I am sitting at a table with Jeff Farthing, trying to decide where to begin. That hesitation feels appropriate. Farthing’s interests and talents are so wide-ranging that any single starting point seems incomplete.
Jeff Farthing is the Director of Winemaking at Michael David Winery, one of Lodi’s most respected wineries and a family-run success story with deep agricultural roots. But winemaking is only one facet of who he is. An avid skier, he often returns from the Sierra sunshine with a telltale glow. A surfer since his days growing up in Laguna Beach, he carries the easy confidence and curiosity of someone shaped by the ocean as much as by vineyards.
Curiosity, in fact, may be his defining trait. Farthing is endlessly interested in the world around him — wine, science, chemistry, people, and the intersections where those worlds collide. He is the kind of winemaker who not only asks how something works, but what might happen if you change the conditions entirely.
So, where does one begin? The obvious place is his day job.
In January 2022, Farthing became Director of Winemaking at Michael David Winery, overseeing all winemaking operations and related programs. He joined the winery in 2009, working under Adam Mettler, and quickly helped shape wines that earned 90-plus points, critical acclaim, and a long list of awards. Over time, he played a key role in defining the winery’s distinctive style across a wide portfolio, including brands such as Freakshow, Inkblot, Earthquake, Misfits & Mavens, Michael David, and the Lodi lineup, as well as House Favorites like Lust, Rapture, 6th Sense, Politically Correct, and Zero Gravity.
That growth mirrors the winery’s own evolution. Phillips Farms was founded in 1950 by Don Phillips, a farmer whose sons, Michael and David, eventually transformed a farm stand into Michael David Winery in 1976, with Michael as the original winemaker. Today, the winery produces roughly 30 brands and distributes about 500,000 cases annually to more than 30 countries.
Farthing now leads the Michael David brand’s high-end wines while also focusing on business development and managing a team of skilled winemakers, including Sean Goehring. Michael Phillips’ daughter, Melissa Phillips-Stroud, serves as vice president, representing the sixth generation of the family business.
For Farthing, that lineage matters.
“They did it by being farmers instead of making a trillion dollars in the tech industry or being a celebrity and making wine,” he said. “They did it by farming. They were farmers that made it. There are many families like that in Lodi. I love that about this region.”
The challenge, he said, is consistency without sameness. Each wine must meet a high standard of quality while still maintaining its own character. “Otherwise,” Farthing noted, “people will notice.”
“It’s a pretty big task,” he said. “Fortunately, Lodi has all the tools, with so many grape varieties. Michael and David allow us flexibility in making these wines, whether that means investing in premium barrels or blending specific grapes.”
And sometimes, it means taking a rocket ride.
In 2021, Michael David Winery sent cabernet sauvignon juice from Michael Phillips’ Bender Vineyard to the International Space Station to study the effects of gravity — or the lack of it — on fermentation. The idea came to Michael Phillips after meeting Robert Bigelow, founder of Bigelow Aerospace. Farthing wrote the proposal.
“We were able to compare a spontaneous fermentation in space to a spontaneous fermentation on Earth,” Farthing said. “They were completely different microbial populations.”
Beginning with the 2022 vintage, the winery used the yeast strain that emerged from the experiment — known as MT965 — to produce a new cabernet sauvignon called Zero Gravity. The wine’s third vintage is scheduled for release later this year.
“It’s unique from other cabernet sauvignons that we make,” Farthing said. “We’re trying to give you the true essence of Michael Phillips’ vineyard, plus the yeast strain that we used, because we know yeast strains have a big impact on the wine.”
Zero Gravity also undergoes flash détente, a high-tech process in which the wine is rapidly heated and then instantly cooled in a vacuum chamber. The technique concentrates flavor, softens tannins, and emphasizes fruit character. The wine is aged for 12 to 14 months in neutral oak barrels, a contrast to Michael David’s Earthquake Cabernet Sauvignon, which sees 35 to 40 percent new oak.
Farthing describes Zero Gravity as refined.
“A lot of people who don’t like big, super-rich, super-tannic cabernets really like Zero Gravity,” he said. “It feels traditional, even though it’s gone through flash détente.”
That balance between innovation and approachability also defines Farthing’s work beyond Michael David Winery. In 2012, he and two friends from Laguna Beach launched Purple Corduroy, a wine brand inspired by beach culture and food-friendly pairings. The Blonde Siren — a blend of sauvignon blanc, viognier, and Symphony — pairs naturally with seafood. The Red Siren Zinfandel works with barbecue and pizza, while the Lorelei Cabernet Sauvignon is built for the steakhouse.
There is still much more to say about Jeff Farthing. His energy, enthusiasm, and genuine passion for both life and wine are unmistakable. Whether he is experimenting with fermentation in space or crafting wines meant for a dinner table near the ocean, one thing seems certain: whatever he decides to do next, it will reflect curiosity, creativity, and a deep respect for where he — and his wines — come from.