NAPA, CA – March 14, 2024 — Named a world “Top 100 Winery” by Wine & Spirits in 2021, Ashes & Diamonds has hired wine-industry sales veteran Nick Holmes as Vice President of Sales. Effective immediately, Holmes will be overseeing all domestic wholesale and international efforts, and replacing the existing role of National Sales Manager.
Having most recently served as Vice President of Sales for the DAOU Vineyards luxury portfolio and holding, and prior to that as Sales Director at Opus One, Holmes holds a distinguished level of sales expertise in the wine industry. As an industry veteran of 18 years, Nick brings an immense amount of wholesale experience and a deep understanding of the wine sales business on a national level across all channels. His knowledge and passion for the wine business, coupled with a shared belief in preserving the values of small, family-owned wineries focused on excellence and individuality, make him a perfect fit with Ashes & Diamonds.
“We feel extremely fortunate and excited to welcome Nick to the A&D family,” says Ashes & Diamonds proprietor Kashy Khaledi. “Nick’s fresh perspective and levity are rare attributes given his lengthy and industrious history in the wine industry.”
“As the consolidation of wineries continues to spread and younger generations of wine drinkers are finding it difficult to discover brands with meaningful identity, to me, Ashes & Diamonds is the medicine needed in a market suffering from a current state of boredom,” says Holmes. “In many ways, Ashes & Diamonds is a brand that feels current but borrows from our past, and I absolutely love that.”
ABOUT NICK HOLMES
A Los Angeles native and University of Colorado Boulder alumnus, Holmes’s pathway in the wine business was inspired early on by experiences at Frasca Food and Wine, which recently earned its first Michelin star, and some of the best boutique bottle shops. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in art history, Holmes moved to San Francisco in 2006 to work as an area salesperson for renowned Italian importer Vinifera Imports. From there, he gained more experience working with Jackson Family Wines’s Spire Collection, then holding Sales Director roles with Jordan Vineyard & Winery and Opus One, ultimately becoming Vice President of Sales at DAOU Vineyards, which furthered his development in both the affordable and ultra premium categories.
Now located back in Boulder, Colorado with his wife Julianne and their two children, Teagan and Dylan, Nick is an avid Alpine enthusiast, chasing 14ers in the summer and powder days in the winter.
ABOUT ASHES & DIAMONDS
Located at the gateway of Napa Valley along its main artery, Highway 29, Ashes & Diamonds Winery is a love letter to Napa Valley as it was when it took the world stage in the 1960s, revealing itself as a geological wonderland capable of world-class wines. In homage to this golden era and its pioneers, winemakers Steve Matthiasson, Diana Snowden Seysses and Michael Cruse, with proprietor Kashy Khaledi, adhere to an ethos of light-handed winemaking and transparency of terroir as a guiding light for all of the wines they produce—a Burgundian approach to Bordeaux varietals. Having opened in August 2017, Ashes & Diamonds is the ultimate convergence of modern and old-school flavors.
