Estate

Judy Jordan - Founder

Judy Jordan, a Stanford University graduate and geologist, is an accomplished businesswoman with more than 25 years in the wine industry. Having successfully built and sold J Vineyards & Winery in 2015, Judy has begun her next chapter. 

Focused on the legacy of values established and shared with her children, Judy created a philanthropic endeavor in Geodesy Wine with the sole purpose of advancing women from the agricultural community. Connecting these young women with a village of teachers, mentors, and internship sponsors who will guide, support, and empower them is central to the WG Edge program. 

As the founder of Geodesy, Judy is dedicated to the belief that social change can be accomplished through strategic philanthropy, business acumen, and flexible investments. Geodesy's micro-lot production offerings, of which all profits fund the WG Edge program, are site specific from precision-farmed, hand-selected estate vineyards. With expertise in geology and soil science, Judy started the search for exceptional vineyard sites for Geodesy in 2015. She and her team acquired vineyards in Napa Valley, Oregon's Eola-Amity Hills and Chehalem Mountains, and Sonoma County's Petaluma Gap. 

Whether traveling to new and exciting destinations or staying active with swimming, tennis, yoga, golf, and hiking, Judy loves to explore, especially if it means time with friends, colleagues, and family.

Kathryn Lindstrom - General Manager

A fourth generation Californian, Kathryn is the financial backbone and strategic wizard for all that we do. A wine industry veteran, Kathryn worked with iconic Napa Valley wineries – Peter Michael Winery and Opus One, before working side-by-side with Judy Jordan at J Vineyards & Winery in the Russian River Valley. During her tenure as Chief Operating Officer, Kathryn led the company through successful years of profitable growth and positioned it for sale to the Gallo Family in 2015.

After the sale, Kathryn and Judy teamed up for their next venture – something that would give back to the community, utilize their skill sets and networks, and be enriching personally and professionally. This ultimately led to Geodesy and the WG Edge program.

Kathryn is involved in the myriad of business layers including overseeing winemaking, marketing, contracts, long-term capital, resource assessment, and acquisition. When she’s not immersed in the numbers, you can find her exploring architecture around the world and learning about different cultures. Diligently managing the resources to ensure the WG Edge’s program success is what keeps her up at night and makes her excited about starting the day.

Megan Baccitich - Winemaker

A Healdsburg native, Megan Baccitich embraces the mentality of winegrowing-as-farming to create stunning expressions of terroir. As the winemaker for Geodesy, this is the perfect fit since she works closely with the vineyard team to ensure that each grape (well, maybe each cluster and row) is absolutely perfect for the final wine blend. 

Megan’s pedigree includes multiple 100-point scores. A 2001 graduate of California State University at Fresno, Megan began her career at a custom crush facility giving her invaluable insight into production methodology across different wineries, appellations, and varietals. Her next assignment was with Paul Hobbs where she served as Director of Winemaking for a decade.

As one of Paul’s protégées, she honed her winemaking approach and crafted many highly sought after wines that were favorites with critics and customers alike. As a mentor, Paul provided Megan with a culture of incremental improvement where discipline, rigor, and keen attention to details were of the upmost importance. The corollary to this is Megan’s strong desire to be creative and her acute awareness that wine quality is the driver to every decision. Since 2016, she has been a consulting winemaker to several prestige ventures and we’re pleased that Megan’s part of our journey.

As a youngster, Megan often visited her grandparents’ ranch in Dry Creek Valley, roaming the old, terraced Albariño vineyard, maintaining the orchard, and gardening. Ever curious about science and nature, she cultivates a respect for the land and sustainable farming. Megan lives in Sonoma County with her life-partner, Ben, and their doggie-kid Rio.

Scott Zapotocky - Vice President, Winegrowing

Leading the helm for all the vineyards, Scott brings a seasoned knowledge gained over nearly a decade at Paul Hobbs Winery as Director of Vineyards plus additional time at J Vineyards & Winery as Director of Vineyard Operations. Scott worked closely with Kathryn Lindstrom and Judy Jordan to assess our vineyards bringing his expertise as a land analyst to the forefront.

His unique experiences give him the ability to evaluate site quality, see wine program potential, isolate development opportunities, implement sustainable farming practices, and champion rigorous quality standards. Scott gained early agricultural experience through the Peace Corps as a Tree Nursery Manager in Ghana. This foundation of community-based agri-business reinforced his commitment to agronomy. A true Renaissance man, Scott has a Fine Arts degree from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington with an emphasis on Ceramics. When not traipsing the vineyards, he enjoys exploring Sebastopol’s countryside with his wife and children.

His mentor instilled in him the concept of “always be excellent.” For Scott, this parlays into his personal and professional life, especially as it relates to grape growing. The intent is to make every row, every block, as great as it potentially can be. As Scott said, “each person finds their true North. ‘Always be excellent’ is my guiding principle to keep me on that path.” Luckily for us, this translates to amazing fruit.

Emily Smith - Private Membership Manager

Emily’s journey to Geodesy started in prison. She was volunteering at a women’s prison in Rhode Island through a program that focused on connecting the women with their children through workshops, cooking meals, and games of play. Emily’s takeaway was that life’s circumstances take us in different directions and it can happen to anyone. She recounts that “their situation could be mine or yours so having a little compassion and making connections goes a long way.” That’s why Geodesy’s purpose of linking to the WG Edge program is so meaningful to Emily. It affords her another chance to impact young women’s lives.

Originally from the East Coast and a 2005 Political Science graduate of the University of Rhode Island with a minor in Women’s Studies, Emily has a love for travel. This led her to spend extensive time in Florence, Italy where she became fluent in the language and soaked in the culture. A chance encounter brought her to Healdsburg in 2010 where she now resides with her husband and twins.

Her background crosses appellations and includes time at Paul Hobbs in Russian River Valley, Quivira Vineyards in Dry Creek Valley, and Long Meadow Ranch and Winery in Napa Valley. We’re excited to have Emily connect with our private members as we all work toward the goal of advancing young women in the field of agricultural sciences.

Krishna Hendrickson - Asset Manager

Recognized in 2017 by the Sonoma County Harvest Fair as the “Outstanding Young Person in Agribusiness” for contributions to the preservation, sustainability, and enhancement of farming. In 2018, Krishna was selected by the North Bay Business Journal as part of their “Top Forty under 40” annual list.

In his role at Geodesy, Krishna melds all of his previous experience to work on capital improvements, collaborate with Scott on vineyard redevelopment projects, expand our reach throughout the community, and build on connecting with our partners. His upbringing and professional track exposed him to the love of mixing philanthropy with solid business acumen. Perfect for our environment!

Krishna spent 12 years with Richard’s Grove and Saralee’s Vineyard as their Operations Manager where he managed 300 acres in the Russian River Valley. Following that placement, Krishna was at Paul Hobbs Winery working with the winemaker as Vineyard Operations Manager before moving to Francis Ford Coppola Winery as their Grower Relations Manager.

He lives with his wife and two children in Western Sonoma County. When he’s not walking in the vineyards or chauffeuring his kids to their activities, Krishna can be found kayaking in the Russian River.