Our Winemaker, Mike Loykasek

Greg and Jennifer with winemaker Mike Loykasek celebrate a successful wine dinner featuring their wines at Charcuterie Restaurant in Healdsburg, CA.

We knew we needed help to make great wines, so we hired Mike Loykasek. Mike is a University of California, Davis graduate of enology and has been making wine in Sonoma County for 15 years.

Named 2007 Winemaker of the Year at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, Mike was the winemaker for this year's Sweepstakes-winning De La Montanya 2005 Russian River Pinot Noir, Christine's Vineyard. He has earned numerous accolades over the years with achievements such as “Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of the Year”. He is the only winemaker to win multiple “Best of Class” awards in 2005 and 2006 at the San Francisco Chronicle competition — the largest wine competition in America.

In addition to Hauck Cellars, he is a consulting winemaker at De La Montanya Winery, former winemaker at Meeker and Armida, and has successfully launched his own label, Dark Horse Wines.