The Winemaker

After receiving his degree from U.C. Davis, Kian Tavakoli spent the first four years of his career as a member of the oenology team at Opus One Winery in Napa Valley . In the summer of 1996, he was recruited to be the Assistant Winemaker at Clos du Val Winery (CDV), which had built its reputation producing outstanding Bordeaux-style wines and was then expanding its portfolio to encompass other premium varietals, including Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel.

Kian stayed with CDV for eight harvests and, over that time, continued to hone his understanding of what it takes to make the finest wines. He came to firmly believe that it is absolutely critical to start with the highest quality grapes, and then carefully guide them through the winemaking process with minimal intervention. Pursuing this approach, the result will be a wine that is the purest expression of both its varietal and vineyard source. Since that is exactly what the Cleary's intend to do at Bohemian Vineyard, their alignment with Kian is a proverbial "match made in heaven"!

Kian is impressed with the quality of the Bohemian fruit which he considers the quintessential expression of Russian River Pinot Noir. Today, he works closely with the Clearys throughout the growing, harvesting and winemaking cycles so that they are aligned and well-informed with respect to key decisions affecting the style and quality of the end product.