Jordan Winery
Todd Knoll
Jordan Winery
In a sense, the most recent parts of Todd Knoll’s career as Executive Chef at Jordan Vineyard & Winery, pertain to a game every thirty- and forty-something played as a kid: Finders Keepers.
How else to explain Todd’s love of foraging for wild products? His insistence on growing all of the produce he needs? The giddiness he gets when he’s hiking along and finds a patch of chanterelle mushrooms?
Indeed, the Hawaii native prides himself on sourcing as many of his ingredients as possible from the 1,200 acres of the Jordan Estate in the Alexander Valley. His tea has chamomile from the estate meadows, his sauces boast fruit and citrus from the 1-acre culinary garden behind the circa-1976 chateau, and his honey comes from beehives on site.
“I don’t think there’s any place on Earth that has the variation we have with all of our soil types and microclimates,” Todd says. “That means there’s a diversity of great products, right here.”
This approach doesn’t rely exclusively on the luck of the draw; it also is rooted in strong fundamentals.
Todd attended culinary school in San Francisco and spent six years working at several big-name hotels and restaurants in the city before coming to Jordan in 2003. Here, under the tutelage of former chef Udo Nechutnys, Todd honed his skills in traditional French and Japanese cooking before taking over as executive chef in 2007. He’s run the show ever since.
Nowadays, one of Todd’s favorite ways to prepare for meals is to sketch what each dish looks like; he does the drawings in pen or on Apple products and refers to them throughout the preparation process to make sure he’s doing things the way he originally envisioned them.
He draws extra inspiration from his wife Nitsa, who serves as Jordan’s director of hospitality and events.
Perhaps the most liberating aspect of Todd’s job: The freedom that owner John Jordan gives him to be creative. “John loves food but he’s not a pretentious foodie guy,” Todd says. “He knows good food, appreciates it, and puts me in a position to succeed.”