Dedicated and Experienced Staff
Phase 2 Cellars is home to a dedicated staff of 20 full-time production employees with nearly 10 years average tenure. Our low turnover rate speaks volumes about Phase 2 Cellars’ commitment not only to making great wines, but to our people, their winemaking education, and their overall engagement. Treating every wine as if it were our own, Phase 2 Cellars truly offers a superior staff.
A leadership team brings nearly 80 collective years of winemaking, business and production experience to the table. Based on a foundation of teaching and training, our leaders provide oversight of our facility and our staff, assuring a highly maintained physical plant, meticulous record keeping, an exceptional level of cleanliness, and strict adherence to your standard operating procedures.
Winemaking Support
A native Californian, Phase 2 Cellars General Manager and Winemaker Blake Kuhn graduated in 1995 from UC Santa Barbara with degrees in biology and environmental sciences then subsequently spent three years traveling the world as a field biologist, studying insects, parasites, and wolves. Returning to Santa Barbara in 1997, Blake worked on an abalone farm and took a second job as a waiter at Citronelle restaurant where his interest in wine blossomed. In 2000 he relocated north to further his wine education at UC Davis and concurrently accepted an entry level job with R.H.Phillips/Toasted Head. Beginning as a grape sampler in the vineyard, Blake worked his way up to Lab Tech, then Assistant Winemaker, and, ultimately, Senior Winemaker and General Manager.
In 2001 Blake relocated to raise his young family on the Central Coast making Clayhouse wines as a resident winemaker at Phase 2 Cellars until 2019. In 2019 Blake was promoted to Regional Director of Winemaking-Central Coast for Vintage Wine Estates, operating Laetitia Winery as well as sourcing grapes and making Qupe, Cherry Pie, Clayhouse, Horseplay, and various in-house and private label wines. In 2024 Blake capitalized on the opportunity to work with a burgeoning group of dedicated and enthusiastic colleagues and friends whom he had worked with in the past, joining Phase 2 Cellars as General Manager and Winemaker.