
Benedicte Rhyne
Bénédicte (de Carmejane) Rhyne is a native of Aix en Provence, France. She received her master in oenology (the study of wine) from the Université de Bourgogne (Dijon) in 1987.
Her first experience was at Chateau Pétrus, in Pomerol, Bordeaux, under the tutelage of renowned winemaker Jean Claude Berrouet. In January 1988 she went to New Zealand to work harvest at Matua Valley wines. Bénédicte then traveled to England and gained marketing and sales experience by working as a sales representative for Berkman Wine Cellars in Yorkshire.
In 1991 Ravenswood Winery in Sonoma, California, invited Bénédicte to join the winemaking-team. Her primary focus was to develop a”Meritage“program. From 1991 to 2001 the winery increased in production ten-fold. This meant a large increase in responsibilities for Bénédicte. She created a sophisticated wine laboratory with well -trained staff and quality control procedures.
In 2002, Bénédicte and her family moved to Fredericksburg, TX and created a Wine Laboratory to compliment her Wine Country Consulting business.
Bénédicte served sixteen years as the winemaker of Mesa Vineyards, St. Genevieve Wine which is a well-known 1.6 million gallon facility located in Fort Stockton, Texas. She is now the winemaker of Kuhlman Cellars, a quickly growing winery whose door's opened in October of 2014 in Hye, Texas to produce fine quality and “Terroir” driven wines from Texas in the style of her native Provence.