Information on the winery
Winemaking and tasting information
Visit The Brander Vineyard
Join out Vintage Club here
Buy Wines and other good stuff here
Special Events at the Brander Vineyard
Places to stay and eat, things to see.
Brander Vineyard in the Press
Contact Us Here A Wine Blog
 
History
Staff at The Brander Vineyard
Vineyards
Winemaking

Fred Brander

C. Frederic "Fred" Brander, owner and winemaker, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At a young age he moved with his family and settled in Santa Barbara, California. Fred graduated from Harvey Mudd College with a degree in Chemistry, and then went on to pursue studies in Enology at UC Davis. Fred started his career in the wine business by working for a Santa Barbara wine merchant, and later went to work in the wholesale business. While attending college, he started his own small wine import company, bringing in wines from France and his native Argentina.

Wishing to make his own wines, and with a fondness for Santa Barbara, Fred and his family established The Brander Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley in 1975, where he quickly developed a reputation for making outstanding Sauvignon Blanc. Fred's passion for this varietal has committed him to be California's top producer of Sauvignon. With over 30 vintages "in the bottle," he is a pioneer of the Santa Barbara wine country.

Contact Fred

Kathy Forner

Kathy Forner, our Office Manager, joined the Brander Vineyard family in 1987. Starting part time in the Tasting Room when her children were young, she developed a passion for fine wine. With her background in business and banking, she quickly found her way into the office to take over the bookkeeping, administrative duties, and our Vintage Clubs.

Contact Kathy

Julie Hayek

Julie Hayek comes to the Brander Vineyard with 13 years of management experience in the hospitality industry. Julie worked at the Santa Barbara Yacht Club for six years starting out as the Food & Beverage Manager/Catering Manager, was then later promoted to General Manager. She then branched out to further her career and worked for Robert Half International as a staffing/recruiting manager in Accounting & Finance for 1.5 years. After realizing her passion was food & wine, she was happy to accept the General Manager position at The Little Town Club located in downtown Santa Barbara, Julie made that her home for 5.5 years. Julie now resides in the Santa Ynez Valley and is so happy to be a part of the Brander team.

Contact Julie

Fabian Bravo

Fabian Bravo, our assistant winemaker, joined Brander in 2007. He graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a BS in Electrical Engineering. Fabian worked in aerospace for a few years and enjoyed life as an engineer but had a growing interest in winemaking. With the help a good friend, Fabian found himself working harvest at Siduri in Santa Rosa. While working at Brander, Fabian is involved with production, cellar crew management, bottling and assisting with our private label marketing.

Contact Fabian

Louise Smith

Louise Smith, our Tasting Room Manager, joined the Brander Vineyard family in 2005 as a part-time Tasting Room Associate. Along with her passion for wine, Louise brought to the Brander Vineyard her extensive management experience as well as her great sense of humor. With experience as a family counselor, manager of her family's telephone answering service, financial advisor, executive chef and ethics advisor, the one consistency in Louise's life has been her love of food and wine and the perfect pairing of both. In her role at Brander, Louise is involved in training, staffing, and overseeing the Tasting Room as well as retail sales and events.

Contact Louise

Bill Burroughs

Bill Burroughs, member of our Tasting Room Staff, came to The Brander Vineyard with over 25 years experience of selling wine retail, buying, traveling and tasting. He retired to the Santa Ynez Valley when he couldn't get his wife, Lois, to go back to Manhattan Beach.

Since we are in California and not New Zealand, we often refer to Bill as the "Santa Ynez Valley" man rather than the "Marlborough" man.