Meet The Team
Bob Herrick
Owner
Bob Herrick graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a degree in Horticultural Science. He has been in the nursery business over 46 years. Bob began a grafted grapevine program to supply vineyards and wineries all over North America. In 1998, he obtained licenses from the French authority for viticulture and enology, ENTAV. This allowed Herrick Grapevines to produce and sell the unique & exclusive varieties and clones from their collection. In late 2019, he moved the St. Helena and Sacramento operations to Red Bluff, CA to remove it from the intense viticulture of the Napa Valley.
Diego Barison
General Manager
Diego has been an indispensable driving force in establishing the company as it is now. He was born and raised in a vineyard farming family in Calamandrana, Italy and began his career in growing grapevines at a young age. He attended the agriculture high school in Asti and in the year 2000, he started his own nursery in which he integrated innovative technology and began clonal selection in Piedmont vineyards. He received a degree in Agronomy from the University of Turin and completed a master’s thesis at the French ITV, Institute for the Research on Vineyard and Wine. As the new general manager of Herrick Grapevines, he hopes to continue learning innovative methods of grape growing. In addition to his work with the nursery, Diego has co-authored a reference book on viticulture named VITIBOOK.
Ofelia Hurtado
Operational Administrator
Customer relations and operational administrator, Ofelia is essential to the enterprise of Herrick Grapevines. She grew up in a farming family in the Sacramento Valley of California and has a bachelor’s degree in Communications with a concentration in Public Relations and Marketing from Sacramento State University. Ofelia’s grapevine experience of over 10 years brings a wealth of knowledge to the company. She has played important roles during her career that include sales, customer relations, production planning, grafting programs, and inventory control. Her easygoing capability of connecting with clients has gained her the respect of many in the industry.
Jenna Nichol-Fitzgerald
Controller
Jenna was born and raised in Northern California, just 10 miles North of our current operating location. Through her family and education, Jenna has always been involved in the agriculture industry—she graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business and went on to receive her master’s degree in Accounting from Texas A&M University. Prior to joining Herrick Grapevines, Jenna worked as a financial and sustainability consultant for numerous large agricultural operations throughout the United States, focusing on profitability, inventory and cost analysis. Jenna’s experiences throughout the agriculture industry and her technical training in accounting has prepared her well for her role with us.
Raquel Melgoza
Office Administrator
John McKenna
North Coast/Lodi
Sales Representative
John McKenna is Herrick Grapevines North Coast Sales Representative. John was born and raised in Sonoma, CA. At a young age he was introduced to the rhythms and cycles of farming while helping his family with yearly responsibilities on the ranch and vineyard. This is where John became fascinated by the annual growth cycles of grapevines and the challenges that arose with those cycles throughout the year. John then attended Fresno State University and in 2013 graduated with a B.S. in Viticulture. After college he started and internship in Napa and then became a Grower Relations Representative in Sonoma representing growers through Sonoma, Solano, Clarksburg, Lodi, El Dorado and Livermore. As a grower relations representative John has had the honor and privilege to meet and work with farmers, winemakers and many others throughout the wine industry.