Sonoma County’s Foley Family Wines hires acclaimed whiskey distiller to lead spirits innovation

Foley Family Wines has made another move toward expanding into the higher-end spirits, hiring an successful entrepreneur in super-premium whiskey to lead that side of the business.

The Sonoma County-based wine and spirits company behind wine brands such as Chalk Hill Estate, Ferrari-Carano and Merus on Tuesday said it hired Chip Tate as master distiller for innovation. Tate is known for literally building Balcones Distilling in Texas from the still up, and its award-winning American single-malt whiskey attracted beverage alcohol giant Diageo to acquire Balcones in late 2022.

Foley Family Wines, which has grown from 1996 to now own two dozen wineries in the U.S. and New Zealand, jumped hard into spirits with last year’s acquisition of Minden Mill Distilling in Minden, Nevada, located about 45 miles south of Reno, and the U.S. launch of Charles Goodnight Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey and New Zealand Lighthouse Gin. The company’s master distillers are Joe O’Sullivan in Minden and Rachel Hall in New Zealand.

“We are honored to have Chip join Foley Family as our spirits portfolio continues to grow and our production at our Minden Mill facility expands,” said Shawn Schiffer, president. “Chip’s reputation and experience using techniques from centuries of distilling tradition and adding his own innovative ideas will help us as we launch our next generation of spirits.”

Sales for luxury (over $50 per 750-milliliter bottle) American whiskey and tequila have grown 39% and 42% annually between 2017–2022, the fastest-growing categories in high-end spirits, according to the Distilled Spirits Council. The rebound of restaurants and bars post-COVID has fueled this growth, the trade group said.

Tate’s route into distilling started in academia, according to Foley’s news release. He received a philosophy degree from the College of William & Mary and studied theology at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond. In 2002 he became assistant dean at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and received a diploma from the Institute of Brewing & Distilling. Though passionate about beer, he pursued distilling because of multiple breweries in Texas.

In a former welding shop near Baylor he designed and built his own copper pot stills and distilling equipment. He founded Balcones in 2008.

Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Reach him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.