A passion for quality and a mission to produce ultra-premium and distinctive wines runs through each member of the Three Saints team.

Jim Dierberg, proprietor

Jim Dierberg was raised in Creve Coeur, a small town in eastern Missouri that was destined to become a suburb of an ever growing St. Louis. Jim graduated from Washington University Law School and went to work at the local Creve Coeur Farmers Bank. Through Jim’s efforts, this small local bank has grown into First Bank, which now has over 150 locations in Missouri, Texas, Illinois and California.

Jim’s wine background is also local. Jim and his wife Mary restored an old winery building in Hermann, Missouri thirty years ago and founded Hermannhof Winery. Hermannhof has become one of the best known wineries in the Hermann, Missouri appellation and produces a variety of American and French hybrid varietal still and sparkling wines.

Jim and Mary’s love of vinifera varietals ultimately led them to California. The ten year search for a world class vineyard site took them to all corners of the state. The breathtaking visual aspects of Star Lane Ranch and the potential for growing Bordeaux varietals convinced Jim and Mary that this eastern end of Santa Ynez Valley was the right place to grow premium grapes. They have since acquired two additional properties, one in Santa Maria Valley called the Dierberg Vineyard and one in Santa Rita Hills. All three properties are within the larger Santa Barbara County appellation and represent truly individual growing areas.

Jim traces his interest in wine back to his mother’s family who were vignerons in France. Together, he and Mary have come to appreciate the dramatic potential of Santa Barbara County by identifying three of its most prominent growing regions and developing world class vineyards in each.
Jim and Mary have three children, Ellen, Michael and James and two grandchildren.

Nicholas G. de Luca, winemaker

Entering the wine industry in the early 90’s fresh out of college, Nicholas de Luca pursued his career by apprenticing himself to some of California’s and New Zealand’s most renowned winemakers.
His first harvest at Cline Cellars in Sonoma ignited in Nick a passion for winemaking and a determination to one day be considered among the world’s great winemakers. Mentored by Paul Hobbs at Sonoma County’s Fisher Vineyards, Nick gained an appreciation for natural wine making techniques and rigorous fruit selection. He developed a taste for muscular Cabs and sophisticated Chardonnays. During his training at the famed Williams-Selyem Winery in the Russian River Valley, he learned the exacting attention to detail, in the cellar and vineyard both, necessary to produce wines of breeding and intensity. In the winters of 1999 and 2000, Nick traveled to New Zealand for harvest, further sharpening his skills as a winemaker. Making wine in the cool, rainy conditions there built his “nerves of steel”— even in the most difficult harvest conditions. Nick has a feel for wine that focuses on intense aromatics, powerful structure and deep fruit flavors that reflect California’s finest terroirs.
Of his wines, Nick says, “You only rarely come across that special bottle that really turns your head and forces you to rethink everything you thought you knew about great wine. That’s the wine I’m trying to make—individual, complete and 100% genuine. The main thing is never to believe in your own voodoo too much to change your mind.” Over the three years he spent making wine in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Nick refined his “Caretaker” approach to winemaking and prepared him for his exciting new position.

“This is a dream come true,” he says. “To work with this beautiful fruit and be surrounded by such talented people, it’s every winemaker’s dream! The potential is just overwhelming. We’ll do great things here.”

David Ramey, consulting winemaker

David is the owner, with his wife Carla, of Ramey Wine Cellars in Healdsburg. After sixteen years making wine in Sonoma County, and firmly establishing Matanzas Creek and Chalk Hill wineries in the marketplace, David crossed the Mayacamas to spend six years in the Napa Valley - first as winemaker for Dominus Estate and project manager for the construction of their new winery; then helping Leslie Rudd reshape the Girard Winery into Rudd Oakville.

Over the years, David has helped pioneer traditional, artisanal winemaking techniques in California during a period when making wine by the University book was the norm. His efforts have helped shape the way many wines in the United States are made today, including the elimination of skin contact for most white grapes, the use of oxidized juice in making white wine, sur lie aging of white wines in barrel, malolactic fermentation of Chardonnay, native yeast fermentations and harvesting more mature fruit.

In addition to managing Ramey Wine Cellars, David enjoys consulting for a half-dozen clients in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Santa Barbara counties. He feels that the Dierberg properties hold particular promise to produce some of the finest wines made in California.

David Bantly, director of sales

David Bantly is a twenty – five year veteran of the wine business. His experience is as vast as it is deep. He has acted in key management roles in many aspects of the fine wine business. His experiences including operations, chain and broad market sales, budget and financial analysis, national sales and marketing, and brand building, notably with Kendall-Jackson and Chambers & Chambers. David is an enthusiastic and passionate leader whose experience will serve the Three Saints and Dierberg Family of Wines brands well.