My name is Gary Goldman, and I am a candidate for the LWGA Board. I have been a Lafayette resident for over 30 years. We live on a 3-acre parcel that backs up to the Contra Costa hills, on St. Mary’s Road at the Lafayette–Moraga border. I have an acre of vines on the front third of my property, and we are growing GSM and Zinfandel. 2024 was our first harvest, and 2025 was our first bottling. We bottle our wines under the Cattle Chute Vineyards label.
My goal as a small proprietary winegrower is to cultivate the best possible grapes in my vineyard and produce the best possible wine from them. I have spent considerable time self-educating myself on winemaking and have consulted several local and Northern California experts. I am a first-generation winemaker and want to collaborate with local winegrower colleagues by joining LWGA to deepen my understanding of regional farming and winegrowing techniques. I have a detailed educational background as a DDS from NYU, an MD from Drexel University, and an MBA. I am a lifelong learner and never hesitate to try new things and pivot when necessary. I am retired from clinical practice and a 3-time serial health-tech entrepreneur. I am now the founder and CEO of a global network of health professionals focused on innovation, and the founding and managing partner of 3 venture funds in the healthcare vertical.
I have a strong interest in applying all available technologies to both viticulture and winemaking, and would like to bring the LWGA board and association members a more collaborative technology and web-based environment. I want to help LWGA build a network that provides opportunities for collaboration, education, and communication, and promotes its members’ vineyards and winemaking products.
I am a recent member of the association, and now that I am running my business from home virtually, I have more time and interest in serving as a Board member for LWGA. I have served on numerous business and healthcare boards and currently serve on the Alameda Contra Costa Medical Association Board and Council.
Hi! I am Marcy Ryan Nichol and am a long-time Orinda resident.
I have 200 Zinfandel vines which were planted in 2013. I thank my grandmother who provided the seed money and who enjoyed a glass of wine every day until she died at 100. Bill Scanlin is my winemaker ( I consider myself fortunate!).
I manage the vineyard myself, and find the many hours in the vineyard to be therapeutic, incredibly rewarding, and much like life – unpredictable. I recognize how much I don’t know and have found LWGA invaluable in my learning trajectory. I am eager to learn and equally important – want to contribute and give back, hence my interest in serving on the board. I help lead the Education committee with Bill Saupe, and am committed to providing topics of interest and learning opportunities to our membership.
In my other life, I have extensive experience in Human Resources/Employee Relations and am currently employed in the financial sector.
I appreciate your consideration and support for another term on the board.
My name is Dave Rey and I am a candidate for the LWGA Board. I have been a Lafayette resident for over 32 years and I have an acre of vines and a winery at my home in the Reliez Valley area. I bottle my wines under the Reliez Valley Vineyards label.
My goal as a winegrower is to grow the best possible grapes from my vineyard location and make the best possible wine from the grapes I grow. I am the first generation in my family to have pursued a non-agricultural career, so having grown up in that world I am very comfortable with the farming aspects of winegrowing. I have an engineering education and I enjoy applying all the technology available to both viticulture and winemaking.
I was an early member of the group but my business travels left me little time to get involved until I retired in 2011. I previously served on the Board from 2011 to 2016. During that time I focused mainly on leading the committee that pursued and secured our AVA designation.
I was elected to the Board again in 2020 and I am currently leading the effort to develop a five year plan for the organization. I would like to serve another term on the Board so that I can complete that project and help see the plan implemented.
My Name is Bill Saupe. I have been on the LWGA board for the last two years. I want to serve for at least another year. I have also been serving as co-chair of the Educational Committee with Marcy Ryan-Nichol where we plan speakers and educational workshops for the LWGA.
I’ve been a wine lover all my life, but I’m new to wine growing. I planted 132 Cabernet Sauvignon vines in 2021 during the pandemic, and have faithfully nurtured, communed with, and battled gophers and birds for the grapes ever since. We bottled our 2023 harvest last fall. A little young, but we had to start somewhere.
When I am not working on being an enthusiastic vigneron, I am working in Berkeley in my Prosthodontic practice. I went to dental school at Northwestern University in Chicago, Prosthodontic training at UCSF, and got my MBA at UOP.
Thank you for your consideration with a toast to all for 2026—may we always have old wine, old friends, and young cares.
My name is Bill Scanlin and I have been on the LWGA board and run the website since 2008, have been President in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and have been Treasurer Since 2020. I have been growing grapes and making wine since 1998 and started my commercial winery Deer Hill Vineyards in 2010.
I have been in technology my entire career and am currently Chief Technology Officer at a fintech startup. I am also the Vice-President of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and will be President in 2027.
I believe the organization needs to be an important resource for its members to help them grow better grapes and make better wine. We can also educate the Lamorinda community on what we are doing and help them setup their own vineyards and try some of the great wine made here. I think we have made great improvements in meeting these goals and would like to continue to move the organization forward.
