Gianna Ghilarducci is the brand winemaker for many of Napa Valley’s most prestigious wineries, including Lokoya, Cardinale, Caladan, La Jota Vineyard Co., and Mt. Brave.

Gianna grew up in Sonoma, California, where she was introduced to wine at an early age while sitting on her father’s knee as she helped make wine list selections for their family restaurant. After graduating from Santa Clara University with a degree in Chemistry, she initially pursued a career in research at the IBM Almaden Research Center. She quickly found that polymers were not as alluring as vineyards and redirected her chemistry skills to the wine industry as a chemist for Enologix in Sonoma. An enologist post at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars followed, where she honed her winemaking skills and fell in love with Bordeaux varieties. She next served as an assistant winemaker for St. Francis Winery, where she worked with a wide variety of vineyards and varieties.

In 2018, Gianna joined Jackson Family Wines as assistant winemaker, working alongside Winemaker Chris Carpenter across the Napa Valley wineries he oversees. In 2021, she began work on a new project currently under development in Walla Walla, Washington, collaborating closely with Chris and Vineyard Manager Rafael Jimenez.

When Gianna is not at the winery, she enjoys cooking, wrangling her three daughters, hiking, watercolor painting, and spending time with friends.