2024 WSA Wine Executive of the Year Award: Jennifer Locke

As CEO, Jennifer Locke has shown that putting people, community and the environment first can pay off on the bottom line.

Jennifer Locke has come a long way from her first job bussing tables at Ray’s Boathouse in Seattle at age 16 and did not take anything like a traditional path to becoming CEO of Crimson Wine Group (CWG)—a publicly traded company with 1,000 acres of vineyards and a fine wine portfolio that produces 400,000 cases annually. The portfolio includes well-known brands such as Pine Ridge Vineyards and Seghesio Family Vineyards in California, as well as Archery Summit in Oregon. 

In December 2019, Locke came to CWG from Melbourne, Australia-based Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), where she was the Senior Vice President of US Luxury and Direct-to-Consumer Sales-Americas.

It wasn’t the first time Locke sought a top corporate wine job, but not having a college degree was a big hurdle. While taking community college classes in Seattle after high school, Locke says she was always too busy to complete a degree. “I was always working, moving on up and thinking, ‘What’s the point of all of this?’ Plus, I was living life in Seattle.”

“Before I became a CEO, I was ashamed to tell that story. Not having a degree also cost me a few opportunities. One person wouldn’t even interview me, even though we were doing $70 million in DTC sales alone at Treasury at the time,” Locke says.

Before TWE, Locke spent four years in Napa as a senior regional sales manager for the Chalone Wine Group. Her next stop was Oregon, where she worked nine years as a national and export sales manager, then director of sales at WillaKenzie Estate. Locke says she learned some valuable lessons working with WillaKenzie cofounder Bernard Lacroute.

First, that she can run a successful for-profit winery by caring for your physical assets and ensuring your people are well cared for. Locke says everyone on the full-time vineyard crew at WillaKenzie, for example, had health insurance and received fair pay. And representing WillaKenzie in Tokyo, Singapore and mainland China, “I discovered that no matter where you are, the magic of wine doesn’t change,” Locke says. “You show up, pull corks and tell a story. For god’s sake, I was selling single-vineyard Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs to Mongolians.”

Those experiences were brought into play during Locke’s first year in 2020, with CWG facing COVID-19 shutdowns and West Coast wildfires. “We had to ask basic questions like ‘Do we have wine?’ and ‘Have any vineyards burned?’” Locke says.

Locke believes CWG earned respect for how it handled itself during the crises. It was conservative when it brought its employees back after the COVID-19 shutdowns were lifted. It also didn’t furlough or lay off any vineyard or tasting room employees, didn’t make wine if the fruit was smoke-impacted and refused to walk away from any fruit contracts.

Locke said this “culture of care” is a major emphasis at CWG. “We have a fiduciary responsibility. But we believe that if you do the work the right way and protect your people, the profits will come,” Locke says.

In September 2021, CWG became one of the first 20 global wineries to join the International Wineries for Climate Action Group (IWCA). By joining, CWG committed to fighting climate change by reducing its carbon emissions. Locke gives credit to Nicolas Quillé, MW, CWG’s Chief Winemaking and Operations Officer, for leading this effort.

Two critical components of CWG’s environmental efforts have been significantly reducing the weight of their glass wine bottles and creating forest carbon sinks at Chamisal Vineyards in California and Archery Summit.

Locke says CWG is eager to expand its stable of fine wine, but that doesn’t necessarily mean buying more physical assets, like vineyard land. “We are looking to dip our toes into the virtual winery space if we can do it with a sense of place and purpose,” Locke says.

Wine Enthusiast proudly honors Jennifer Locke as Wine Executive of the Year in the 2024 Wine Star Awards for her commitment to people, community and the environment.

Published: November 7, 2024