Biographies
Today, as Chairman Emeritus, Joe continues to provide leadership and inspiration to the management team while taking time off to travel and enjoy the fruits of many years’ labor.
Bill also works with his father, Joe Phelps, in a variety of business interests, and serves on the boards of the Land Trust of Napa County and the Community Foundation of the Napa Valley.
Bill lives in St. Helena with his wife Andrea. They have two children, Allie and Will.
Robert enjoys both watching and playing soccer (or football as he calls it), and spending time with friends over good food and wine.
Robert and his wife Claire reside in Santa Rosa with their two children.
A native Marylander, Mike McEvoy moved west to join Joseph Phelps Vineyards as Director of Marketing in 2003 and in December 2005 was promoted to Vice President and Director of Sales.
Mike is responsible for sales and distribution of JPV wines in the U.S. and 42 other countries. Prior to joining JPV, he had fifteen years of marketing and management experience on the East Coast.
A graduate of Washington & Lee University in Virginia, Mike also holds an MBA from the University of Baltimore. In 2004, he successfully completed Level I of the Court of Master Sommeliers examination. Besides wine, Mike’s lifelong passions include football and playing guitar.
Mike and his wife Gina reside in Napa with their three children.
Born in Bismarck, ND, Damian moved around a lot in his youth, while his father was assigned to various hydroelectric projects with the Army Corps of Engineers.
Damian grew up in Healdsburg and attended Santa Rosa Junior College. In 1977, he went to work for Souverain Winery in Geyserville. He began his career with Joseph Phelps Vineyards in 1981 as a bottling line supervisor, and became cellar master in 1990, a hands-on job overseeing the day-to-day winemaking operations.
In 1997, Damian was promoted to Vice President in charge of production and in 2008 was named Director of Winemaking. He divides his time between both Phelps Family wineries located in St. Helena and Freestone.
Today Damian lives in Napa with his wife, Carolyn. Between them they have five grown children: Graham, Sydney, Sarah, Samantha and Stacey.
Ashley joined Phelps in 1999 as a harvest intern and stayed on to become a laboratory technician and enologist. In 2004 she became Associate Winemaker, working closely with Damian overseeing day-to-day winemaking operations, and in October of 2008 was promoted to Winemaker.
Ashley attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado where she earned a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. Her passion for wine is matched by her love of fine food, and her college years were marked by positions in the kitchens of some of Durango’s finest restaurants, and later with the celebrated chef Charlie Trotter in Chicago.
In 2006, to further her education, Ashley earned a Winemaking Certificate from the Viticulture and Enology Department at the University of California at Davis.
Ashley lives in St. Helena and enjoys traveling and skiing.
Kelly joined Phelps in May 2005 as Laboratory Technician/Quality Control Specialist. She was promoted to Enologist in 2007 and in 2011, promoted to Assistant Winemaker. Kelly assists with the planning and coordination of all Napa Valley winemaking processes in the cellar from harvest through bottling. She maintains all winemaking quality standards and procedures in the lab and cellar as well as supervises all bottling activities.
After completing her Bachelor's degree in Microbiology at the University of California at San Diego, she began her career at Scripps Research Institute where she was involved with medical research specifically related to cancer and amyloid proteins. Kelly is a Napa native and enjoys the outdoors, traveling and spending time with her family.
Justin came to Joseph Phelps in 2007 after nine years as cellarmaster for William Selyem Winery in Healdsburg, as well as harvest supervisor and cellarmaster for wineries in New Zealand and Argentina, respectively.
Justin works in tandem with Damian Parker during harvest, fermentation, aging and blending of all Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, carefully overseeing all barrel to bottle work. He supervises the annual cellar crew during harvest and is the year-round maintenance supervisor for the Freestone winery facility, water treatment system and equipment. Just has taken numerous extension classes at U.C. Davis focusing on all aspects of viticulture and winemaking.
Justin lives in Sebastopol with his wife Shaydra.
In 1995, Philippe graduated from Davis with a B.S. in Plant Biology and in 1998 completed an M.S. in viticulture. That same year he was hired by JPV as a viticulturist and in 2003 was promoted to Director of Vineyard Operations.
Philippe became a U.S. citizen in 2007 and he lives in Napa with his wife, Jenny, and their three daughters, Emma, Eliza and Morgan.