BERNARD PORTET
Co-Founder and Vice Chairman, Clos Du Val - Napa, CA
Like the six generations before him, Bernard Portet was destined to be a winemaker. Born in 1944 in Cognac, France, and raised in the Bordeaux region, Portet developed a passion for winemaking while walking the vineyards and caves of Bordeaux with his father, a régisseur (technical director) at Château Lafite. He pursued formal studies at the French winemaking schools of Toulouse and Montpellier before John Goelet hired him in 1970 to establish Clos Du Val. Today Clos Du Val's veteran founding winemaker remains active in wine production and is considered one of the forefathers of the Napa Valley wine industry.
