Alpha Omega

Winemaker Henrik Poulsen’s career took him from the Old World of winemaking to the New World of Napa, where since 2000 he has handcrafted ultra-premium wines. A member of Alpha Omega’s founding winemaking team, Henrik reunited with his Alpha Omega family in April 2019. As head winemaker, Poulsen oversees all aspects of winemaking at the iconic winery he helped put on the Napa Valley map.

Henrik’s relationship with Alpha Omega began in 2006 when he helped launch the winery as the Assistant Winemaker. Working with renowned and historic vineyards throughout Napa Valley, Poulsen assisted in handcrafting critically-acclaimed wines which quickly placed Alpha Omega among Napa Valley’s upper-echelon labels.

In 2010, Poulsen founded his own label, which is produced at Alpha Omega, and a wine consulting business. He departed Alpha Omega in 2013 for Acumen Wines, reuniting him with Denis Malbec, Acumen’s founding winemaker, Alpha Omega’s former consulting winemaker – and Château Latour alumnus. While the Director of Winemaking and Executive Manager at Acumen, Henrik remained close to Hoefliger and the Alpha Omega family. He always considered Alpha Omega his second home.

Born and raised in Denmark, Henrik comes from a family that truly appreciates fine wine. He was a mere 14 years old when he purchased his first bottles of classified Bordeaux. While attending university in Copenhagen, where he studied electrical engineering, he began reading books about wine, attending tastings and working in a local wine shop. He soon realized that wine was his true path and entered the wine industry on the business side in the late 1990s. Working for Knud Jørgensen & Helmbæk, Henrik breezed through his sales/trade education at Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College, taking just two years to earn his degree in the four-year program.

Eager to gain hands-on winemaking experience, he traveled to Bordeaux to work at Château de Haux. After meeting Newton Vineyard Founder Su Hua Newton in Paris, Henrik moved to Napa Valley to enhance his winemaking knowledge at Newton in the Spring Mountain AVA working alongside the esteemed Luc Morlet and then the soon-to-be discovered Jean Hoefliger. For six years, Poulsen and Hoefliger made wine together at Newton Vineyard before jointly arriving at Alpha Omega to launch vintners Robin and Michelle Baggett’s winery in 2006. For nearly two decades, Henrik has immersed himself in Napa Valley wine and also gained invaluable experience from legendary consultant Michel Rolland at Newton and Alpha Omega.

Jean calls Henrik one of the best tasters he knows. Henrik believes the most important skillset of a winemaker is his or her ability to taste and evaluate a wine at all stages of its development.

“While one can learn the basics from a book, monitor the chemistry in a lab and watch fundamental fermentation techniques in the cellar,” Henrik says, “there can never be a substitute for an educated palate.”

Jean Hoefliger believes in reinventing the wheel. A passionate Swiss talent, Alpha Omega’s founding winemaker helped to quickly put Alpha Omega on the Napa Valley map after the winery’s inception in 2006. Shifting to consulting winemaker in April 2019, Jean continues pushing the winemaking envelope. One of Napa Valley’s brightest winemaking stars, Jean reached that distinction by never being static and always doubting himself.

Those two distinguishable characteristics enable him to constantly push forward and progress with each vintage. Zealous about his craft, Jean has mastered not just the art of blending but also possesses an uncanny knack to visualize a grape’s destiny while the berry is still on the vine.

He flaunts a high-risk winemaking style, characterized by long, natural barrel fermentation which takes an average of 10 months — he also often leaves red wines on skins for up to 90 days while most winemakers opt for 21 to 30 days — to create wines that are delicious, intriguing and complex.

Born and raised in Lausanne, Switzerland, Jean inherited his father’s love for wine. The oenophile planned for a career in international finance after a short stint in law school. However, when valuations didn’t fascinate him as much as vin, Jean forged a new path. He began his career in wine working for his godfather, who owns one of Europe's oldest wineries, founded in 1536 and located in Epesses, Switzerland.

Pairing his global wine industry experience obtained while working for the esteemed estates of Château Lynch-Bages and Château Carbonnieux in Bordeaux, Meerlust Inc., in South Africa, Fonjallaz S.A. in Switzerland and Hartford Court in Sonoma’s Russian River with the Swiss degrees in enology and viticulture he earned from the Federal Winemaking School of Changins and in science from the Maturite Federale, Jean brought his skills and enthusiasm to Napa Valley.

Seduced by California’s diverse soil and ability to express his creativity, Jean planted himself at Newton Vineyard in Napa Valley’s Spring Mountain where he spent five years as winemaker until picked by Alpha Omega. Part artist, part mad scientist, Jean helped the new winery quickly make a name for itself and take the Valley by storm.

Jean’s zeal, knowledge, innate ability and scientific training puts him in a unique position to take the best grapes of Napa Valley and transform them into wines worthy of world class standing.

Michel Rolland is a rock star winemaking consultant who began working with our Winemaker Henrik Poulsen and Consulting Winemaker Jean Hoefliger at Newton Vineyards in 2001. Nearly five years later, the three men who share the same approach to wine teamed up again at Alpha Omega where Michel has proved to be a wonderful source of knowledge and experience for our winemaking team.

Michel was destined to work in wine. Born in a hospital in Libourne, less than 450 yards from the Pomerol appellation and two and a half miles from Maillet, he grew up walking through vineyards with his grandfather who sold wines under the Château Le Bon Pasteur label. Introduced to viticulture by his father, Michel studied oenology at the University of Bordeaux and in 1973, along with his oenologist wife Dany, took over a large laboratory in Libourne.

Still, he found time to travel. Michel’s consulting duties have taken him to four continents and more than 150 different estates exposing him to a variety of climates and conditions. In addition to conferring with highly-regarded wineries around the world, Michel continues to produce his own wines at his estates in Bordeaux where he also directs one of the wine industry’s most respected laboratories.