O'Neill Vintners & Distillers (Executive Vice President – Winegrowing)

Kryss Speegle, a graduate of the University of Virginia, earned a master’s degree in Food Science from the University of California, Davis. She also holds a diploma in wines and spirits from the UK-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), and the prestigious Master of Wine credential issued by The Institute of Masters of Wine in the United Kingdom.

Kryss has worked harvests in Napa, Mendocino, Germany, and New Zealand, and she also spent three years at Ravenswood Winery as enologist and lab manager. After being the winemaker for Lake Sonoma Winery and the assistant winemaker for Kenwood Vineyards until 2011, she accepted a winemaking position at O’Neill Vintners and Distillers. Kryss was Director of Winemaking at O’Neill from 2014–2017, moved to the business side of the firm for seven years before being named Executive Vice President – Winegrowing early 2024.

She has been a judge for the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and the West Coast Wine Competition. Kryss also taught a wine evaluation course in the Wine Studies Department at Santa Rosa Junior College and continues teaching as an instructor at the Napa Valley Wine Academy.

Kryss lives with her husband, Christopher, and their daughter in Fresno, CA. Outside of the winery, she enjoys cooking, vegetable gardening, and travel.