Our Team
Our Winemaker
Jeff Fontanella, our winemaker and owner, has been making wine in Napa Valley for 10 years. A graduate of the University of California at Davis he holds a degree in Viticulture and Enology. Jeff began his winemaking career working in the cellars of Opus One and ZD. Soon after, he took a position at one of Napa’s great cult wineries, Saddleback Cellars. At Saddleback Jeff sharpened his winemaking skills under the tutelage of Nils Venge, whom Robert Parker named one of the 20 most influential winemakers in the world. During his tenure at Saddleback, Jeff was able to hone his stylistic approach to winemaking while reinforcing his technical training in the art. While challenged with the task of producing wines from 13 different varietals, Jeff was able to display his versatility as a winemaker, matching different winemaking techniques with specific vineyards in order to achieve the wines full potential.
It is this philosophy that Jeff has set as the foundation of Fontanella Family Winery. Jeff is intimately involved with the viticulture practices used in the vineyards he has selected for our wines. It is from this point that Jeff is able to extract the true potential of each vineyard through the delicate and strategic process of shepherding the grapes from crush to bottle.
Throughout his career, Jeff has crafted wines that have received several 90+ point ratings from Robert Parker, the Wine Spectator, and the Wine Enthusiast. He was featured as one of "The Next Napa Superstars" by Vinography.com at the 2008 Aspen Food and Wine Classic. His wines made a repeat visit at the 2009 Food and Wine Classic, when the Fontanella Family Winery's Cabernet Sauvignon was highlighted.
Karen Kruse Fontanella
Karen Kruse Fontanella, owner and in-house attorney, is a Southern California native who fell in love with a charming young winemaker during her last year of law school at University of San Diego School of Law. Jeff convinced Karen to leave her Dana Point home to move to Napa and pursue her career in law in wine country even before the two were married.
Karen spent over three years working for the law firm Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty in Napa, specializing in the business development of small wineries and eventually worked in local land use, helping Napa wineries with their use permits and vineyard development plans. In 2004, Karen was offered a position as General Counsel for a real estate investment and development company called The Krausz Companies. Specializing in acquisitions, sales and financing of large commercial properties, Karen gained invaluable experience in the commercial end of real estate from one of the most respected companies in the business. It was from these two unique backgrounds that Karen gained the practical knowledge base to help the young couple find a unique property prime for developing a new winery and vineyard.
When the opportunity arose to purchase the Mt. Veeder property and launch into a new business, Karen was equipped with not only the legal background to help with the venture, but also a rich family history of entrepreneurial enterprises. Karen’s family has been in the animal feed business for three generations. Her grandfather, Otto Henry Kruse, founded O.H. Kruse Grain & Milling which eventually grew to be the largest west coast manufacturer’s of animal feed. It was this entrepreneurial spirit that has helped encourage Karen and Jeff to pursue their dreams of having their own family business. Karen now runs the daily business of the winery, including all the sales and marketing of the new brand.
Stacey Pytlewski
Stacey joined our winery family in July of 2009, after spending the last six years working in Napa helping the sales and marketing forces of Saddleback Cellars, Kirkland Ranch and Hunnicutt. Stacey helps Karen with the sales and marketing of our brand and specializes in taking utmost care of our Fontanella Family Wine Club members. After graduating from Colorado State University at Fort Collins, Stacey’s love for wine pulled her to Napa, not far from her hometown of Walnut Creek. While we like to say that wine was her first passion, her first true love is for horses and when not at the winery you can find her enjoying long rides with her beautiful horse down in Carneros.
Gerardo Rodriquez
Gerardo, our Cellarmaster, joined Fontanella in July of 2008 as our first official employee. After graduating from Napa High School, Gerardo spent several years at Honig learning the cellar backward and forward and further honed his skill in the cellar at Round Pond. Not only does Gerardo have over 13 years of experience in the cellar, he is also continually striving to learn more and with his positive attitude we know that he has great things ahead! Gerardo has a wife, Elizabeth, and two darling little boys, Diego and Max.
News on releases, events & awards.
