Tom Campbell, Winemaker

Tom Campbell knows good grapes. From the berry to the glass, Tom Campbell has built an impressive career around his love of delighting wine connoisseurs.

It was serendipity that led him to the art of winemaking. With a zoology degree from the University of Montana and a bleak job market, Tom turned to his next love: agriculture. Tom enrolled in the top agricultural school, the University of California at Davis, and discovered their program in Enology and Viticulture, which he graduated from in 1979.

Tom’s illustrious career began at a small winery in the Sonoma Valley, and then moved to Jekel in Monterey. At the same time, he began experimenting with grapes in his home state of Montana. By 1981, he was an enologist at Chateau Ste. Michelle’s Grandview Winery, one of Washington’s oldest and most prestigious wineries. He moved on to head the white wine program at Quail Run, now known as Covey Run.

In the mid 1980s, Tom started The Horizon’s Edge Winery with his wife, Hema, in Washington’s Yakima Valley. But he couldn’t stay away from those vineyards he had been experimenting with in Montana, so he started the Mission Mountain Winery, on the banks of Flathead Lake, with his father.

In 1998, Tom’s nephew, Bijal Shah, approached him to create the ultimate Bordeaux style blend. The result was the runaway success of the award winning Darighe. They have gone on to create three more wines; the Dussek, the Maghee, and now the Kennedy Shah.