Penner-Ash Wine Cellar

Lynn’s interest in winemaking grew out of an early passion for the sciences. After a summer working for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., she studied Botany at the University of California, Davis, the birthplace of the American wine industry. In her junior year she changed her major to Viticulture. Then, after working the graveyard shift during crush at Domaine Chandon, she changed her degree again, from Viticulture to Enology.

After graduation, Lynn worked as the enologist at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars for four years. She joined the Oregon wine industry in 1988 as winemaker for Rex Hill Winery. Consistently producing award-winning wines, she became Rex Hill’s President and Chief Operating Officer in 1993 and continued on with Rex Hill until March of 2002.

Lynn started Penner-Ash Wine Cellars with husband Ron in 1998, carefully crafting small amounts of Pinot noir and Syrah, while she was still at Rex Hill. Their early success with the label caused them to dream of what they could create, and in 2001, with investment partners Chris and Tyanne Dussin, they began building the Penner-Ash brand full time.