Ben O'Daniel joined Lover's Leap in the winter of 2001. He has helped develop not just the wines and the vineyard but the package design and marketing. In the first full year with the winery, Ben has begun to form the relationship between the winery regimes and the character of the fruit the winery harvested. His philosophy is simple, "Let the soils speak, and I will try to stay out of the way. Wines are made in the vineyard."

     From 1999 to 2002, Ben was the winemaker for Sumner Crest Winery in Tennessee; leaving that position to form South East Vintners, a winery consulting firm based in Lexington. He did however get his start in Kentucky. His family owned and operated Springhill Vineyards where he was Vineyard Manager and Winemaker for six years. "I don't have a degree from UC Davis, in fact I'm a trained archeologist. A winemaker needs a solid foundation in science but it is as much about experience and intuition as it is about plating cultures and 'parts per million'. Wine, at the root of it, is about emotion, passion. Wine is about life, and the enjoyment of it."