant solution. In 1981, degree in Enology in hand, Kristin began her first of two California harvests, as an intern at Trefethen. It was there that she perfected forklift driving, cleaning tanks, and topping barrels, while learning a lot about small winery operations. A southern hemisphere harvest experience in Australia taught her even more. Kristin's first full winemaking position began in 1985, making Cabernet and Chardonnay at Johnson-Turnbull (which later became Turnbull Wine Cellars). in 1998, after working at one facility for nearly 13 years, she joined Honig as Winemaker. Kristin says that "being able to craft award winning, nationally recognized Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon and being part of the dynamic Honig team has been nothing but rewarding. For me, what is most satisfying is knowing that I play a part in creating something that people are enjoying in many different settings, with family and friends. Wine has an extraordinary way of connecting together people, places and experiences.
When not feeding her passion for winemaking and growing grapes, Kristin can generally be found engaging in some kind of outdoor activity. Her current favorites are skiing, running, mountain biking, and climbing.
Steven was raised in San Francisco and enjoyed weekends with his brothers and family in Napa Valley riding mini bikes and tractors at the vineyard. In 1986, he graduated from the Colorado University and went to work for the fledgling family winery as a sales rep in LA. After a year, he decided to move to Sweden, where he ran a bike messenger company, imported mountain bikes and parts and raced mountain bikes on an international level. In 1994, Steven returned to San Francisco, remaining in the mountain biking industry serving as Director of Sales and Promotions for a sports marketing company, which organized world class cycling festivals. Since September of 2000, he has turned his skills towards sales and business development for the winery.
Steven can often be found walking with his children, Annika and Gavin, in the vineyards with their dog Buzz.
Regina is the wife of another of Louis Honig's grandsons, Matthew. After a 15-year stint as a Product Marketing Manager in the high-tech world, Regina joined the winery in 1997, bringing with her a wealth of knowledge and creativity. As the Director of Marketing and Retail, she manages all aspects of marketing for the winery, including marketing materials (yes, the infamous Honig postcards), packaging, website, etc. Regina oversees the retail side of the winery as well, which encompasses the tasting room, wine club and e-marketing and sales. Regina and Matthew live in St. Helena,with younger sons Ethan and Aidan. They have two grown children, daughter Devin and son Raphael. In her "spare time", she still manages to keep up her ballet dancing, which she did professionally for many years and assists with the coaching of the St. Helena High School cheerleading team. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Rutherford Appelation Wineries, the Rutherford Dust Society and the St. Helena Primary School Site Council.
Tony grew up on a turkey ranch in Sonoma County. Pursuing his agricultural roots, he graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in Agricultural Business. He worked for Farm Credit for 10 years before joining Honig in 1996 as its CFO. Tony and his wife Terry are life long equestrians who compete their Arabian horses in the sport of endurance (long distance cross country horse races of up to 100 miles). They currently have no children, lots of horses, a few dogs and continue to live on the family farm in Santa Rosa.
Jennifer was born and raised in New York City. Because her mother was French and her father collected wine, she was raised with the European tradition of allowing children a little red wine mixed with water at the dinner table each night. Like her father, she developed a passion for wine, even taking it as far as arranging the ultimate college job of working in a winery in upstate New York. We first met Jenny in 1994 when she rented an old farmhouse on our property. She was just out of college and had moved to the Napa Valley, the Mecca of the hospitality industry, in search of a job. We liked her immediately and hired her to work at the winery shortly after she moved in. It was the best commute of her life, a simple walk across the driveway to the winery office.
After a few weeks, it was clear that Jenny had a special way with people, and we gave her the small but difficult sales territory of the Napa Valley. She was a huge success and, shortly thereafter, took on the rest of the state of California. Recently, we asked her to turn her formidable skills to national sales and have relocated her to Manhattan to cover our East Coast accounts. Consistently, customers tell us how much they like, no, adore Jenny and that she is their favorite sales person. She is hardworking, honest, thoughtful and conscientious. We feel lucky to have her with us and on our team.
