Sean Thackrey

My only purpose in the entire universe as a winemaker is to produce pleasure.

Sean Thackrey was one of California’s most influential, eccentric, and game-changing winemakers. Alongside legends like Alice Waters, Jeremiah Tower, and Kermit Lynch, Sean had a guiding hand in a remarkable moment in history – the explosion of food and wine culture in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1970s. Releasing his first vintage in 1981, working in isolation in the tiny town of Bolinas on the coast in Marin County, everything Sean created was unique. He refused to release a wine, unless it was “not only delicious, but interesting”. Sean passed away in 2022, and his assistant winemaker Dustin Durfee is carrying the legacy forward with Pleiades Wine Company.

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