Orin Swift | Napa Valley, USA
The story of Orin Swift Cellars dates back to 1995, when on a lark, David Swift Phinney took a friend up on an offer and went to Florence, Italy to spend a semester “studying”. During that time, he was introduced to wine, how it was made, and got hooked. A few more years of university led to graduation and eventually he got a job at Robert Mondavi Winery in 1997 as a temporary harvest worker. Deciding that if he was going to work this hard, it would eventually have to be for himself, so in 1998 he founded Orin Swift Cellars; Orin is his father’s middle name and Swift is his mother’s maiden name. With two tons of zinfandel and not much else, he spent the next decade making wine for others as well as himself and grew the brand to what it is today.
Phinney has now established himself as one of the most influential and innovative winemakers in California. Not content just to oversee the winemaking of these cult Napa Valley wines, he's also the creative brain behind the names, concepts and labels for Orin Swift's wines.