Michelle Kazumi Sakazaki

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Michelle is Japanese American, born in California and raised in Tokyo. For the past 14 years, she has worked in Napa Valley as the General Manager of 90 Plus Wine Club. Prior to that, she was a fashion designer for Missoni in Milan and Armani Exchange in New York. Her love for wine began during her six years in Italy, as wine is an integral part of everyday life and Italian culture. She realized that wine has other elements of style and design that are not part of fashion design and began to wish for a more expressive medium than apparel. She found that in wine. She loves how wine and food are universal elements that bring together people, regardless of whether you are in Italy, Japan, or anywhere in the world. She sees how food feeds all the senses in Japan and how food and wine bind together families, friends, and even strangers in Italy. As if it were fate, in 2009, her father started 90 Plus Wine Club in Napa and recruited her to help build and manage the business. Michelle has visited hundreds of wineries and tasted countless amazing wines from around the world. Naturally, Michelle started to dream of starting her own wine label. In 2015, her good friends, the Perrets, offered her some Sauvignon Blanc grapes grown at their Rutherford vineyard. Michelle could not pass up the fantastic opportunity to design and create Kazumi Wines, a wine for all senses. In 2016, Michelle decided to try her hand in making a red wine and started producing a single vineyard, Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. The first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon sold out just 3 weeks after release. In 2022, Kazumi Wines debuted a Napa Valley Koshu, a Japanese varietal, which is the first of its kind to be made in the U.S. The wine has been well received in both the U.S. and in Asia with placements in some of the best Japanese restaurants.