{"id":60,"date":"2023-09-24T17:22:12","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T17:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weddings.villaantoniowinery.com\/?page_id=60"},"modified":"2024-05-06T19:16:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T19:16:36","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/weddings.villaantoniowinery.com\/index.php\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About us"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our Team<\/span><\/h2>\r\n

Thomas Polesel<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Thomas Polesel joined the winery full time in 2005 and is currently the\r\nGeneral Manager and winemaker for Villa Antonio. Thomas was raised in South County and\r\ngraduated Oakville Senior High School before attending the University of Missouri at Rolla.\r\nUpon graduation he went on to serve with the United States Army and later obtained his\r\nprofessional engineering certification. Since joining the winery full time he has updated and\r\nmodernized their winemaking practices and utilized his engineering skills to plan and implement\r\nthe wineries many infrastructure improvements. Currently he is leading the effort to expand and\r\nimprove our business structure in order to ensure the best possible experience for our guests.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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Fernanda Polesel<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Fernanda Tarticchio Polesel has been the winery\u2019s chef since we began\r\noffering food around 2003. Born near the town of Gallesano, Italy (now Croatia) during World\r\nWar Two, Fernanda and her family immigrated to the United States in 1953 and settled into St.\r\nLouis\u2019s Italian \u201cThe Hill\u201d Neighborhood. A graduate of Southwest High School she went on to\r\nwork her way through nursing school before meeting and marrying Antonio in 1967. After the\r\nfounding of the winery and the early realization that good Italian hospitality required food as well\r\nas wine she began work as the winery\u2019s cook. Drawing upon her years of preparing Italian food\r\nfor family gatherings she was soon offering Seven Course Dinners and catering weddings and\r\nevents with quality food created from scratch. Working countless hours in the kitchen she has\r\npersonally served her homestyle Italian food to thousands of guests throughout the years.\r\nFernanda retired from the kitchen in 2023 but she is still very much with us and drops by often.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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Antonio Polesel<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Antonio is the founder and namesake of Villa Antonio Winery. He immigrated\r\nto the United States in 1956 from the Veneto region of Northern Italy when he was just sixteen\r\nyears old. Some of his earliest memories are of life on his family\u2019s farm near the village of\r\nCessalto during and immediately after World War Two. It was there that he learned the basics of\r\ngrape growing and winemaking from his father while acquiring a lifelong passion for gardening.\r\nHe and his wife Fernanda formed Villa Antonio Winery in 2001 and worked tirelessly to expand\r\nthe vineyards and renovate the grounds while reinvesting all of the winery\u2019s earnings back into\r\nnew equipment and better facilities. While Antonio passed in 2019 at the age of 84, he is\r\ncertainly still with us in spirit. During his life nothing gave him greater joy than to watch families\r\nenjoy the winery and experience.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n

Ron Norris<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Ron is currently serving as the Vineyard Manager for Villa Antonio. Ron is a\r\ngraduate of Oakville Senior High and joined the Villa Antonio Team in 2006. After graduation,\r\nRon formed his own landscaping company and learned the art of hardscaping through countless\r\nprojects around the St. Louis area. A self described jack of all trades (master of none) Ron has\r\nspent a sizable portion of his time building retaining walls, paver patios, and landscaping the\r\nwinery grounds. In addition to managing the vineyard, Ron is also in charge of equipment\r\nmaintenance, grounds maintenance and pretty much anything else we can think of.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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Brooke Weyand<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Brooke has been a member of the Villa Antonio Winery team since 2010,\r\njoining the winery full time in 2016. She is currently our operations and sales manager Brooke\r\nhandles all contracted events, schedules our entertainment, assists with social media and\r\nhandles all other general office work. Prior to joining us full time, she spent 15+ years in the\r\nlegal field, as a legal assistant\/office manager. Since joining the winery, Brooke has helped\r\nrevamp most of our internal documents, menus and policies. Brooke possesses a steadfastly\r\ncheerful and professional personality as well as a complete dedication to our family and our\r\ncustomers. No matter what the issue is, Brooke will take excellent care of you and do her\r\nutmost to ensure you have a wonderful experience here at Villa Antonio.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n

Ashley Argana<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Ashley joined the Villa Antonio Winery team in August of 2021 as the Event Coordinator.\r\nShe handles all planning meetings with our brides and completes the contract process.\r\nAs the Event Coordinator, Ashley is directly responsible for hosting most winery weddings and events and is dedicated to ensuring our staff exceeds expectations!\r\nWith her extensive background in planning, coordinating and managing all types of events including weddings, private parties, corporate functions, and fundraisers, she is an excellent\r\naddition to the winery team.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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Jeff Appleton<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Villa Antonio\u2019s \u201cSuperman\u201d Jeff joined our team in 2010 as a mixed drink bartender. Through\r\nhis 20 years of restaurant and managerial experience he has become a valued employee here\r\nat the winery. Jeff is our Personnel Manager and handles a variety of tasks from scheduling,\r\ninventory, beer and linen orders to booking reservations. His customer service skills and his\r\nwillingness to assure that all of our customers\u2019 needs are met are a quality that we find to be a\r\ngreat addition to our family and business. Jeff works closely with all of the different weddings,\r\nbridal and baby showers, private parties and corporate events to assure they receive the high\r\nstandard of service we provide here at Villa Antonio!<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n

Kyle Matthias<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Kyle joined the Villa Antonio family in 2022 as our Head Brewer. Kyle has been brewing\r\nprofessionally since 2014 and has worked at neighborhood breweries producing a few hundred\r\nbarrels of beer per year to large, national breweries producing hundreds of thousands of barrels\r\nper year. Most recently, Kyle spent 5 years at a large regional brewery in Bend, Oregon where\r\nhe led research and development. Prior to that, he graduated from Mizzou with a degree in\r\nNutritional Sciences and spent a year doing graduate work before deciding to pursue a career in\r\nbeer. He then completed the Master Brewer\u2019s Program through the University of California-\r\nDavis and went on to complete assessments from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in\r\npursuit of the Diploma in Brewing. Kyle has also completed coursework pertaining to the\r\nbusiness of craft brewing through Portland State University. When he is not brewing, he can be\r\nfound spending time outdoors with his wife and twin boys.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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Book a tour<\/a>Contact us<\/a>FAQS<\/a><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Team Thomas Polesel Thomas Polesel joined the winery full time in 2005 and is currently the General Manager and winemaker for Villa Antonio. Thomas was raised in South County and graduated Oakville Senior High School before attending the University of Missouri at Rolla. Upon graduation he went on to serve with the United States…
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1731,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"pro\/page-templates\/full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-60","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAbout us - Villa Antonio Winery<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/weddings.villaantoniowinery.com\/index.php\/about-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About us - Villa Antonio Winery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our Team Thomas Polesel Thomas Polesel joined the winery full time in 2005 and is currently the General Manager and winemaker for Villa Antonio. 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