Gretchen Pen

Gretchen Pen

SF and North Sales

G retchen is a thoroughly West Coast girl who grew up in Bellingham, WA and attended the University of San Diego on swimming scholarships.

After earning degrees in Political Science and Environmental Studies, she canvassed for US PIRG and performed so well that the company promoted her and sent her to San Francisco.

There she became an avid Giants fan, and there she got into sales at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, where she was introduced to the V59 book. She interned under winemaker Ed Kurtzman at the August West Winery. In 2013, she started with V59.

Gretchen currently lives in the “homeless Riviera” a.k.a. the Tenderloin district of San Francisco with her partner, Peter, their daughter, Ingrid, and their dog, Hank. “I love my family, my city, and my job,” Gretchen says.

In another life, however, she would be teaching a class on Political Conspiracy Theories at the local university, and spending her summers lost south of the border.