Tim—Cellarmaster/Owner
Timothy grew up in Davenport, Iowa. After graduating with a business degree from UMass, Amherst, he had an opportunity to travel in Italy. He worked at the Locanda Del Sant'Uffizio, a small country inn and restaurant outside of Asti in Piemonte. At this former monastery he experienced an old-fashioned way of life. Each prix fixe meal was prepared with the freshest seasonal ingredients available on the property and nearby villages. The exposure to herbs, fruits and vegetables harvested at their peak, creating menus, and pairing the food with wine (from the inn’s estate grapes), introduced Timothy to flavors and sensory revelations that changed his life.
He returned to the U.S. to work for the Pierre Hotel in New York and The Four Seasons in Philadelphia. Timothy arrived in Napa Valley in ‘93 and started working for Tra Vigne restaurant in St. Helena as manager and wine buyer. In ’94, he and Barb teamed up to start Spelletich Cellars.
Tim taught himself “what bad wine was in order to know good wine.” But he credits Barb “for getting me rolling. She knows what good wine is. I could tell when she doesn’t think a wine is good. And then I hold onto those bad bottles in order to register them into my brain.”
