Michael Brunson
Through his winemaking, Michael Brunson expresses the distinctive flavors of the benchland, hillside, and mountain vineyards of the Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate. His focus is the creation of high quality, limited production wines. He achieves his goal through creative application of his technical skills, constant research in the vineyards and cellar, respect for the unique opportunities of each vintage, and a style of winemaking he describes as "cautiously unconventional." He dedicates his substantial talents to the Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate because it offers the fruit, tools, and people required to produce ultra-premium wines. 
Brunson joined Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate in 1993. In the mid-nineties, he helped upgrade the winery's equipment as it became Michel-Schlumberger, and then dedicated himself to the immense task of replanting vineyards affected by phylloxera. It was a five-year labor of love, proceeding from site to site and finishing in 2001. The project gave Mike the opportunity to use cutting-edge clones, low-vigor rootstock, high-density spacing, and new trellising, which matched each new planting to a specific soil type and exposure. His aim is to best express each site's personality, the French concept of terroir.
Brunson prizes the fruit from the Wine Creek Canyon estate of Michel-Schlumberger, and it is in these vineyards where he personally begins to create fine wine. He manages the vineyard blocks, attending the vines as they bud, leaf, flower, fruit, and ripen. Partly modern naturalist and partly old-fashioned farmer, Brunson believes strongly that great wine is representative of its soil, climate and grape. "It is preferable to bring out the fruit flavors in the vineyard rather than try to create them in the cellar." Mike's orientation to the cellar complements his work in the vineyard; he is modern and pragmatic while faithful to the artistry and wisdom of traditional winemaking.