Our Team
Thomas Messier
Originally from Connecticut, Tom came to Arizona with a company move. He worked in IT for many years and has a Master's Degree in Computer Science. But now Tom and his wife Teresa are immersed in the wine world. He started his wine trek making wine at home with everything from Apricots to Tomatoes. Along the way he wanted to know more details on how it worked so he attended Yavapai College and received a degree in Enology and Viticulture. He worked at the College processing the fruit with the students and pouring wine in the Southwest Wine Center. He also was the winemaker for a time at an Urban Winery in Scottsdale. He then spent many years further learning the trade, working at a custom crush facility in Elgin with James Callahan.
Now Teresa and Tom have embarked on creating delicious wines for our customers to enjoy at the future Omphalos Winery in Willcox. Please come and try some!
Teresa Messier
Teresa was a military brat and knew as a young teenager she was also going to join the Air Force. Teresa was able to devote 22 years to the military and thoroughly enjoyed her time in the Air Force as well. When she got close to retirement, she had to start thinking about what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. That wasn’t something Teresa had ever given much prior thought. She took an assessment test to help narrow job decisions. She can't remember all the recommended career choices but after a little research she ultimately chose to get a degree in Speech Language and Hearing Sciences from the University of Arizona. She received the degree and now has a license as a Speech Assistant (SLPA). Now you may ask where and when did the wine making come in? Tom and Teresa started to make homemade red wine, they had a lot of fun and enjoyed the wine they made, but they both wanted to know more about wine making. Teresa and Tom decided to adventure into white wines. Teresa was a little apprehensive, white wines might more easily show flaws they may make, but that was good too! They then took the leap into fruit wines. Our first fruit wine was pear, that was not her favorite. There were 2 orange trees in their yard and the fruit was almost ripe, so when the oranges were ready to pick they made Spiced Orange wine. That has always been one of Teresa's favorite fruit wines. Tom still wanted more. He did some research to find where he could learn more about wine making. That is when he found Yavapai college.
“Now I know what I will be doing the rest of my life — making wine at Omphalos Winery.”