Alicia Sylvester joins Co-Founder Baron Ziegler’s Sonoma County wine brand
Healdsburg, Calif., March 15, 2021 — Banshee Wines announces today the appointment of Alicia Sylvester as the winery’s new winemaker. Sylvester joins Banshee following her winemaking role at Merus in Napa. Alicia will work in concert with CEO and co-founder Baron Ziegler to continue crafting site-specific wines that are true to style and character, on which Banshee has built its reputation.
“I started Banshee with a clear goal in mind — to make wines that tasted like the best California had to offer but were priced so that everyone could enjoy them; crafting distinctive wines that over-deliver in every possible way,” Ziegler says. “Over time, we’ve built strong relationships with growers from, what I believe, are the best vineyard sites across California, and our wines have never been better. Having Alicia on board to lead the winemaking at Banshee will allow us to keep those initial intentions of producing wines that are true to grape, true to style, true to Sonoma County.”
Sylvester’s breadth of experience has given her an opportunity to have her hands-on numerous wines from Wine Spectator’s famed Top 100 list, including those from Hewitt Vineyards, Molly Dooker and Fincas Patagonicas.
“I’ve been fortunate to work with some amazing brands around the world, and I couldn’t be happier to bring my experience to Banshee,” Sylvester says. “I’m looking forward to dialing in to Sonoma County Pinot Noir, maintaining a focus on wines that are true to style and representative of the best that Sonoma County has to offer.”
Alicia attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo where she began to explore the wine business through her studies and summers full of viticulture and enology internships. She graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Business with a marketing concentration, minoring in Wine & Viticulture. In 2015, Sylvester joined the winemaking team at Lancaster Estate as an Enologist and was quickly promoted to Assistant Winemaker a year later while earning her winemaking certificate from University of California, Davis.
About Banshee Wines
Founded in 2009, Banshee Wines defies conventions to create exceptional wine for the true drinkers. Offering outstanding quality, Banshee wines produces affordable luxury wines of extraordinary balance, purity, and depth of flavor, with a focus on cool-climate Pinot Noir, crafted from California’s cool, rugged, coastal areas of the far Western Sonoma Coast.
About Foley Family Wines
Established by Bill Foley in 1996, Foley Family Wines is a portfolio of highly-acclaimed wines from some of the world’s greatest vineyards. Every brand in the company’s portfolio has a distinct style and legacy. Foley Family Wines owns the following properties in California: Foley Sonoma (Geyserville), Chalone Vineyard (Monterey), Foley Estates (Sta. Rita Hills), Lincourt Vineyards (Solvang), Merus (Napa Valley), Foley Johnson (Napa Valley), Kuleto (Napa Valley), Chalk Hill (Sonoma County), Sebastiani (Sonoma County), Lancaster Estate (Sonoma County), Firestone Vineyard (Santa Ynez Valley), Eos Winery (Paso Robles), Roth Estate Winery (Sonoma County), Banshee (Sonoma County). The company also owns Three Rivers Winery in Walla Walla, WA, Acrobat (Oregon), and The Four Graces in Dundee, OR. In New Zealand, the company owns Vavasour (Marlborough), Clifford Bay (Marlborough), Grove Mill (Marlborough), Dashwood (Marlborough), Martinborough Vineyard (Martinborough), Te Kairanga (Martinborough), and Mt. Difficulty (Bannockburn, Central Otago)
About Colangelo & Partners
Colangelo & Partners (http://www.colangelopr.com) specializes in premium food, wine and spirits brands, and has long established relationships with the key press that drive these business categories and help determine the industry leaders. Agency principals have years of experience in retail and distribution as well as communications, a rare combination that gives Colangelo & Partners invaluable insights into consumer purchasing behavior. The agency focuses on ‘closing the loop’ between creative communications programs, distribution, promotion, publicity and the consumer in order to maximize the efficiency of its communications programs and deliver measurable results. Founded in 2006, Colangelo & Partners was honored as one of the year’s top integrated communications firms at the 2013 Agency Elite Awards and for one of the best digital marketing campaigns at the 2014 Digital PR Awards.
