Winemakers

The staff at Montinore Estate is more like family. A talented team of vineyardists and winemakers work side by side to craft wines that are a reflection of place. They believe that wine is connected to food and family and celebrate wine as part of a lifestyle. 

Rudy Marchesi

Grapegrowing and winemaking runs deep in the Marchesi family. When Carlo and Rosa Marchesi arrived in New York City from their tiny village in northern Italy, they planted grapevines in their back yard, fruit trees in the front and crammed their tiny cellar with neat rows of barrels, bottles and preserves. Fifty years later, their grandson Rudy broke ground on his first commercial vineyard some 100 miles from the Bronx, but not all that far from Carlo and Rosa’s vision of the good life. Rudy raised his two daughters and his little winery through the 1980’s and 90’s, with everyone working together to bring in the harvest, pile up hoses and tote boxes of wine for nice tourists from New York (after homework was done, of course).

He discovered Montinore in 1992 when visiting to his oldest daughter at Reed College in Portland. At the time, Rudy’s enthusiasm about the winery’s potential led him to introduce Montinore wines on the east coast through Allied Beverage, where he led the distribution house’s Fine Wine Division. In 1998, he began consulting on Montinore’s vineyard management, winemaking and marketing as he brokered the wines on the east coast. Rudy’s role at Montinore ultimately evolved into a permanent position as Vice President of Operations in 2001 and President in 2003. In late 2005 Rudy became proprietor of Montinore, working closely with the winemaking team and overseeing operations at the winery. He spends many of his mornings walking the vineyards and working with Vineyard Manager Efren Rosales to keep our 230 acres of certified Biodynamic grapes well maintained and healthy. His afternoons are spent in the cellar tasting through the lastest vintage or working on marketing and sales plans with his youngest daughter, General Manager, Kristin Marchesi. And when he’s not traveling the country sharing the Montinore story, attending a board of meeting of Oregon Pinot Camp or making his own Biodynamic preperations, he satiates his ever growing curiosities growing his own veggies, taking care of his one-acre home vineyard, curing meats, making cheeses and amusing himself playing Jazz piano and guitar – all the while raising two teenagers with his wife Susan.

Stephen Webber, White Winemaker

Stephen has been an integral part of Montinore’s winemaking team since he joined us in 2006. Stephen spent three years as Assistant Winemaker before taking the promotion of Winemaker in 2009, alongside Ben Thomas. Stephen now focuses on our white wine program with his diligent and artful work, as well as working closely with Ben on the Pinots and our “pet projects.” Stephen came from DiStefano winery in Seattle, and had previously spent extensive time working and travelling in Australia, where he gathered much of his larger-scale winemaking experience. A vintage in Alsace, France, sealed Stephen’s love of cool climate white varietals, and this sits well with our Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Müller-Thurgau and Riesling. As our resident Brit, affectionately known as “Lord Webber,” without him we would not be nearly as civilized as we are. When not making wine, he enjoys beer, English fish ‘n chips, the wonderful Oregon coast, and many sports, especially football (the proper version), rugby and cricket.

Ben Thomas, Red Winemaker

Ben came to Montinore in the summer 2008 and became winemaker alongside Stephen Webber the following spring. He focuses on the red wines, which at Montinore means Pinot Noir. He seeks to highlight the myriad flavors our twelve estate pinot blocks give us. Constantly reinventing the wheel, he uses a 50/50 blend of ingenuity and tradition to make the winery’s pinots come to life. A red wine fan since childhood, he got into winemaking under the influence of his mother, a winemaker in Washington state. A true child of the Northwest, he grew up in the woods and on a commercial fishing boat. Before settling into a career in winemaking, he tried his hand at crab fishing, bartending, journalism, cooking, forestry work, carpentry and manuscript editing, not to mention his many journeys across the western states with a traveling circus. He’s found a home at Montinore, but if he wasn’t making wine, he’d like to be making tequila in Mexico or editing at Harper’s Magazine or sailing the high seas.

Kevin Green, Cellar Master

Kevin joined Montinore in one of the world’s oldest professions, crafting wines, after a previous career in one of the world’s newest professions, using some of the most advanced manufacturing technology.  Originally from the arid Rocky Mountain west, Kevin moved to Oregon in 1997 after graduating from the University of Colorado to pursue a career in Chemical Engineering.  After several years living in Ireland, Kevin returned to Oregon with his future bride, Clodagh.  He set about changing his career, returning to school to study winemaking and viticulture at Chemeketa Community College in Salem while working for several Oregon wineries, including Chehalem, Raptor Ridge, and Shea Wine Cellars.  Kevin also practiced winemaking while crafting ribbon-winning wines at home for family and friends alongside his growing car collection while working as a Consulting Engineer.  After completing his degrees at Chemeketa and several vintages in Oregon, Kevin left Oregon for a year to experience Pinot Noir and aromatic whites in other parts of the world, first in the Central Otago, New Zealand, working for Rockburn.  In the autumn of 2010, Kevin was able to realize a long-held dream of working in Burgundy, France, as a Stagiere at Domaine LeJeune, in Pommard.  With a strong connection to the land originating from a Century Farm in Iowa begun by his great-grandparents, Kevin is thrilled to be working with Biodynamics and the team at Montinore.