Meet the Winemaking Team

Douglas McIlroy - Winegrower 

Douglas McIlroy grew up in Sonoma County agriculture. He has over thirty years of winegrowing experience and a B.S. in Plant Science and a B.A. in Economics from the University of California at Davis. His knowledge and skills were honed as a grower relation’s representative at some of Sonoma and Mendocino counties’ finest wineries.McIlroy joined Rodney Strong Vineyards in 2001. His responsibilities include overseeing viticulture practices of the winery’s estate vineyards, grower relations, and grower contract negotiations. In addition to the estate properties, McIlroy also oversees long-term vineyard contracts.

Doug’s relentless pursuit of quality takes him into and through the vineyard on a very regular basis, to be sure. It also, for him, means constant evaluation by tasting through wine lots with winemaker Rick Sayre. The process allows him to work closely with the winemaking team to assess estate vineyards and growers in order to set quality benchmarks and influence viticultural practices. McIlroy says, “Every vineyard site has a maximum potential for quality and I’m driven to achieve that through viticulture. I believe that tending vines should be based on a strong understanding of plant physiology, which in turn will produce significant and meaningful increases in wine quality.”

In addition to winegrowing responsibilities, McIlroy has grown into the winery’s quiet leader in the area of sustainability. He has put numerous green practices in place in the winery’s 13 estate vineyards, initiated grower sustainability compliance and led the winery, with other senior managers, to carbon neutrality in 2009.

Doug resides just down the road from the winery in Santa Rosa, California. And, when he’s not in a vineyard, there’s a good chance you’ll find him with his fly rod at the nearest fishing hole.