Kelsey Albro Itämeri came to winemaking via a long and winding road. After graduating from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 2009, she worked in politics, reality TV and film, natural foods, and as a bartender and food and beverage director in San Francisco. Ready to settle down, Itämeri looked to her homeland of Washington State and moved to Walla Walla, where her family had purchased land in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. The first year on the farm was spent moving handline in alfalfa fields, caring for a test plot of grapevines, and working as a harvest intern at Balboa Winery. Itämeri then enrolled in Walla Walla Community College’s Institute for Enology & Viticulture and interned at The Walls Vineyards in Walla Walla and at Domaine Jean Chartron in Puligny-Montrachet in Burgundy, France. She came away with a deep appreciation for site-specific vineyard management and winemaking. In 2019, Itämeri founded itä wines, making low-intervention wines with grapes from the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Since the release of her inaugural vintage, itä has been named a “Winery to Watch” by Wine & Spirits and Itämeri was named one of Wine Enthusiast’s “Future 40,” and her wines have garnered many 90+ ratings from publications such as Decanter, Wine Enthusiast, Jeb Dunnuck, International Wine Report, Northwest Wine Report, and Wine & Spirits.