C. Mondavi & Family today announced that Randy Herron has joined the company as head winemaker of the CK Mondavi and Family portfolio of wines.

Herron comes to CK Mondavi with 22 of winemaking experience

“Randy’s extensive experience working directly with growers, managing winemaking teams, and overseeing everything from harvest to bottling, brings a new level of sophistication to our winemaking team,” says Marc Mondavi, proprietor of CK Mondavi and Family wines. “We are thrilled to welcome him to the Mondavi winemaking family.”

Previously Heron worked at the Texas-based Messina Hof Winery, where he served as senior winemaker and operations manager for over six years. Prior to that, he spent seven years at Casella Family Brands in Australia, where he started as senior winemaker, chief winemaker and cellar operations manager, and later became senior harvest winemaker.

While there, Herron oversaw the winemaking team as Yellow Tail expanded from 50,000 cases per year to more than 12 million cases in annual production. Before Casell Family, Herron spent more than 10 years at E&J Gallo Winery, where he was senior winemaker.

He holds a degree in Food and Nutritional Science with an Enology Option from California State University, Fresno.

“CK Mondavi and Family offers an amazing opportunity to produce high-quality wines at an incredible price point,” Herron says. “Because the Mondavi family owns a large portion of the vineyards and have been with the same growers for generations, I can have total winemaking control, which is every winemaker’s dream.”

Herron takes the place of winemaker, Charles Gilmore, who served as head winemaker at CK Mondavi and Family for the past two years. Prior to Gilmore, John Moynier served as the head winemaker of CK Mondavi and Family for more than 30 years.