Lynn Penner-Ash’s interest in winemaking grew out of an early passion for the sciences. After a summer working for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., she studied botany at the University of California, Davis, the birthplace of the American wine industry. In her junior year she changed her major to viticulture. Then, after working the graveyard shift during crush at Domaine Chandon, she changed her degree to enology.

After graduation, Lynn worked at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Domaine Chandon, and Chateau St. Jean. Intrigued by the emerging wine industry, she and her husband Ron moved to Oregon in 1988 where she joined Rex Hill Vineyards, becoming the first female winemaker hired in Oregon. Consistently producing award-winning wines, she became Rex Hill Vineyard’s president and chief operating officer in 1993 and remained with the winery until 2002.

In 1998, Lynn and Ron started Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, carefully crafting small amounts of Pinot Noir and Syrah. Their early success with the label allowed them to dream of what they could create and within a few years they began focusing full time on building Penner-Ash Wine Cellars. In 2005, Lynn and Ron designed and built a sustainable, gravity-flow estate winery surrounded by vineyards, a building that seems to spring from the land itself and reflects the values, spirit, and winemaking philosophy of the couple.