Lisa Valtenbergs

Sonoma County native Lisa Valtenbergs has always had a sensitive nose – an attribute that inspired a family friend to declare she should make perfume or wine. It proved to be shrewd advice. Not surprisingly, her uncanny ability to detect and identify myriad aromas has been a tremendous asset as a winemaker.

Lisa was inspired at an early age by Sonoma’s agricultural traditions, prompting her to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Business with a minor in Viticulture from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Adding to her skillset, Lisa spent a semester abroad studying international wine marketing at the University of Adelaide in South Australia and earned a Winemaker’s Certificate from UC Davis.

After stints at several wineries in California, Lisa re-joined Jackson Family Wines as a production enologist for Kendall-Jackson in 2004, and in 2006, she was promoted to assistant winemaker. In 2008, she became assistant winemaker for Stonestreet Estate Vineyards, eventually being named winemaker in 2014, where she spent six vintages making widely-acclaimed high elevation Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Following a year-long global travel sabbatical with a vintage in South Australia’s McLaren Vale, Lisa joined the La Crema winemaking team in July 2022. In 2024, her two decades of vineyard, winemaking, and blending skills were instrumental to La Crema’s addition of a Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon to their line of superlative Burgundian-varieties and category-leading Sauvignon Blanc.