Meet the Team
Sean Best
Founder
Alisa Jacobson
Founder | Winemaker
about sean best
Sean was raised in Moorpark, California and was the kid always with his sketch book in hand watching his uncle who was an oil painter, with his process-driven technical art, and parents who were music teachers. His dad also managed restaurants so Sean grew up running around industrial kitchens, doing homework and taking naps in the corner booths. Always painting after school or work, his artwork was discovered by a professional artist who encouraged Sean to apply to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He was accepted and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. After a short stint at Bergamont Station Art Gallery, Santa Monica, and subsequent shows at local galleries Sean was offered a full time job at Bergamont Station. A cycling injury set him back from his gallery dreams, but Sean who remembered his exposure in fine dining as a kid decided to try out his hand at the restaurant industry. He ended up working in fine dining for 14 years, starting as a runner and working his way to manager.
Being exposed to wine in the fine dining restaurant world, Sean developed a taste for red wines and a thirst for more wine knowledge.
Sean left Los Angeles, moved to Santa Barbara and found a sales position at Epic wines and spirits selling mostly local, handcrafted wines. After Epic sold in 2021, he started his own brokerage called SB Wine Brokers, and successfully created a nice territory stretching from West Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. Missing the art world, Sean still spent his free time drawing cartoons and abstract art with his children. Sean was building SB Wine Brokers when he met AJ and her Turning Tide Wines. They immediately realized they had the same vision for future collaborations and she helped him use wine labels as a way to showcase his art and love for wine. He launched his first wine called “Revealed by Sean Best” in Spring of 2022 showcasing one of his abstract paintings he did just after art school.
about
alisa jacobson
Today, Jacobson produces several wines under her Turning Tide label including wines that are certified made with organic grapes. In 2021, she introduced “AJ” and “Rare North,” two high-quality, value-driven wine brands. The “AJ” portfolio allows Jacobson to lean on her California roots, while the Rare North label showcases her talents in the Willamette Valley using grapes from the Halona Woods Vineyard, a Vineyard she manages in the Mount Pisgah-Polk County AVA.
AJ currently resides in San Luis Obispo County, owns two vineyards in the Santa Ynez AVA, and is growing her wine consulting business. She sits on the board of the Oregon Wine Council and served as the co-chair of the Unified Grape and Wine Symposium Program Development committee for the 2023 and 2024 conventions. Jacobson also sits on the Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the Winegrape Smoke Exposure SCRI Grant, and is the chair of the research committee on the West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force.
Alisa Jacobson “AJ” founded Turning Tide with the goal of showcasing the true essence of the grapes she harvests, respecting the elements each vineyard site provides, and helping turn the tide toward more sustainable practices in vineyard farming around the globe.
A UC Davis graduate with a viticulture and enology degree, AJ has produced everything from California sparkling wine to Australian Shiraz. In 2003, after a short stint at Joseph Phelps Vineyards, she joined Joel Gott Wines. She rose to Vice President of Winemaking, managing all winery and vineyard operations in California, Oregon, and Washington and for projects in Argentina, Chile, Italy, France, and New Zealand until 2021.