Dennis Cakebread was still in college in 1973, when his parents founded Cakebread Cellars in Rutherford. After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, he worked first as a CPA and then as a chief financial officer in banking and financial services. He and his brothers had been helping out at the winery from the beginning, but in 1987, Dennis joined Cakebread Cellars full time. He spent three decades heading up sales and marketing, overseeing the growth of the business from the family’s initial endeavors to celebrated winery, and developing long-standing relationships with trade partners and consumers. Today, Dennis serves as Chairman of the Board.

For the last 30 years, Dennis has been a champion of the California wine industry, working patiently and persistently towards the Supreme Court victory that resulted in a shift of direct-to-consumer laws; as a result, today most consumers in the U.S. are able to order wines directly from their favorite producers.