Aaron Meneghelli

The Climb

A kitchen career in Napa and Sonoma is built on pace, repetition, and control, and Aaron Meneghelli’s early years were spent in rooms where all three mattered. Under Chef Sarah Scott at Robert Mondavi Winery, the demands of winery dining and fine-cooking discipline were part of the daily brief. At Richard Reddington's Yountville restaurants in Yountville, working with Chef Richard Reddington added another register: timing, refinement, and service had to stay aligned from the pass to the dining room. Leadership came next, not as a break from that training but as its extension. As Executive Chef at Angèle (from 2008), Aaron Meneghelli took on a kitchen where consistency and identity were part of the job as much as execution. Subsequent roles as Executive Sous Chef at The Carneros Inn in Sonoma and Executive Chef at Calistoga Ranch widened that remit, building a résumé grounded in composure, command, and hospitality-driven cooking. In 2018, the move to director of food & beverage at Carneros Resort and Spa in Napa shifted the work beyond the stove into the full shape of the guest experience. Today, as Executive Chef of Louis M. Martini Winery, Aaron Meneghelli brings winery dining, resort operations, and restaurant discipline into one line of practice.

Today

Martini Winery in St. Helena, Napa, United States. At Louis M. Martini Winery, the work sits inside a setting where food and wine are expected to meet cleanly, without forcing the point. Aaron Meneghelli’s role is to keep that conversation controlled and coherent, with attention not only to the plate but to pacing, atmosphere, and how a meal lands across an entire service.

Signature

Aaron's signature wines include Bagna Cauda. Bagna Cauda fits a cooking style built around savory depth and shared service. For Aaron Meneghelli, it reads as a dish that values the table as a whole, not just the individual plate, and that places warmth and generosity ahead of ornament.

In Their Words “It isn’t just about being able to cook something, it is focusing on the entire experience someone will have at my table.” “Everything we would do was centered around a meal.” Those lines describe a kitchen philosophy that treats technique and hospitality as inseparable. For Aaron Meneghelli, the meal includes more than flavor: it includes service rhythm, room tone, and the structure around the guest’s time at the table.

Recognition

Aaron's honors include First Michelin Bib Gourmand for Angèle. That recognition for Angèle marks a clear point in Aaron Meneghelli’s record, tied to the standards he brought to the role from 2008. It sits alongside his later leadership at The Carneros Inn in Sonoma, Calistoga Ranch, and Carneros Resort and Spa in Napa as evidence of sustained, guest-centered work in polished dining rooms.