Kristi Brown, Owner & El Presidente

After graduating from UC Santa Barbara in 1990, I worked for several different companies mainly in the finance and marketing arenas. Having a bit of a Gypsy soul, I moved around a fair bit and finally landed in Palm Springs in 2000. At that time, my father was launching his new brand and needed someone to market his new Tulip Hill wines; I jumped on board and opened our offsite winery tasting room in Rancho Mirage.

Over the course of the last 9 years my role has expanded to overseeing the total BIG picture of our production, brand marketing, national sales and "other duties as needed." I wouldn't have it any other way. I am honored to be working with such an incredible team of people. My time is spent between the winery in Nice and my home in Palm Springs. I also do a fair amount of traveling throughout the country working with our distributor network selling our wines.

Sara Hammond, Marketing, Design, Tech, & Wine Club Coordinator

I joined the Tulip Hill team with Kristi Brown in 2002. I had recently moved to Palm Springs after escaping the "Orange Curtain" where I was, what seemed to be, living in a gray cubicle for a large print and design company. I had moved up the food-chain to working in graphics & design freelance when Budge presented the opportunity to be a part of his winery project. Knowing Budge and Kristi, I jumped on the wine wagon without hesitation. I was fortunate enough to have the amazing experience of opening the retail tasting room in Rancho Mirage with Kristi and Tom under the guiding wisdom of Veronica Barclay. Now I have a few more job titles, and plenty to do to keep me out of trouble.

Bella-Dance-A-Rella is my cohort in crime...she works with me at the administrative office keeping watch for potential pet charities that Tulip Hill can become involved.

Tom Montaney, Tasting Room Manager & Buyer

Tom is one of the start-up team that opened the Rancho Mirage tasting room in 2002, responsible for buying and merchandising the store. We stole him away from his 12 years in Postal Hell with the USPS. His experience goes back prior to the post office when he worked as a department store buyer for items such as housewares, electronics, gourmet foods, fine crystal, and so much more. Tom is so good at what he does that companies pulled him in to development their cookware, bakeware, china, and glassware. Tom’s knowledge and eye for all this beautiful has created an environment in our tasting room in Rancho Mirage of friendly sophistication.

Oh, and the photo of Tom and his little friend was from his adventures in Peru...he doesn't bring her to work.

Loretta Byrne, Chief Operations Officer

When I bought a house and needed a real job, I was lucky enough to fall into the wine business at Gabrielli Winery in Mendocino County in August of 1997. I worked there as an administrative assistant/compliance agent/tasting room manager/cellar worker/event coordinator/lab assistant/label designer/bookkeeper/etc until August of 2004.

After I moved to Lake County I worked briefly with Shannon Ridge Winery in Clearlake Oaks from 8/04 to 6/05. I consider myself very fortunate to have found my true home with Tulip Hill Winery since 2005 and am privileged to work with such amazing, talented and, let’s face it, funny people.

Mikael Gulyash, Winemaker

Mikael Gulyash - joined the Tulip Hill team in June of 2008. He comes to us with almost 30 years experience in the winemaking industry. Mikael started his career at Jordan Winery in Healdsburg, California back 1981 as a lab manager. He moved to B.R. Cohn in 1995 and finally to Grove Street Winery in 2001. He also consults for Peter Paul Wines and Zichichi Family Winery. Mike’s work numerous awards from Best of Class, State Fair, Savor, and the Los Angels Int'l Fair, gold medals at the Monterey Competition, the International Critics’ Challenge, and the Florida State Fair, to mention just few.

Mikael is very knowledgeable in the use and application of barrels. When asked how he gained such invaluable experience, he states that he worked with French trained winemakers and coopers, keeping copious notes every time he tasted.

"This let me connect the dots and ask intelligent questions of cause and effect regarding the coopering of the wood. Still important is to remember we are in California and the wines marry with the wood in manners that are a bit different than French wines, but the overall pattern of the characteristics of the wood, and the coopers’ influence will still be apparent. One of the more important things to remember is the industry norm to take wines to market sooner than past tradition hence the pairing of wood and wine is more critical here as the time frame to get or keep a balance is abbreviated.

The schools here can not teach this as the schools here do not have actual winemakers who have actually made a commercial wine. Fresno does have a bonded winery, and employs a winemaker, but the irony is the winemaker is not there in a teaching capacity. The other thing is it takes a long time to learn to see and appreciate how to use wood properly because it does take time to learn the cause and effect, so it would be difficult to teach this in the academic setting."