With a southern mother and Hawaiian father, Natalie grew up eating a delicious mix of Chinese food, fried chicken and sweet tea. After spending her childhood in Hawaii, Natalie moved with her mother to North Carolina, where she finished high school and earned a degree in speech pathology from East Carolina University. In 1996, graduate school brought her to Southern California. To put herself through school, she waited tables, getting swept up in food and wine. Natalie followed the siren's song of food and wine, selling for a wine broker in San Diego. In 2002 she joined the Honig team, first managing the San Diego/ Orange County area, then moving to the Bay Area to manage Monterey to San Francisco, and the East Bay.
In 2006 on the North Shore of Oahu, in a small ceremony among close family and friends, Natalie married Robert Morrison. They live in the hills of the East Bay with daughter Alia and son Koa, and enjoy renovating their home and working in the garden.
Being born in raised in Southern California naturally led Alesha down a theatrical path. She began acting at a young age, performing on television and in plays. Like many Los Angeles actors, she supported herself by working in restaurants, where she loved the theater of service and the creativity of food and wine. After eight years, she had worked at most of the trendy spots in Hollywood and was ready to focus on her interest in food and wine. Her skills and passion were put to use pairing food and wine for media dinners and release parties. At Honig, her wine knowledge and theatrical talents are put to use managing sales in Los Angeles and starring the in the wacky Honig postcards.
Born in Saigon, raised in Orange County and educated in Phoenix, Arizona, Kim Villanueva is a spicy mix of cultures and spirited enthusiasm. "Love what you do and have fun doing it," is her life philosophy. She discovered her calling in sales and marketing at the age of 19, when she took a job with Marriott. Recognizing her talent and enthusiasm, they quickly promoted her, and a star was born. Kim entered the wine business via Young's Market, a California wine and spirits distributor. There she discovered a true love for wine, defining it as "selling happiness in a bottle." Her customers were quickly captivated by her passion. Selling the most Fetzer wines during a holiday promotion practically furnished her new apartment. Some of her performance awards were of a more sporty nature, resulting in the acquisition of a mountain bike, snowboard and Louisville Slugger baseball bat. Whileworking at Kendall Jackson she won the Rookie of the Year award.
Kim now manages sales for Honig's San Diego and Orange County territories, where all her customers smile when she walks in. She and her husband Michael are the proud parents of Kira and are loving every moment of parenthood.
Caffeine addict Brett Adams joined Honig as Assistant Winemaker in 2006. Brett grew up in the San Francisco bay area, and earned his degree in Fermentation Science from the University of California at Davis. He continued his wine studies at Washington State University before returning to California and working for family run wineries in both the Sonoma and Napa Valleys. Brett's experience, enthusiasm and high energy have been an invaluable addition to Honig’s winemaking team. When he’s not downing coffee, Brett enjoys music and exercise.
Stephanie Honig was born in Havertown, Pennsylvania. When she was six years old, she moved with her family to Buenos Aires, Argentina. After graduating from high-school, Stephanie moved to Florida in 1994, where she attended Florida International University, graduating in 1997 with a Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management and a raging passion for wine. Stephanie moved to Philadelphia and worked as a Sales Manager for Marriott Corporation, and in 2000, moved to New York to pursue a career in the wine industry. She worked as a Sales Manager for Clicquot, Inc., and then at Rudd Winery as the Eastern Regional Sales Manger. In 2005, she earned the WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) Higher Certificate and the WSET Diploma.
She left Rudd Winery in 2006 to import her own wine brand from Argentina, while also teaching wine classes at the French Culinary Institute in New York and at Florida International University.
In 2006, she moved to the Napa Valley and married Michael Honig. Stephanie works for the family winery teaching wine classes, developing international and national sales, and partnering with Michael in public relations. Stephanie also sits on the board for the American Cancer Society, coordinating a program for Spanish speakers called “Look Good, Feel Better”, and is active in raising funds for mental health research. She is also the Vice President for an investment club in the Bay Area.
She lives on the Honig property in Rutherford with her husband Michael, their daughters Sophia and Lola and son Sebastian, and their dogs Raisin and Kota.
