Anthony Viloria is the Senior Director of Luxury Estates at O’Neill Vintners & Distillers, where he drives strategic thought leadership and exceptional guest experiences for Ram’s Gate Winery in Sonoma and Robert Hall Winery in Paso Robles. A Sonoma native with decades of hospitality and management experience, Viloria brings both deep wine knowledge and a people-first leadership style to his role, shaping estate experiences that are warm, cohesive, and memorable.
Executive Chef Kimberley Cosway brings a polished, terroir-expressive culinary style to Ram’s Gate, crafting seasonal menus that showcase estate-grown and locally sourced ingredients, grounded in the estate’s commitment to regenerative stewardship. Her cooking is guided by a deep respect for the land, creating dishes that harmonize with Ram’s Gate’s wines and embody a true sense of place.
As General Manager and Director of Winemaking at Ram’s Gate Winery, Joe Nielsen approaches winemaking with an unrivaled attention to detail and precision. Not only creative and compelling, he crafts wines that embody balance, verve and effortless elegance. Joe thrives on digging into a vineyard and finding out what makes it special.
Joe got his start in winemaking in an unexpected place: the backyard of his parents’ home in Lansing, Michigan. In 2003, Joe enrolled at Michigan State University with the intention of studying pre-med but soon after he was introduced to an exploratory winemaking program. In 2007, he graduated from the program with a B.S. in Horticulture and accepted a position as winemaking assistant at Black Star Farms in Northern Michigan.
In 2008, Joe relocated to California for an internship at Merryvale Vineyards in Napa Valley where he spent a year learning every aspect of the winemaking business. In 2009, at just 23 years old, he became cellar master at Donelan Family Wines in Santa Rosa. Impressing their team with his passion and thirst for knowledge he was quickly promoted to assistant winemaker before becoming head winemaker in 2013 where he expanded the winery’s Pinot Noir and Chardonnay programs.
In 2018, Joe became director of winemaking at Ram’s Gate and spent his first year focused on digging into what makes the Ram’s Gate estate special. He doubled down on holistic farming, diagrammed vineyard soils and used pressure bombs to study its water needs, subsequently reducing water use by nearly 33%. Joe believes that being thoughtful with land management will lead to not only better wines, but an even better place for guests to visit and enjoy the fruits of his labor.
In 2021 he was promoted to General Manager and Winemaker. In this new leadership role and with an energetic and qualified team, Nielsen plans to work across the winery’s hospitality, marketing and sales programs to continue to solidify Ram’s Gate’s status as a premiere Sonoma estate.
Joe’s inherent desire for hands-on learning keeps him involved in local wine tasting groups and keeps his passport full of stamps from some of the world’s best wine regions. He lives in Santa Rosa with his wife and two children and spends his free time enjoying Sonoma County’s great outdoors and pursuing his passion for gardening.
Rachel Bordes works closely with General Manager and Winemaker, Joe Nielsen, to oversee all aspects of wine production, from the vineyards to the lab, and in the cellar. Rachel first joined Ram’s Gate in 2020 as a Harvest Intern, before quickly rising to Enologist in 2021, and Assistant Winemaker in 2023.
Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, Rachel’s family always had the dream of living in California and in 2010 moved to Sausalito, CA. It was during this time that the Bordes family purchased a 27-acre vineyard in the Sonoma Coast AVA, contracting fruit to several esteemed producers in the region. Ultimately, Rachel’s family decided to make wine in their home garage, and it was through this venture that Rachel first fell in love with winemaking. Bordes went on to pursue her B.S. in Wine and Viticulture with a concentration in Enology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. After completing a harvest internship at Tolosa Winery in 2019, Rachel went on to complete her senior research project on The Effect of Shade Cloth on the Sensory Attributes of Wine before graduating in 2020. Rachel then joined Ram’s Gate for harvest that year.
As the Assistant Winemaker at Ram’s Gate, Rachel is constantly playing a variety of roles in the winemaking process, from tracking the phenological phases in the vineyard, to stomping fruit in the cellar, tracking, and monitoring wine chemistry, and determining blends for all wines in production.
When Rachel is not in the cellar, she is likely off soaking up the California sunshine while trail running, biking, or hiking in Sausalito.
Ram’s Gate Winery is led by owner and one of four original founders, Jeff O’Neill, a wine and spirits industry veteran, entrepreneur and CEO of family-owned and operated O’Neill Vintners & Distillers. Ram’s Gate is the realization of Jeff’s passion to create wines of exceptional quality that stand amongst the best in the world. Jeff’s vision for the Estate, designed by renowned architect Howard Backen with interiors by the famed Orlando Diaz-Azcuy, provides the perfect canvas for visitors and members to experience Ram’s Gate wines in a truly remarkable setting. As a leader in environmental stewardship for over 20 years, Jeff is also deeply committed to building a better and more sustainable
future for the wine business and was recognized as Wine Enthusiast’s Person of the Year in 2022.
