Benziger Family Winery

Director of Winemaking at Benziger since founder Mike Benziger's retirement. Amaroli arrived at Benziger in 1999, three years after entering the wine industry, having graduated from Sonoma State University with a degree in Biology and Chemistry in 1996. She had lived and worked in Europe before college, where she absorbed the food-and-wine lifestyle that became her professional path. She started her wine career in the vineyards, then moved into the lab and operations before joining Benziger. Her work continues the Benziger family's 30+ year commitment to biodynamic farming: the estate's 85-acre Sonoma Mountain property is a Demeter-certified biodynamic ecosystem with sheep, cows, polyculture, ponds, and 29 unique microclimates inside a natural amphitheater carved into the mountain's volcanic side. She has overseen flagship Tribute, the first Demeter-certified Biodynamic wine released from the Sonoma Mountain Estate, and the broader Benziger portfolio, which carries third-party sustainable, organic, or biodynamic certification across every bottling.

Chris Benziger is the gregarious family face of Benziger Family Winery, the Biodynamic estate his family established on Sonoma Mountain in Glen Ellen. He joined the winery in 1993 after earning a marketing degree from the University of San Francisco, and today stewards the home ranch, shepherding the estate's flock of sheep, tending its gardens and fruit trees, and making the Biodynamic preparations that feed the vineyards. A natural storyteller, he is a familiar presence guiding guests through the estate's celebrated tram tours and tastings, embodying the family's belief that farming is the soul of the wine.