The strength of Terra Valentine is grounded by its founders and winemaker that are working hard daily to deliver our wines to you. We believe that Terra Valentine has grown to truly be a family team and you can taste that love and devotion with each sip.
Sam Baxter
Proprietor and Winemaker
Sam Baxter quite literally grew up among the grapevines in Saint Helena, most often found just a few small steps behind his father, Phil, a legendary winemaker starting in the late 1960s in the Napa Valley. Sam began working in wineries as a young teenager and began learning the art of blending from his father at the age of 16.
After graduating from the University of California in Davis with a degree in Fermentation Science in 1998, Sam worked abroad in Australia before returning to his hometown. He started as Cellarmaster at Terra Valentine Winery at its inception in 1999 under his consulting winemaker father, where the father-son team began the transformation of the ghost winery property into a world class vineyard estate on Spring Mountain.
As Winemaker and General Manager for 12 years, Sam built the Terra Valentine brand into a nationally recognized wine company specializing in mountain wines from their Spring Mountain estates. In 2014, as the founders of Terra Valentine exited the business, Sam negotiated the acquisition of the company that he had worked his entire early career to build. At the same time, he and his wife Angela founded Foretell Wines to showcase his reserve-selected barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir.
In 2015 Sam and Angela forged the path for the future of their wine business by acquiring a 112 acre ranch at 2300 feet elevation at the very summit of Spring Mountain where he is developing new vineyards and a winery and tasting room to carry on the legacy of Terra Valentine Winery and Foretell Wines.
Sam’s wines over the last 20 years reflect a classic Napa Valley winemaking style where elegance and balance allow the purity of the fruit, the distinct character of the vineyards, and the mountain intensity to come through in the wine.
Angela Baxter
Co-proprietor
Angela comes to Terra Valentine with roots grounded in wine and food. Her great grandfather settled in Santa Ynez Valley in the late 1800s, where he planted a vineyard in Los Olivos in 1915, and made wine he shared with family and friends.
Angela, a Marin County native, attended UC Davis in 1997 where she met Sam, six months prior to graduation. With a degree in dietetics she interned in Napa and became a Registered Dietitian in 2001. She practiced as a Clinical Dietitian and Assistant Director for a local hospital for 5 years before her first son, Tommy, was born.
She married Sam in 2003 and they now have 3 children, Tommy, Alice, and Hudson. Her love of wine, food, and family made her a natural fit for Terra Valentine.
We’ve not put pictures of the children because it’s generally not a good idea for alcohol content to have kids pics 🙁 But they are lovely!
For over 20 years Angela has been involved with tasting Terra Valentine wines with husband Sam prior to bottling. It was here she developed a strong palate and sense for the characteristics of the wines and how they are produced.
In 2015, Angela returned to her field as a Registered Dietitian and is serving the community as the Director of Food Service for the St. Helena Unified School District.
Angus and Margaret Wurtele
Founders
Terra Valentine was founded in 1996 by Angus and Margaret Wurtele when they purchased a newly producing vineyard on Spring Mountain and named it the Wurtele Vineyard. In 1999, they hired Sam Baxter and his father Phil, and began making wines at the historic Yverdon Winery on Spring Mountain. The doors of the winery opened to the public in 2002. In 2014, after 15 years of successfully developing a world-class wine business, Sam and Angela Baxter purchased the company from the Wurteles to continue the legacy of Terra Valentine wines. The Wurteles continue to farm the Wurtele Vineyard located at 1,000 feet on Spring Mountain and the Yverdon Winery was sold to Jackson Family Wines in 2013.