Nick Pehle

Vineyard Manager   

Nick Pehle holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Systems Management and a minor in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri–Columbia. After graduating in 2000, Nick began his career in the vineyard at Les Bourgeois Winery in Rocheport, Missouri, and was quickly promoted to Vineyard Manager in 2001. Also in 2001 Nick started his own wine grape vineyard in Etlah, Missouri, which he owns and operates with his wife Stephanie and two children. In 2007 Nick joined Stone Hill Winery’s viticulture team as Assistant Vineyard Manager. He was promoted to Vineyard Manager in 2010. Nick currently manages a staff of 18 and oversees more than 180 acres of the finest wine grapes in Missouri Wine Country, consisting of 11 different grape varieties spread among seven Hermann-area vineyards.

"My highest objective in a vineyard is balance. There are countless, continually changing variables in the vineyard that all must be balanced to produce high quality wine grapes" - Nick Pehle

Stone Hill Winery’s vineyards include popular grape varieties such as Norton, Chambourcin, Vidal, Vignoles, Traminette, Catawba and Concord, with each variety presenting unique viticultural challenges. Nick has met those challenges head on, applying a decade of viticulture knowledge, engineering expertise, and proficiency with vineyard mechanization systems, including pruning, shoot thinning, fruit thinning, shoot positioning, leaf thinning and harvesting. His efforts and dedication have paid off with consistently high quality wine grapes, improved labor efficiency and vineyard expansions earning him praise and respect from his employers, peers and staff. Nick has been a guest speaker at wine grape growing conferences around the country, including Viticulture 2010, Wineries Unlimited and the Justin Morris Vineyard Mechanization Workshop.

In Nick’s free time he enjoys four wheeling with his family, target shooting and working on the family farm.

Nick Pehle bio [pdf]