Chateau Montelena’s Matthew Crafton Named VinePair’s Wine Professional of the Year
The Calistoga estate’s president and winemaker took the honor in the 2026 Next Wave Awards, revealed Oct. 15 in the 50th anniversary year of the Judgment of Paris.
CALISTOGA: Matthew Crafton, president and winemaker at Chateau Montelena, has been named Wine Professional of the Year in VinePair’s 2026 Next Wave Awards, the winery announced Oct. 15. The honorees were revealed in VinePair’s full Next Wave Awards package, published the same day.
Crafton was selected from a national field of finalists, the winery said. The finalists announced ahead of the awards in his category were Crafton, Lina Goujjane and Katie Morton, according to the Next Wave Awards finalist list.
In naming Crafton, VinePair’s Stephen Bradley wrote that, rather than resting on Montelena’s storied past, Crafton is looking forward.
No one makes wine at Montelena alone.
he is nimble and ready to usher Chateau Montelena into the futureStephen Bradley, VinePair
President in January, winemaker since 2014
Crafton joined Montelena as enologist in 2008, after earning a degree in viticulture and enology from the University of California, Davis, and was promoted to winemaker in 2014, according to the winery. In January he was named president, taking on long-term strategy and day-to-day operations, the first time in the winery’s modern history that the position has been extended beyond the Barrett family. PaperCity Magazine, in a July profile of Crafton, likewise reported the January appointment and the first non-Barrett presidency.
In the announcement, Crafton credited the wider estate team.
No one makes wine at Montelena alone.Matthew Crafton, president and winemaker, Chateau Montelena
Fifty years after Paris
The award lands in the 50th anniversary year of the 1976 Judgment of Paris, where the estate’s 1973 Chardonnay won the white wine tasting and reshaped the global perception of California wine, according to the winery. Bo Barrett serves as chief executive, with Crafton as president and winemaker.
Launched in 2021, VinePair’s Next Wave Awards recognize the wine, beer and spirits professionals propelling the drinks industry forward, according to the awards program description carried in the announcement.
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