Ancient Peaks Winery Promotes Stewart Cameron to Winemaker Position

Ancient Peaks Winery today announced that it has promoted assistant winemaker Stewart Cameron to the position of winemaker. Mike Sinor will remain the winery’s director of winemaking.

“Stewart has been an instrumental part of our winemaking team since day one,” Sinor said. “He has a great feel for the style and vision of Ancient Peaks wines, and the time has come to recognize his talents and responsibilities with the title of winemaker.”

Cameron will continue to oversee the daily winery operations and remain involved in all facets of winemaking in tandem with Sinor.

Ancient Peaks wines come from the winery’s estate Margarita Vineyard, the southernmost vineyard in the Paso Robles AVA. The vineyard spans a rare diversity of five distinct soil types amid one of the Paso Robles region’s coolest growing environments, just 14 miles from the Pacific Ocean.

“Stewart has a knack for making wines that really capture Margarita Vineyard’s sense of place,” said vineyard managing partner and winery co-owner Doug Filipponi. “He has helped our wines earn widespread industry praise, and we are excited to have him as our winemaker.”

After studying cellular and molecular biology at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Cameron moved to San Luis Obispo. Drawn to the local wine industry, he worked in a winery lab in Paso Robles before joining Ancient Peaks in 2006. He lives in San Luis Obispo with his wife Courtney and Duke the beagle, the official winery dog of Ancient Peaks.

Over the past year, Cameron has traveled to France and Italy to broaden his winemaking inspirations, and has developed a particular affinity for the small-block winegrowing practices in the northern Rhône Valley and Barolo.

“It’s a great honor and privilege for me to work here with such a wonderful vineyard and group of people,” Cameron said. “I will continue in the effort to bring joy and blessings through our wines here at Ancient Peaks.”