Founder of Winegardner’s Wines. Winegardner’s Wines began in 1997 with a white van and rented warehouse. It was truly a labor of love and he was able to fulfill his dream of building a wine company focused on great wine and great customers. Kurt became ill in 2013, and passed away in February 2015. We at Winegardner’s continue to carry on his legacy and are grateful for the foundation he built and passed on to us.

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Kurt’s passion for wine first developed in 1975 while living in Burgundy, France as a student. He picked grapes in the grand cru vineyards during the worst vintage of the century; it rained every day for three weeks. He lived next door to Domaine Faiveley in the home of the chief accountant for the Confrerie du Chevaliers de Tastevin. This Bugundian wine promotion society owned the Château du Clos Vougeot which is where he and his French father would go on cold Saturday mornings to check up on their wine cellar. Graduating with a liberal arts degree, he naturally worked in restaurants, eventually finding a sales job with a Billings wine wholesaler.

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Kurt once heard someone say that in your lifetime you may drink a lot of great wines and they will all be Bordeaux; but you will only drink one life changing wine, and that will be Burgundy. His was a ‘69 Musigny Compte Georges de Vogue tasted out of crystal water glasses in the kitchen of an old French farm house. The madame added a small amount of water “parce-que le vin rouge est fort.”