Ladera's winemaker Karen Culler started her winemaking career as a child, making homemade wine with her father and grandfather in Ohio. Her job was to destem the clusters by hand. Many vintages later, after graduating from Ohio State University, she moved to Seattle. There, armed with her Ohio winemaking experience, she went to work for Columbia Winery. That's where she learned two important things: 1) there were machines to destem the grapes from the clusters, and 2) outside of Ohio, people could get paid for making wine.
To learn more, she left Colombia to go to UC Davis to get her Master's Degree in Viticulture and Enology. Graduating from UC Davis in 1984, she started a 6 month internship at Robert Mondavi Winery in their Research Department. Six months turned into two years and when Robert Mondavi purchased Vichon Winery, Karen decided to move up the Oakville Grade to Vichon as Assistant Winemaker in 1986. In 1989, she became Winemaker, making Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Vichon gave Karen the opportunity to experience the vineyards of Napa Valley, northern and central-coast California, and the south of France. In 1977 she left Vichon to become a consulting winemaker and has been with Ladera since 1998.
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