Meet the family
We’re small, but mighty
The Ricci family’s close-knit relationship fosters a strong sense of passion, dedication, and shared vision, which translates into a deep commitment to producing exceptional wines. Our collective expertise and intimate knowledge of each step in the grape growing and winemaking process maintains meticulous attention to detail, ensuring the highest quality standards are upheld. We love engaging directly with you, sharing stories, and building connections that go beyond the bottle. So come on over and join our wine family!
Dale Ricci
Owner/Founder
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Dale is the patriarch of the Ricci Vineyards enterprise. We call him “El Jefe”. His family lineage in Sonoma dates back to the early 1900s when his grandparents, both immigrants from Italy, met in a local vineyard. Dale comes from a long line of ranchers, dairymen and farmers — but ultimately he was the first in his family to truly jump into the realm of growing wine grapes.
Even though farming has always been in his blood, Dale’s first professional aspirations ventured into the world of black & white film photography. He first studied photography at the acclaimed, but now defunct, Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA before eventually obtaining his M.A. of Fine Art at California State University, San Francisco. Wanting to be an educator himself, he started a full-time teaching career at the Santa Rosa Junior College as a photography professor. While teaching was his daytime job, in the evenings and as a hobby Dale dabbled in the world of viticulture.
Before too long, these two passions of teaching photography and growing wine grapes wound up trading places with each other in terms of career commitments. Dale had become a fully fledged farmer. Armed with his keen sense of artistry and a devoted passion to having his hands towards the earth, he possessed the necessary attributes to develop Ricci Vineyards into the world-class vineyard operation that it has become today within the heart of Carneros.
Tyler Kohfeld
Director of Wine Brand Ops
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Despite growing up in Sonoma in a grape-growing family, and his first job was working out in the vineyards, Tyler never foresaw himself having a career in the wine industry. Instead, he aspired to be an advertising executive à la Don Draper in Mad Men (before the show was even a thing). He received his B.S. from CSU Chico in Business with a double major in Marketing and Entrepreneurship and worked in several non-wine related positions after graduating. Several years passed, and feeling a pull to do something different, Tyler had a fateful call with an old friend that brought him back to wine country. Tyler’s friend from high school, who had been working in the wine industry already, suggested that Tyler would be the ideal candidate for a role that was available at their winery…
Fast forward to 10+ years later and Tyler has made wine an everyday part of his life. Through invaluable knowledge and experience gained at esteemed Napa wineries such as Miner Family Winery and Turnbull Wine Cellars, things have come full circle. Launching his family’s wine brand, Ricci Vineyards Carneros, in 2018 and running the operations for 5 years in addition to his everyday job, the rapid growth and demands of the brand necessitated a change. In 2023 Tyler took the plunge to work for his family on a full-time basis. It is his intention to usher the business into a new era of prosperity, sustainability and market awareness — while still retaining the charm and personality of a small, family-based wine brand. Oh, and although he never became Don Draper, he is perfectly happy and content with the outcome.
Gianna Ricci
Director of Vineyard Operations
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Gianna is a 4th generation Sonoma native with farming in her blood. In fact, it would be easy to surmise that she has been groomed to be a grape-grower from a very early age. She is, after all, part of the Ricci clan. Ultimately, Gianna elected to enroll at Oklahoma State University to further her education and refine her understanding of agriculture. She received her B.S. in Agribusiness & Agricultural Business Operations while also continuing on to earn her M.S. in Agricultural Economics.
Despite going to school in Oklahoma, Gianna’s intention from the outset was to come back home to Sonoma and help run the vineyard. Since 2020 she has been integral to the modernization of the family’s business reporting, compliance and infrastructure in addition to pursuing the latest advancements in sustainable farming practices.
Forever a seeker of knowledge, Gianna holds a Level II WSET wine certification but prides herself on being multidimensional by learning as much as she can beyond the world of wine as well. Her interests include hiking, the outdoors, knitting, raising her chickens, hanging with her crazy dog (featured on the label of our Pommard Pinot Noir) and rambunctious cat, and traveling. This jill-of-all-trades is truly a renaissance woman.
Jim Nicolette
Director of Hospitality
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Food and wine were part of Jim’s upbringing as his parents had a restaurant and he started working there at age 10. In addition, all his grandparents were Italian and he cannot remember a dinner without wine on the table.
In 1988 he and his wife Carol moved to Napa and in 1991 Jim found himself working in a winery tasting room on Saturdays. Over the next decade he worked for Mondavi, then Kendall Jackson and back to where he began at Beaulieu Vineyards, also commonly known as BV. At each winery he had more responsibility and, of course, more education. BV was part of Diageo Chateau and Estates and Jim became the National Education Manager. The company had 14 wineries in their portfolio throughout California and Washington. Jim was responsible for making sure all the wine representatives knew each wine. He also helped write programs for consumers and traveled throughout the US presenting wine education and food and wine pairing classes.
