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Fueled By Our Shared Love
It’s tireless, sometimes cold, often sticky, definitely painstaking, but at the end of the day, it’s 100% worth it. We’re lucky to have a tight knit, fun-loving diverse crew that’s as hardworking as they come, and committed to making great wine.
Mailynh Phan
Originally from Long Island, Mailynh (pronounced ‘my-LIN’) attended Vassar College, where she promptly dropped her Long Island accent and ventured into academia. After graduating with a degree in Psychology and while her fellow cohorts jumped into graduate programs, Mailynh set off for New Zealand, where she mastered the art of shaving meat at her job behind a deli counter.
In 2010, while deciding whether an expat life was the life for her, Mailynh was offered a unique opportunity to operate RD Winery in Napa.
Though the first few years were met with homesickness and the yearning for a real bagel, eventually she began to fall in love with the wine industry. Learning on the job has been one of the many pleasures and challenges Mailynh has enjoyed. It has given her a unique perspective as a leader. She has built a diverse and talented team and created a culture where everyone has their say and no job is too small.
When the winery was founded, the vision was to solely export wine to Vietnam, but Mailynh had other ideas. As an outlier in the industry, she saw an opportunity to do something different. Mailynh envisioned a place where anyone curious about Napa wine would feel welcome and be able to afford the experience and the wines. After years of planning, she spearheaded the winery’s entry into the U.S. market and opened a beautiful, new Vietnamese-inspired tasting room in the summer of 2020.
In 2020, Mailynh also found the time to graduate from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business with an MBA. Looking to the future, she has her sights on growing the winery’s exposure and bringing more of the community together through events and experiences.
When not in the winery, Mailynh can be found with her guard dog Baxter (a chihuahua mix that has dreams of being a great dane), dabbling in the kitchen, on the volleyball court or tending to her numerous indoor plants.
Timothy Milos
Tim jokes that he’s “dropped out of some of the best schools in the country.” A master craftsman if there ever was one, he is known for supreme attention to detail, organizational strategy, ingenuity, and problem-solving fermentation management. Dedicated to producing terroir-driven wines for over 20 years, Tim uses traditional winemaking techniques and a minimalist approach to reveal the distinction of each unique wine.
A sixth-generation Bay Area native, Tim grew up exploring the hills of rural west Marin, building houses in the summer, reading countless books and cooking. In addition to his interests in philosophy, history and politics, he studied Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Sonoma State, and was involved in plant genome mapping at the USDA. While working towards a PhD in molecular plant pathology at Cornell University, he realized he would never be content being in a lab all day, and in 1997, headed back to his native California to study Enology and Viticulture at UC Davis.
“Wine sits at the nexus of so many fields of study: history, culture, biology and biochemistry to name just a few. The fruit itself is the product of a complex interaction of the vine with its environment, influenced by the hand of the grower and the vagaries of the vintage. Every fermentation,” he says, “is a living system. It has its own ecology, and it evolves over time. Wine is as complex a matrix as you could imagine, and in the end its enjoyment is a social event predicated on history and culture.” While at UC Davis, Tim interned at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, was the research enologist at Opus One, and left Davis to be named winemaker for S. Anderson and then Cliff Lede. In 2004 he began consulting for wineries in Napa Valley and Sonoma County.
Dedicated to producing terroir driven wines, he uses traditional winemaking techniques and a minimalist approach in order to reveal the distinction of each unique site. Though a very modest and jovial individual, he takes his craft extremely seriously, and with over 20 years of winemaking experience, Tim has received fabulous scores from every media outlet, scoring 90+ on well over 160 wines, placing in the Top 100 Wines of the Year several times, and 100 points for some of his hillside mountain Cabernets. We are extremely fortunate to have such a talented person at the helm of this project, as his expertise, experience and overall commitment to excellence are the foundational pillars that continue to drive this program into the future.
Following graduation from Purdue University, Rachael set out globetrotting to just about every corner of the Earth—from Switzerland to Thailand, eventually landing in New Zealand.
