Steve Clifton, winemaker and owner, produced the first Palmina wines in the basement of his home in 1995. His career in the wine industry had begun in 1992 when he left his previous incarnations as a musician and nightclub entrepreneur behind and decided to beg his way into a tasting room position at Rancho Sisquoc winery. Little by little he forced his way into the cellar and in time Steve worked his way up to Assistant Winemaker under Stephan Bedford (now of the Bedford–Thompson winery).

Over the next few years Steve’s on the job schooling would include production and winemaking positions at Beckmen, Brander and Domaine Santa Barbara wineries. To round out his knowledge in the marketing and sales area of the industry, from 1995 to 1998, Steve managed The Wine Cask retail store in Santa Barbara.

Steve met Greg Brewer in 1995 and formed the partnership that has become Brewer-Clifton, a winery solely devoted to vineyard-designated Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the Santa Rita Hills appellation in western Santa Barbara County. Brewer-Clifton’s first release began with the wines produced from the 1996 vintage. To find out more about the Brewer-Clifton winery, please visit their website.

While Steve shares a phenomenal passion for Burgundian varietals with his partner Greg, he came to his love for wine from Italian grape varietals in a somewhat unusual way. His appreciation began while working in restaurants, supporting himself through college in the late ‘80s. A trip to Italy to visit family inspired him to find work in an Italian restaurant in Laguna Beach where under the mentorship of his good friend Michael Whipple he learned all that he could about Italian wines. At an industry tasting Steve was amazed when he realized the immense similarities between his favorite Barolos and Barbarescos and the red Burgundies. Instant bi-polar disorder followed - while Brewer-Clifton pursues the purest possible expression of Burgundian varietals, Palmina is a passion project devoted to producing exclusively Italian varietal wines.

In 2000, Chrystal joined the Palmina family and has become involved in all aspects of the growing business. Working side by side with Steve through harvest, handling the bulk of the administrative duties and providing immeasurable inspiration, Chrystal completes the Palmina picture. Educated at the University of Bologna and fluent in Italian, Chrystal is invaluable in forging the relationships with wine producers in Italy which have supplied phenomenal insight in forming Palmina's philosophy and style. Steve and Chrystal were married in Friuli, Italy (where else) in the Spring of 2004.

The Alisos vineyard in Los Alamos that supplies the Sangiovese and Merlot grapes for the Palmina Alisos wine also grows superb Syrah and Grenache grapes. In 2001, Steve joined with two partners to create the alder label (alder is the English translation of Alisos) which produces small quantities of superbly hand-crafted, Rhône-style wines from this excellent vineyard. To find out more about alder, please visit their website.

Steve’s early experiences in winemaking focused on Bordeaux varietals. Steve and Chrystal are both involved with Ash Hollow in Walla Walla, Washington. Ash Hollow is committed to producing only the highest quality wines from the Ash Hollow vineyards and other selected vineyards in the Walla Walla and Columbia valleys. To find out more about Ash Hollow, please visit their website.