Meet the Team

Owner, Vigneron

Originally from Montréal, Québec, Côme originally made his way to California in 2001 as a technology entrepreneur. His earliest ventures started in Africa where he pioneered mobile telecom services, to Silicon Valley in the smartphone, venture capital and intellectual property spaces. He grew up with a large extended family: 10 generations in agriculture going back to 1690. His grandfather farmed an apple orchard that eventually became Quebec’s pioneering ice wine vineyard, l’Orpailleur. A passion for wines brought him to explore the special Amador County region and eventually secure his own vineyard in the premiere California Shenandoah Valley AVA. Making the very first barrel of Primitivo under the watchful eye of an expert winemaker sparked a new passion to make great wines. Nearly a decade later he has expanded La Mesa’s vineyards by planting new varietals, embraced the art and science of viticulture and artisan winemaking and the business of growing La Mesa for all to enjoy.

Winemaker

Antonia is La Mesa’s consulting winemaker and has spent the last two decades working in top wineries around the world – Chateau Montelena, Kim Crawford, Hogue, Ravenswood and Banshee. She completed her WSET Level 2 in New York and her Certificate in Winemaking from UC Davis. Her appreciation for wine began in Spain and evolved during wine immersion courses at the New York French Culinary Institute. At Ravenswood as winemaker, Antonia was responsible for cellar and day-to-day operations, sourcing and blending for all wines. It was through Ravenswood that Antonia discovered the high-quality vineyards and fruit Amador County has to offer. Her sense that Amador wine country is on the brink of something exciting, led her to take the plunge and relocate to the area to build her winemaking consulting business and enjoy the great outdoors of the Sierras.