Aafedt has crafted some of the most recognizable brands in the industry; including Juggernaut, Element[AL] Wines and Phantom.
Clarksburg, Calif. July 9, 2024 – In the early 1990s, a small Clarksburg winery hired an aspiring winemaker named Eric Aafedt. Some three decades later, the Bogle family is celebrating their Vice President of Winemaking’s 30th year making award-winning wines for Bogle Family Wine Collection.
“Our family has been growing grapes for 56 years, and for more than half that time, Eric has been intrinsically involved in the day-to-day operations. He has helped create a standard and style that have become synonymous with Bogle wines,” said Vice President of Consumer Relations, Jody Bogle. “It is hard to quantify the impact Eric has had on the growth and success here at Bogle.”
Aafedt started with Bogle in 1994, when the winery resembled more of a startup than the near 3 million cases of wines that are now produced annually. Aafedt and the handful of other employees on staff at the time were called on to do a variety of jobs to keep the winery running. But as the years went by, the winery grew and so did Aafedt’s role. In 2000, he was promoted to Winemaker and has held the lead winemaking role ever since.
“I feel incredibly grateful to have spent so many years with one winery and one family,” said Aafedt who now serves as Vice President of Winemaking. “To see Bogle blossom into a brand recognized around the world would have been unimaginable at the time I started. I feel blessed to have spent the last 30 years working with two generations of the Bogle family and so many amazing coworkers. Over these many years our mission has always been quality first.”
Over the past 30 years, the wines Eric and the winemaking team have created have earned industry-wide recognition; including 14 consecutive Hot Brand Awards, 120 wines earning 90+ scores, with more than 100 Best Buy accolades.
From supporting one of the nation’s largest sustainable wine growing and production efforts, to assisting in design of the company’s state-of-the-art winery in Clarksburg, Aafedt has also helped curate wines for four new nationally-distributed brands since 2000; Phantom, Juggernaut Wines, Twenty Acres by Bogle, and most recently Element[AL] Wines. Eric has been instrumental in these projects, including traveling to New Zealand last year to create the winery’s very first imported wine for the Juggernaut brand and developing the award-winning wines bottled in our innovative and sustainable, first-of-its-kind, aluminum wine bottle for Element[AL].
“We have an immense amount of confidence in Eric’s ability to continually craft the highest-quality wines that remain true to our family’s mission, which is to over-deliver with every bottle we make,” said Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Ryan Bogle. “Eric’s leadership and guidance of one of the industry’s longest-tenured winemaking teams is a major reason we continue to deliver exceptional wines year after year.”
Aafedt appreciates the team he has worked with at Bogle for so many years especially, Chris Smith, who serves as Bogle’s Director of Winegrowing.
“Chris was a fantastic mentor to me. The knowledge I received from him was invaluable to my growth as a winemaker,” says Aafedt.
Eric and Winemaker Dana Stemmler, who has spent 17 years working alongside him at Bogle, have continued to rely on artisan winemaking techniques typically employed by much smaller, boutique wineries. This includes single lot vinification to maintain quality control, barrel aging every single red wine as well as the extensive Chardonnay program.
“It has been an unbelievable 30-year run so far, and I am looking forward to continuing to craft the finest quality wine for our ever-growing winery,” said Aafedt.
About Bogle Family Wine Collection:
Bogle Family Wine Collection is headquartered in Clarksburg, California, and is run by the sixth generation of the Bogle family to live and work in the Sacramento Delta region. The Bogle family began growing winegrapes in 1968 and first bottled wine under the name Bogle Vineyards in the late 1970s. Bogle was honored as Wine Enthusiast’s 2019 American Winery of the Year and was presented with the Green Medal Leader Award in 2018 for its sustainability efforts in the winery and vineyards. The Bogle Family Wine Collection includes Bogle Family Vineyards, Juggernaut Wines, Phantom Wines, TWENTY ACRES by Bogle and the latest release – Element[AL], which features ground-breaking aluminum wine bottle packaging.
