Kent Rosenblum
President, CEO and Director of Winemaking
Rosenblum Cellars, Alameda, California

The MSU-Billings Foundation 2003 Wine & Food Festival welcomes Dr. Kent Rosenblum, who was destined to craft the wines of Rosenblum Cellars while healing animals.

This is a story about a hobby gone wild. After Dr. Kent Rosenblum traveled from his native Minnesota to start a veterinary practice in Alameda, California, he became enamored with the wonderful California wines he found. Along with several friends, he formed a tasting group and became interested in the challenge of home winemaking. Equipped with a good training in science and an unusually keen sense of smell, Kent soon was making wines that his friends couldn't get enough of.

In 1978, Kent and several friends decided to take their hobby to the next level and bought some more equipment to increase production, found some rental space next to an old hangout called The Dead End Bar in an 'interesting' section of Oakland, CA, and became a bonded winery as Rosenblum Cellars. That first year, they produced a Zinfandel from the Cullinane Vineyard in Sonoma County that took a Gold Medal at the prestigious Orange County Fair Wine Competition in Southern California.

Demand for the Rosenblum Cellars wines was growing faster than production, resulting in a move to nearby Emeryville into a larger facility. Purchasing grapes from several different regions of California, Rosenblum production was up to 5,000 cases annually. Awards were flowing as plentiful as the wine and within five years a new larger home for the winery was needed, so a move into the current facilities in Alameda, near Kent's veterinary clinic, took place in 1987.

Today, Rosenblum Cellars produces more than 40 different wines each year from more than 75 vineyards throughout California (and recently Australia, too). Distribution is now in all 50 states and 16 foreign countries. The Zinfandel from Cullinane Vineyard is still produced each year (in very limited quantities) and Rosenblum Cellars is awarded well more than 100 medals each year for the wines. Production has gone from 400 cases in 1978 to more than 100,000 cases per year currently. And Dr. Kent Rosenblum still actively continues his practice as a veterinarian in addition to his role as President, CEO and Director of Winemaking at Rosenblum Cellars.