It was in New Zealand that Rachael caught the wine bug. She crossed the Pacific Ocean several times over the next few vintages, working in Australia and Napa. After working as a harvest enologist at Inglenook in Napa, Rachael was offered a role as a lab tech. It was then that she decided to settle in California. Rachael has worked in the cellar at Roche Winery in Sonoma and Ca’ Momi Winery in Napa. She holds a WSET Level 3 Certification in wine, as well as the Wine Business Management Certification from Sonoma State University, where she is currently pursuing her MBA. Beyond wine, Rachael loves hiking, camping, spin, and teaching yoga.
Originally from Michoacán, Mexico, Roberto immigrated to Oakland, California at the age of 10, where he learned the finer points of diplomacy. His vibrant personality is always on display with his fashion choices and sunglasses collection.
Roberto started his adventure in the wine industry as a Team Leader at Rosenbloom in Alameda and moved on to various jobs including a stint at Tesla before returning to his true calling of wine work at RD Winery. When asked why the cellar brings him joy, Roberto says, “I like working with my hands and seeing the effort pay off in the bottle.” The consummate team player, he manages the RD Winery crew like a family. A family-man, lover of the outdoors, and a self-proclaimed master of the BBQ, Roberto can be found spending time with his four children, his extended family and friends. Besides grilling steaks and drinking Cabernet, Roberto enjoys dancing Salsa, going on road trips, or watching UFC.
Arturo lends a unique perspective and critical eye to winery operations. Originally from Michoacán, he started working in the wine industry in 2010 and joined the RD Winery team in 2019.
Arturo enjoys learning about wine, how it’s crafted, and is extremely detail oriented. Arturo’s sweet tooth is why the winery is always stocked with candy and pastries. A budding photographer, his photos often grace the winery’s Instagram page. In his free time, Arturo likes to garden, drink Cabernet, and travel.
As a 3rd generation Napa native, Kandace has a great passion for food and wine. Her positive energy and kind spirit contribute to her enthusiasm for hosting guests.
Ed was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago. In 2000, he pulled up stakes and moved to California. Ed belongs to The Court of Master Sommeliers and the Wine and Spirit Education Trust.
When he’s off duty from pouring delicious wine, Ed enjoys digging deep into history and is a decent ukulele player.
Adriana is a nature lover with a passion for hospitality and education. She lives on an urban farm where she produces livestock and dairy on a small scale.
Sustainable living is a goal on her farm, and something Adriana enjoys teaching to young kids at schools throughout the Bay Area. After years working in various aspects of the restaurant industry, Adriana is thrilled for the chance to connect with visitors on a more meaningful level. When she’s not working, Adriana seeks out the natural wonders of Northern California.
Ravel’s passion for all things wine began over 20 years ago when she joined an amateur winemaking group. She had a chance to learn everything from growing and harvesting the grapes to the winemaking process itself.
Ravel says the most satisfying thing about getting involved was the chance to make the very best wines possible from her 10-acre vineyard in the Dundee Hills of Oregon.
Ravel has a Level 2 certification from WSET. After a decades-long career as a paralegal, she now happily spends her time sharing wine knowledge and pouring fabulous wines to all who wish to be a part of our wine community. When she’s not at her dream job, you will find Ravel hiking the glorious hills in Northern California or spending time in Southern California with her daughter, son-in-law, and two beautiful grandchildren.
Ian became interested in the wine industry during college, after a visit to a winery in the Anderson Valley where his sister worked. It became a dream of his to one day work at a winery too.
As a former history student, Ian enjoys learning about the different varietals of wine, and the history behind their creation. He finds joy in sharing those stories with guests. Outside of work, Ian enjoys building models and collecting cards with his girlfriend.
Formally trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena and with expertise in Japanese cuisine, Chef Max Ackerman lends his experience and creativity to the RD food program.
Over the past 15 years, Chef Max has worked his way from line cook to Chef de Cuisine and is now the owner of his own catering business, Sushi Monkey. He combines his talents with thoughtful ingredient sourcing and works with some of the finest growers and purveyors the West Coast has to offer. We are lucky to have him creating mouthwatering menus and dishes to pair alongside our wines.
