Darice Spinelli joined Nickel & Nickel as winemaker in 1998 with the ambition to produce superior single-vineyard wines. After a decade focused on shaping the winery's single-vineyard bottlings, Spinelli added the responsibilities of winery president to her duties.

Counting nearly twenty years of winemaking experience, Spinelli provides both the knowledge of producing wines from specific terroirs in California as well as an uncompromising resolve to create the best possible wines from vintage to vintage. A quest for excellence, encompassed by the challenge of creating the new vineyard-designated Nickel & Nickel wines, is the motivation behind Spinelli’s work.

A Biology graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, Spinelli began her career in the wine industry at Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyard. In 1990, she joined Franciscan Vineyards, and with her first vintage as winemaker, attracted great acclaim from the wine industry’s toughest critics. Her tenure with Franciscan and eventual promotion to production winemaker afforded Spinelli the opportunity to produce wines from many growing areas, including the mountainous region of Mount Veeder; the flat, warm Cabernet country in Oakville; Rutherford, with its famed "Rutherford Dust" character; and regions further south to the coastal climes in Monterey. She even produced wines for Franciscan’s venture in Chile.

Recognizing a great opportunity to create single-vineyard wines on a smaller scale, Spinelli moved to join the team at Nickel & Nickel. In crafting the Nickel & Nickel wines, she sees her role as one of providing harmony to the vineyard, doing everything possible to let the wines sing. It is Spinelli’s hope to capture and enhance the natural balance and quality that come from a great vineyard site.