Arista Winery

Mark's parents, Al and Janis McWilliams, purchased a piece of property in Northern Sonoma County in 1996 with plans of developing the land for vineyard use.  Mark's role in the first phase of the family business was to be involved in the preparing and planting of a 40 acre Cabernet Sauvignon parcel.  After this initial development, and during his college years, Mark spent his summers working on the family vineyards.

After graduating from the University of Texas - Austin with a degree in Corporate Communications, Mark took his first job out of college working for Kendall Jackson Wine Estates. What started as a temporary summer job developed into a passion as Mark enrolled in UC Davis Wine and Viticulture courses, tasting groups, and annoyed his winemaker friends with endless questions. During his time with Kendall Jackson, Mark held various positions encompassing vineyard operations, harvest logistics, and cellar work.  2003 proved to be a significant year in Mark's life. His family started Arista Winery, a boutique Russian River Valley Pinot Noir producer based in Healdsburg, California.  In the fall of 2003 Mark moved back to Texas and married Jennifer Habecker, a native of Dallas.  Over the next year and half, Mark continued his passion for wine and pursuit of industry knowledge by working as a wine consultant for Republic Beverage, a large wine and spirits distributor based in Dallas, Texas.

Having gained first hand knowledge of the inter-workings of the wine business - from vineyard, to winery, to the wine store shelf - Mark was positioned to take the information learned and apply it to his family's winery and the development of estate vineyards in the Russian River Valley.  In the Spring of 2005 Mark and his wife Jennifer moved back to California to run the day to day operations of the tasting room and production facility.  They currently live in Healdsburg, California with their Maltese "Lucy", a cute and popular face in the Arista tasting room.

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