(August 5, 2020; Yountville, Calif.)—Cliff Lede, founder of Lede Family Wines, is pleased to announce that California wine industry veteran Tony Baldini will join the company as President and Chief Operating Officer. Lede Family Wines encompasses three distinct wine brands: Cliff Lede Vineyards with its flagship wine Poetry, located in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley, and FEL Wines, based in Anderson Valley, with its estate wines from the Savoy Vineyard highlighting the portfolio. Lede Family Wines also operates Poetry Inn, a five-room small luxury hotel perched above their Poetry Vineyard.
Tony comes to Lede Family Wines after nearly a decade at Hahn Family Wines, where he served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. He began his career at Hahn as General Manager in 2011. In time, Tony rose to President, and ultimately President and CEO where he oversaw sales, marketing, and winemaking activities across all brands within the Hahn portfolio. During his tenure at Hahn, Tony drove the repositioning of the company into one of the Central Coast’s top estate producers with sourcing stretching from the cool Santa Lucia Highlands to Paso Robles.
Prior to Hahn, Tony served as a brand manager for luxury wine brands in the Constellation Wines portfolio such as Franciscan Estate and Mount Veeder Winery. Before Constellation, Tony held marketing roles at Don Sebastiani & Sons and Jackson Family Wines.
As a Napa Valley native, wine runs in the family for Tony. His father was a longtime vineyard manager who planted some of Trefethen’s original vineyards. “I am thrilled to return to the Napa Valley and to join one of the Valley’s top family- owned producers of luxury Bordeaux and Burgundian varieties,” says Baldini. “Cliff Lede and his team have brought a tremendous amount of attention and vitality to the Stags Leap District and the Anderson Valley, and I am excited by the opportunity to grow and work alongside this visionary group of wine industry professionals.”
We are fortunate to have someone of Tony’s caliber join the team,” says Cliff Lede. “We look forward to collaborating with him and drawing upon his wealth of knowledge and experience as we write the next chapter at Lede Family Wines.”
Baldini holds a B.A. in economics from the University of California at Davis and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley, Haas School of Business. He lives in Napa with his wife Caroline and their two children.
About Lede Family Wines
Lede Family Wines was established in 2002 when Canadian-born Cliff Lede acquired 60 acres in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley, creating Cliff Lede Vineyards. In 2005, Lede opened the adjacent Poetry Inn, the only accommodations in the Stags Leap District. After acquiring the famed Savoy Vineyard in Anderson Valley in 2011 and creating FEL Wines, the company evolved to become Lede Family Wines, integrating Lede’s luxury wine and hospitality businesses.