On a personal note, Mikael is fun and lighthearted person with an intense knowledge of the winemaking process. He is married with two daughters, and jokes that he has too many hobbies to pick and too many animals to count. He is a perfect fit into our motley crew.

Stephen Dilley, Assistant Winemaker

Stephen joined the Tulip Hill team in June of 2008. He comes to us fresh out of Fresno State University with a Special Study Certification in Enology (completed in May 2008). Stephen is a critical part of our winemaking team as our laboratory and sensory technician. "Wine is a perfect marriage of art and science, and one without the other will create a wine that is out of balance or flawed." Stephen keeps watch on every drop of wine that works its way from grape to bottle through our winery.

Stephen is our sensory technician for the winery as well, by providing wine sensory classes for our winery team members and the public.

"After several years in horticultural careers, ranging from owning and operating a greenhouse business to acting as the native plant specialist at an Environmental Center, I decided to combine my lifelong love of growing things with what had become my serious hobby, winemaking. Pursuing what I call "my last career", I returned to school in 2006 to study winemaking and grape growing. I feel as if this combination of passions, that nurtures both my green thumb and my creativity, really expresses who I am. My goal has always been to craft wines using the very best of the "old school" ways combined with the ingenuity wrought from current research. It is ultimately thrilling to take grapes and turn them into wine!"

"The Laboratory Technician position at Tulip Hill was an excellent starting point to launch my career and the environment here certainly encourages growth and learning. Harvest 2009 at Tulip Hill was my third harvest, and my first as Assistant Winemaker. Under the wing of our winemaker, Mikael Gulyash, I feel as though the experience I am receiving here is tremendous. This past year, with Mikael's mentoring style, has enabled me to use my education practically, acquire new essential skills, and to begin to formulate my own winemaking style."

"It is a consistently fascinating endeavor making wine! I feel extremely fortunate and grateful that life has afforded me this opportunity."

Michele Barfuss, Wine Club Accomplice & Tasting Room Sales Associate

Michele joined our band of merry tasting staff back in October 2008 and we stole her away in May 2010 to our Tulip Mania Wine Club. We are excited to have her as a wine club accomplice, offering you, our club member, EXCEPTIONAL customer service and assistance with all your club needs.

The picture of Michele is not a blur by accident...this is typical for Michele as she is constant motion, buzzing about the tasting room, multitasking her way into a blur. Michele is well know in the tasting room for her great attitude and quirky sense of humor.

Jason Burry, Shipping Dept. & Case Goods

I joined the winery team back on July 10th 2005. I worked for a local grocery store as a night shift manager after a brief one year stint in Eureka, CA working for a toy store in a mall.

I work in many different areas of the winery...I handle all of the shipping and receiving, ship out the wine clubs 4 times a year, help with the IT work around here, and when necessary help out with any of the wine making aspects of the winery and maintenance projects that Ron Grey has going on, work some of the events and keeping the case goods organized.... not an easy task when it involves dealing with thousands of cases of wine.

On a personal note, I prefer Major League Baseball, and I am a fan of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Oakland Athletics...but who isn't.

When I was 21 my brother-in-law and friend introduce me to local breweries. I fell in love with the rich flavors of the Belgian’s and the smoothness of a stout. Don't get me wrong, I love wine, but my first love will always be the brew.

Mario Guzman, Head Groundskeeper & Landscaper Extraordinaire

Mario holds a warm place in our hearts. Not only is he the architect for our amazingly beautiful gardens, but in all our years together, no one has ever seen him without a smile on his handsome face. Mario has been with the winery since July of 2004 and every minute with him has been a joy. He came to the winery from our vineyards in Pope Valley, and still goes back there every year during harvest just to make sure the tractor is being driven the way it should be! Everyone who visits our winery is absolutely amazed that our gardens are planted (with a little help) and maintained by one man - that man is Mario. He does an outstanding job, and you can really tell the pride he puts into every flower. I wouldn't’t be surprised if he actually sings to each and every bloom on our 6 acres of land. When Mario is not knee deep in flowers and soil, he loves to spend time with his wife and two daughters, visiting family in the Sacramento area.

Jean Pond, Tasting Room Sales Associate

Jean joined the Tulip Hill family in October of 2007. If you were to describe Jean with two words it would be warm and friendly she possess a calm strength as she handles a bar full of anxious tasters as she ensures that each have a great experience at Tulip Hill. Jean’s previous position was as an office manager at an elementary school in San Diego, which some of us joke is why she can put up with our humor and antics at times. For fun she and her husband work together in the construction and deconstruction of homes.