After a decade with Diageo Jim accepted a position with Opus One. In 2012 he became the Guest Relations Manager at Opus and helped to put together a professional team through wine education and customer service. After more or less retiring in 2020, Jim agreed to join the Ricci team in 2021 to assist the burgeoning brand from the ground up. His vast knowledge about wine, and the industry at large, is an invaluable asset.
Jim’s formal education includes W.S.E.T Level III certification (Wine and Spirits Education Trust) and he has taken wine classes focused on Bordeaux, as well as Napa, and gone through the entry level of Sommelier. Traversing the world, Jim has traveled through many of the European wine regions including Burgundy, Tuscany, Champagne, and Alsace.
Andrew Rankin
Winemaker
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Andrew originally hails from Huntington Beach CA but he has been centered around the wine industry and it has been a part of his life since he was born. Andrew’s dad was in the wholesale/distribution side of the industry for 44 years and that’s what ultimately led Andrew and his family to venture north and set roots in Napa in 1997.
Considering that Andrew already had exposure to the world of wine, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and pursue a career in wine as well. In full transparency, the main reasons Andrew ventured down the path of wine were the revelations he experienced through several outstanding, permanently “borrowed” bottles of wine from his dad’s wine fridge and a response he received to a simple question. He once asked his dad, “Do you enjoy going to work everyday?” and his father’s response was “No. I love it.” From that point onward, Andrew was all-in for setting forth in the wine industry.
His journey from Chico State to Napa Valley College and then UC Davis has been a key part of his path in wine, but not the most important. That belongs to his incredible family and the truly amazing people he has met along the way — those who have offered opportunities, advice, teachings and guidance through the ever-complex arena that is the wine industry. He credits them for the position he is in today. In terms of working for Ricci Vineyards as the head winemaker, it’s an honor he doesn’t take for granted.
Mike Jones
Hospitality & Experience Lead
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Mike is a native of Austin, Texas, who comes to Ricci Vineyards by way of a 35-year career in medicine and a Sommelier certification. After electing to hang up his doctor’s coat and closing his private ENT practice in Louisiana, he relocated to Santa Monica, CA to be closer to his three lovely daughters.
While in southern California he complimented his love of Sonoma County wines with an introductory sommelier certification from The Court of Master Sommeliers. Mike dove deeper towards his post-professional dream and ultimately moved to the city of Sonoma — and the COVID pandemic followed closely behind. However, as fate would have it, he met Tyler of Ricci Vineyards through some local post-pandemic wine meetups and they quickly hit it off. Upon offering some keen observations on the beautiful lineup of Ricci wines, hand shakes were made, and Mike was fully indoctrinated and welcomed into the Ricci fold.
Known for an astute palette, Mike can easily identify what potential food dishes would best be served with each one of the Ricci offerings. When you visit the vineyard and run into Mike, chances are he’ll be sipping on either our Three Lions Pinot Noir or our Dry Muscat. Those typically are his go-to favorites.
Dayna Ricci
Shipping & Inventory Manager
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While Dale is the patriarch of Ricci Vineyards, Dayna is his better half. She hails from the not-so-distant land of Mill Valley, CA and spent her youth gallivanting through the redwood forests and beaches of Marin County — not to mention, the counter culture-fueled streets of San Francisco.
When it came time for college, Dayna headed north and attended Sonoma State university. Upon graduation, her first job out of college was working as the bottling line manager of the famed Sebastiani Winery in Sonoma…but this job was never intended to be a permanent gig. Instead she pursued a professional career as a Clinical Scientist working in the laboratories of St. Luke’s hospital in San Francisco, and then later, Sutter Health of Novato, CA. After a long career working in the medical field, Dayna opted to step away and retire in 2023.
However, with the burgeoning wine brand at Ricci demanding more resources, the period of sitting idly in retirement did not last long. Armed with a razor-sharp attention to detail, Dayna has become the sole person responsible for packing and fulfilling each order that gets processed — not just the shipping orders, but the pickup orders as well. You have her to thank for your wine being packed safely, securely and ending up in your wine fridge at home. On top of packing all wine shipments, Dayna is charged with maintaining accurate inventory levels of our wine on a monthly basis.
When not packing wine, you can find Dayna hanging out with her crotchety Chihuahua-mix, Dallas, travelling the world, painting in watercolors or walking Willie the Wine Dog through our vineyard.
Willie
The Wine Dog
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Willie came to our vineyard in May 2022 as a 10-week-old puppy. Although he has had some great fur-mentors to help him along, he is now the sole fulltime resident wine dog at Ricci Vineyards. Never one to hide his exuberance for life, most days you can find Willie taking a dip in the pond, chasing birds that are uncatchable, biting at water coming out of a garden hose, walking with Dayna or riding shotgun with Dale.
A lover of all animals and people — if you are visiting Ricci Vineyards don’t be shocked if you get a 90-pound, soaking wet Belgian Malinois/German Shepard leaping into your lap wanting to give you kisses. You’ve been warned.
