Tara Gomez, a Native American winemaker

This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register (October 23, 2015) Tara Gomez fell in love with the aromas of wine the first time she stepped into a winery as a child. Growing up in the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, Gomez was raised in the heart of wine country. With a scholarship from her tribe, she studied enology at California State University, Fresno and was one of two women who graduated in 1998. She went to work as an enologist at Fess Parker Winery before moving to Paso Robles to be the enologist and lab manager at J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines for nine years. She then moved to Spain for two years where she learned traditional styles and studied winemaking in the Pyrenees.