Sebastopol, Sonoma County, CA, June 23, 2020: Ron Rubin Winery confirms the promotion of assistant winemaker and cooper Ed Morris to the post of winemaker, with special focus on the company’s growing collection of California wines, excluding Sonoma County labels. Morris’ appointment enables the winery’s longtime winemaker Joe Freeman to concentrate on production of the company’s Sonoma County wines.
Speaking of the realignment, Freeman said, “I’m super-excited for Ed, and the opportunity this gives each of us to work on new wines and dedicate more time to supporting our brands in the marketplace.”
A cooper by trade, Morris was hired by Freeman in 2010 as a crew member to work in the cellar at River Road Family Vineyards & Winery a year before its purchase by vintner Ron Rubin. Rubin went on to rehab the River Road winery and surrounding vineyard, subsequently renamed the Ron Rubin Winery, moving production of the River Road wines to larger facilities nearby. Later that year, Freeman promoted Morris to the position of assistant winemaker and cooper.
Morris’ experience as a cooper has been invaluable for the Ron Rubin Winery winemaking team. This includes refining the winery’s barrel program, narrowing down the selection of barrels to those best suited to specific wines and terroirs. Thanks to Morris, the Ron Rubin Winery was among the first in the U.S. to invest in revolutionary new Vicard Generation 7 barrels from France.
Ed Morris comes from a long line of craftsmen: his great-grandfather was a violin maker, his grandfather a clock maker, and his father is a carpenter. After graduating from high school in Forestville, CA (little over two miles from the Ron Rubin Winery) in 1999, Morris interned with a local barrel-maker. Six years later he was named chief of production. By that point, interactions with local winemakers had started to pique Morris’ interest in winemaking, leading to classes at Santa Rosa Junior College. More recently, in 2019, Morris earned his Wine Business Management Certificate from Sonoma State University. As a native of Sonoma County, Ed is proud to work and raise his family where he grew up, feeling that this part of California is where his heart is, in Sebastopol.
y is in the Green Valley, the only sub-regional AVA in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, and home to some of the finest Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the world. In 2011, forty years after attending UC Davis, vintner Ron Rubin bought the former River Road winery and surrounding vineyard, to focus on producing expertly made, yet affordably priced Burgundian-style wines. The feng shui redesigned winery is both SIP- (Sustainability in Practice) Certified and Certified Sustainable by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance. To learn more, visit: https://ronrubinwinery.com/
