Bios
Hansjörg Wyss – Owner
Hansjörg Wyss was born and raised in Switzerland, where he developed an appreciation for fine wine. After receiving a Master of Science degree in Civil & Structural Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute Of Technology, Hansjörg attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business, where he earned an M.B.A with distinction. While at Harvard, he spent a summer hiking and camping in Colorado, an experience fostering a lifelong love for the natural beauty of the western United States.
In 1977, Hansjörg became President of Synthes USA, a firm manufacturing Swiss-designed medical devices. Under Hansjörg’s leadership, the company has become a global leader in the medical technology industry.
An ardent environmentalist, Hansjörg’s Wyss Foundation has helped preserve nearly five million acres of U.S. wilderness. He also serves on the boards of The Wilderness Society, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Rails-to-Trails, and the Grand Canyon Trust.
In 2000, Hansjörg purchased the 900-acre Halter Ranch in west Paso Robles, where he indulges his passion for wine, nature and enlightened environmental stewardship.
Bill Sheffer - Winemaker
Bill Sheffer, Halter Ranch’s winemaker, has over 20 years’ experience making wine in the Paso Robles region, as well as in leading wine regions throughout the world.
Beginning his career at Estrella River Winery in the early 1980s, he moved on to assistant winemaker positions at Adelaida Cellars and J. Lohr Winery, before serving for eight years as head winemaker at Eberle Winery. Bill also has found time to gain invaluable international experience at well-known Southern Hemisphere wineries such as Viña Santa Rita in Chile and Rapara Road Vintners in New Zealand, along with a stint at La Viña Winery in Valencia, Spain.
Bill’s approach to winemaking is to tailor a wine’s style to the character of the fruit the vineyard gives him. In the case of Halter Ranch, with its marine-influenced climate, steep, south-facing hillsides, and soils rich in limestone, Bill’s mission is to transform the superb fruit the vineyard provides into richly flavored wines with bright acidity and a refreshing vein of minerality, wines that are fully evocative of their variety and place. It’s a task for which this Paso Robles winemaking veteran is supremely qualified.
Mitch Wyss - Winegrower
When Mitch Wyss graduated from college with a degree in business marketing, his father asked him if he’d rather have a suit or a fishing pole. Mitch chose the fishing pole and has been working outside ever since.
Before switching to viticulture, Mitch worked as a salmon fisherman in Alaska, a whitewater outfitter on rivers in Alaska, California, Oregon, and Montana, a gandy-dancer (spike pounder) for the Burlington Northern Railroad in Montana, a canoe guide in the Florida Everglades, and a whale-watching guide in Baja California.
For 25 years before coming to Halter Ranch, Mitch managed farming operations in the northern Sacramento Valley that specialized in kiwis, sugar plums, chestnuts and mandarins. He jumped at the chance to switch to grape-growing and apply his past experiences to Halter Ranch, where his love of nature and dedication to sustainable farming practices can reach full flower.