Winemaker, restaurateur, and designer, Pat Kuleto defines California living
Pat Kuleto's office at his winery overlooking the Napa Valley is built around an old oak tree whose trunk shoots up through the roof. As he leads me through the magnificent Italianate winery and residence he has created on this ridge, I realize that having a massive tree growing through a room suggests something about his sense of scale, and everything about Pat Kuleto is big: his reputation as a restaurateur and winemaker, his appetite for life, his vision of the California lifestyle.
Kuleto Estate
is a 761-acre ranch on a wild hillside east of Napa Valley . When Kuleto bought the property in 1992, it was basically inaccessible, left mainly to fragrant chaparral, manzanita, and madrone. Today the land is dotted with dozens of small vineyards growing different grape varietals according to the unique microclimates and soil conditions of each plot.
But the estate is more than just a vineyard and winery. "It's like a small village," Kuleto says as we take in the view from the patio of his home, called Villa Cucina. Casual and welcoming, his home, with its rustic, Mediterranean-influenced design, is perfect for the wine country climate and, faced with local stone, seems part of the landscape. "The ranch is simply a microcosm of California, where everything beautiful happens in abundance," he says. "I love to create environments and spaces that people will enjoy. Everything about this place is a people magnet. Besides all the natural beauty, I've managed to integrate lovely architecture. People want to be here."
Indeed, every deck, terrace, and patio seems to cry out for a party. Arbors of grapevines hang heavy with fruit, rose gardens bloom, long rustic wood tables sit ready for the immense spread they clearly were made for. "Everything we eat is grown on the property," Kuleto says, plucking a fig off a tree near his house. In fact, most of the food prepared in the kitchen comes from the ranch, the gardens, or the estate's beautiful Lake Brunello.
We stand on what he calls the "rim of the world," the terraced garden behind his house that looks out over Lake Hennessey and the golden Napa Valley, and Kuleto smiles appreciatively, as if it's the first time he's seen it. "I never get used to being up here," he says. "I am uplifted incredibly by the sense of place. I come out here in the evenings with a glass of Chardonnay and, as I water my garden, I think a lot about being a steward of the land. This is an incredible place and I want to make sure I am doing a good job. This is something that would only be possible in California."—Samantha Schoech
