Dennis Cakebread began his career in the wine business while still in school, when he and his two brothers would help out at the family winery begun by Jack and Dolores Cakebread in 1973. Today, Dennis oversees the sales and marketing initiatives of this now internationally distributed winery, and takes great pride in the winery’s growth and achievements of the last 40 years.

Having earned an undergraduate degree in accounting from University of California at Berkeley in 1975 and attending graduate school at California State University, East Bay, Dennis worked as a CPA in San Francisco for two years, then as a chief financial officer in banking and financial services for eight years before joining Cakebread Cellars full time in 1987.

Over the last 25+ years, Dennis has been active in many industry issues, particularly direct-to-consumer wine shipping. His efforts helped change the direct-to-consumer laws through a Supreme Court victory, which has led to ground-breaking legislation enabling most consumers in the U.S. to order wines directly from their favorite producers. For Dennis, the lengthy but ultimately rewarding process taught him the value of “patience and persistence, and then more of both.”