Cape May Winery Staff Members
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Toby Craig - Owner & Proprietor |
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Toby Craig and his family are no strangers to the Cape May area. After summering here all his life, Toby and his family moved here permanently in 1976. They bought the Washington Inn in 1978 and created one of South Jersey's finest dining establishments, which it remains today. Toby bought a small winery and vineyard in 2002. In 2003 he hired his very talented winemaker, Darren Hesington. Today with expanded crops, the new enlarged winery building and increased wine production, Cape May Winery has developed into one of New Jersey's premier wineries and visitors' destination.
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Darren Hesington - Winemaker |
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Darren began his career at Cape May Winery in 2003. He has gained his knowledge of winemaking from years of experience, which began at Unionville Vineyards as well as Viticulture and enology classes in VA and NY. Most of Darren's success is credited to Keith Bown, an Australian winemaker. Darren working with Keith at Unionville and had a great opportunity to work on a crush in the Hunter Valley of Australia. "Since working at Cape May Winery, we've grown tremendously. The environment is fun, creative and fulfilling. I pride myself in making a wine for everyone."
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John Focht - Wine Associate and Tour Guide |
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Always had a love of wine. John got serious in early 90's and took classes and continued taking classes in wine appreciation. John is a retired police sergant, who later ran tour boats and fishing boats with the Delta Lady until 2005. He has lived in Cape May County since 1971 with wife Lynne. John began working at Cape May winery in September 2006 and enjoys his job. Every day is a learning experience. John is one of the founding members of the Cape May Wino, a wine lovers group here in Cape May County. A true Oenophile.
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Lisa Senape - Wine Associate, Lab Work and Tour Guide |
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Originally from the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, Lisa fell in love with Cape May after her 1st visit here 15 years ago, and moved her permanently in 1998. After taking 2 years of cooking classes at Vo-tech over 20 years ago, her love of wine began simply as something to enjoy with food. She developed an appreciation for it after visiting many wineries and attending various wine classes over the years. She became a "student" at the Cape May Wine School at The Washington Inn in 2003, where she first met now fellow co-workers John and Sue. Together they formed a wine appreciation group, The Cape May County Winos. She furthered her interest in wine and food by joining the staff at the Cape May Winery in the summer of 2005, and later completed the culinary course at Atlantic Cape Community College. She has been doing the laboratory tests on the Cape May wines for over a year now. This, along with being part of the staff at a working winery, has enabled her to learn much about the behind-the-scenes of making wine. It truly is a labor of love; a never-ending learning process that always keeps the job interesting.
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Michael Spear - Vineyard Manager |
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Born and raised in Philadelphia. Michael Attended Central High School and Community College of Philadelphia. Retired Chef, former restaurant owner with specialties in garde manager and ala carte service. Married with 3 children and a member of Linwood Community Church. Huge soccer fan and enjoys classical, rock and Broadway music. Loves tending the vineyards!
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