Elie Skofis was a chemist and winemaker, as well as the vice president of production at Guild Wineries and Distilleries. Born in 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, he moved to California with his family in 1926 and earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1943. Following his service in World War II, he entered the wine industry as a chemist for Italian Swiss Colony and later in 1971 joined Guild Wineries as a production manager, where he worked until his retirement in 1987. He was also active in numerous organizations in the industry, including the Wine Institute Technical Advisory Committee and the American Society of Enology and Viticulture. In this interview, Skofis discusses his youth and education, E. M. Brown and Enrico Prati of Italian Swiss Colony, the cooperative system at Guild, and technical advancement in the wine industry. This interview is part of a group of interviews documenting the California wine industry.