main-logo

Proprietor and Winemaker

Sam Baxter

Sam Baxter quite literally grew up among the grapevines in Saint Helena, most often found just a few small steps behind his father, Phil, a legendary winemaker starting in the late 1960s in the Napa Valley. Sam began working in wineries as a young teenager and began learning the art of blending from his father at the age of 16.  

After graduating from the University of California in Davis with a degree in Fermentation Science in 1998, Sam worked abroad in Australia before returning to his hometown.  He started as Cellarmaster at Terra Valentine Winery at its inception in 1999 under his consulting winemaker father, where the father-son team began the transformation of the ghost winery property into a world class vineyard estate on Spring Mountain. 

 

Sam in Vineyard
Sam Walking

As Winemaker and General Manager for 12 years, Sam built the Terra Valentine brand into a nationally recognized wine company specializing in mountain wines from their Spring Mountain estates.  In 2014, as the founders of Terra Valentine exited the business, Sam negotiated the acquisition of the company that he had worked his entire early career to build. At the same time, he and his wife Angela founded Foretell Wines to showcase his reserve-selected barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. 

 In 2015 Sam and Angela forged the path for the future of their wine business by acquiring a 112 acre ranch at 2300 feet elevation at the very summit of Spring Mountain where he is developing new vineyards and a winery and tasting room to carry on the legacy of Terra Valentine Winery and Foretell Wines.  

Sam’s wines over the last 20 years reflect a classic Napa Valley winemaking style where elegance and balance allow the purity of the fruit, the distinct character of the vineyards, and the mountain intensity to come through in the wine.