HEALDSBURG, California (March 31, 2016) – Rodney Strong Wine Estates Proprietor Tom Klein has announced that Senior Vice President Carmen Castaldi has been promoted to President of Rodney Strong Wine Estates, and Tobin Ginter has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer, in addition to his title of Chief Financial Officer.
Carmen Castaldi joined Rodney Strong Wine Estates in 2005. Over the past eleven years he has built and expanded a world class sales and marketing team to grow the successful Estate, Reserve, and Symmetry programs, and he launched the single vineyard Alexander’s Crown, Rockaway, and Brothers Cabernets, Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir & Chardonnay, Knights Valley Cabernet, and Davis Bynum Jane’s Vineyard Pinot Noir and River West Chardonnay.
Castaldi has over 35 years of experience in the wine business. He began his career in wine distribution in Asheville, North Carolina, and in 1986 he joined Beringer Blass Wine Estates as district manager in the Chicago area. After several promotions in the Midwest, Carmen relocated to the Napa-based headquarters in 2001 to become Vice President of North American Sales & Distributor Relations.
A Sonoma County native, Tobin Ginter has 24 years of winery finance experience, starting at Robert Mondavi Winery in 1992, and rising to Vice President/Controller before joining Rodney Strong Wine Estates in 2003 as Chief Financial Officer. He was instrumental in driving the construction the Artisan Cellar in 2005 and Square Tanks Cellar in 2014, both of which allow for smaller lot fermentation, and the acquisition and development of some of the best vineyards in Sonoma County, including Rockaway and Cooley Ranch.
These promotions become effective April 1 st, with Tom Klein continuing in his role as chairman. “April 1st has always held enormous significance for me personally as the date that we acquired Rodney Strong Vineyards in 1989,” states Klein, “now, twenty-seven years later, we have another set of milestones to celebrate. I could not be more excited about the future of Rodney Strong Wine Estates, growing our luxury business, and our continued mission to craft world class wines from the greatest wine growing region in the world – Sonoma County.”
Rodney Strong Wine Estates is a family-owned wine company that includes Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Winery. Rodney Strong grows and produces wines exclusively from four of Sonoma County’s finest appellations – Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley, Chalk Hill and Sonoma Coast. The winery was founded in 1959 by Sonoma County wine pioneer Rodney D. Strong as the 13th bonded winery in the county. Davis Bynum crafts single vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The company aspires to conserve and protect the environment in all its operations through sustainable practices, solar power, and fish friendly farming. The Klein family, a third generation California farming family, entered the wine business with the purchase of Rodney Strong Vineyards in 1989. Learn more at www.RodneyStrong.com and www.DavisBynum.com.
