Patti Fetzer
Proprietor
As one of eleven children in the pioneering Fetzer family of Mendocino County, Patti Fetzer recalls, “We all wore a lot of hats. Our family did everything, with very little outside help. When building our winery on the Home Ranch in Redwood Valley, my brothers pounded the nails while my sisters and I followed behind with paint buckets and brushes.” Patti spent her childhood on the family’s Home Ranch, a 720-acre Redwood Valley property purchased by her parents, Barney and Kathleen Fetzer, in 1958.
Patti acknowledges her entire family for influencing her life. The fifth born child of Kathleen and Barney, she grew up in a self-sufficient household that valued hands-on, hard work. Read More>>
Phone: (707) 744-8706
Gregg Hileman
Proprietor/General Manager
Gregg Hileman developed a passion for good food and wine as a young man. His family was in the wine industry, suppliers of packaging and winemaking equipment. Wine always graced the family dinner table. His interests inspired Gregg’s career—as a chef, a wine salesman and a winegrower. Gregg is Patti Fetzer’s husband.
A professional chef and culinary instructor, Gregg worked at the Fetzer family’s renowned Valley Oaks facility, an educational center promoting organic farming and food and wine pairing in the 1980s. During the 1990s, he worked in wholesale wine sales, and for years he managed sales teams from the West Coast to the Southeast. Read More>>
E-mail: Gregg@Patianna.com
Phone: (707) 548-7353
Charlie Tolbert
Winemaker
Charlie Tolbert’s career began in the vineyards of Sonoma Valley in the 1970s. Pruning, cultivating, irrigating and hoeing for a year, he developed an abiding respect for the rigorous dedication required to grow top tier quality grapes.
He followed the grapes into the winery, beginning as a “cellar rat” and graduating to cellar master, assistant winemaker and winemaker. Charlie became the hands-on hero behind numerous successful brands,
including Chateau St Jean Winery, Haywood Winery, Arrowood Vineyards and Winery and Amapola Creek Vineyards and Winery in Sonoma Valley. He served as Director of Cellar Operations for Fetzer Vineyards where he developed an appreciation for Mendocino County grapes.
“The biggest evolution in the wine business is the focus on the vineyard source as the primary driver of quality,” says Charlie.“At Patianna, for example, there is a purity of fruit and varietal character, leading to wines with clean, deep flavors and solid structure.” Read More>>
E-mail: Charlie@Patianna.com
Phone: (707) 799-2801
Horacio Ortega
Vineyard Foreman
Horacio Ortega has worked the land at Patianna Organic Vineyard for twenty-three years, most of his adult life. He began working for the Fetzer family and continued as vineyard foreman when Patti Fetzer acquired the 126-acre ranch in 1998. “Horacio is intimate with every subtle nuance of our vineyard; he is a ‘natural’ when it comes to farming,” says Patti.
A native of Michoacán, Mexico, Horacio developed an appreciation of nature and a feel for farming as a young boy. He worked along side his father on the family farm in Cerro Colorado, cultivating guava, mango, watermelon, bananas, cucumbers and tomatoes. Horacio immigrated to the United States in 1984 and became a United States citizen in 2000.
Horacio lives on the Patianna ranch with his wife and three children. When not pruning, cultivating and tending to Patianna’s vines, Horacio keeps horses and raises Patianna’s chickens, goats and sheep. He enjoys maintaining his own vegetable gardens, always with his father’s farm in mind.
Phone: (707) 540-3819
