Vineyard & Winery Management Magazine

Ian Barry With experience in three states and four distinct wine regions, Ian Barry has been in the wine business since 1997. He has been Head Winemaker for the Swedish Hill family of wines since the spring of 2007. In his first year at Swedish Hill he brought the winery the coveted Governor's Cup for its 2007 Vidal Blanc, while simultaneously leading the winery to be named Winery of the Year at the 2008 New York State Wine and Food Classic.  Sister winery Penguin Bay meanwhile earned recognition for its 2007 Gewürztraminer with Best White Wine accolades at both the Indy International Wine Competition and the Los Angeles International Wine Competition.

Andy Beckstoffer is President of Beckstoffer Vineyards, one of the most highly regarded independent winegrape growers in California's North Coast region. A native of Richmond, Va., Andy earned a degree in engineering from Virginia Tech. At age 33, Heublein sold him its vineyard company along with 1,200 acres he had acquired for them in Napa and Mendocino counties. Compelled to address the economic, social and political concerns of grapegrowers in a more significant way, Beckstoffer became a founding director of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers Association (NVGGA) in 1975. A year later, as the association's president, he brought forth the revolutionary idea of basing the price of a ton of grapes on the future price of a bottle of wine. In May of 2006, the NVGGA awarded its first Grower of the Year Award to Andy. In 2007 the Napa County Farm Bureau acknowledged Andy as Agriculturist of the Year, and that same year he also received the first-ever U.S. Congressional Wine Caucus Commendation.  See Andy's complete biography here.

Simone Bergese is an Italian winemaker with a degree in oenology and viticulture from the Turin University in Italy.  He taught winemaking classes at Italy's Catania University of Agriculture, in the department of entomology at the Turin University. He has worked as Assistant Winemaker for several wineries in Italy's Barolo and Barbaresco regions, as well as at Brown Brothers and Seppelts wineries in Australia. He was hired in the critical role of Chief Winemaker at Patria Winery in Sicily in 2003 and from 2006 to 2008 he served in the same role at Firriato Winery, one of the biggest and best-known wineries in Italy. In total he produced 18 million bottles of wine during his time with these two establishments and has been awarded several prestigious international awards. In August 2008 he joined Potomac Point Winery, in Stafford, Va., with the purpose of enhancing and improving the quality of the wines. Simone's 2008 norton wine won the double-gold medal in the 34th International Eastern Wine Competition.

Jim Corcoran, Proprietor of Corcoran Vineyards in Loudoun County, Va., is responsible for developing Corcoran's winemaking protocols and ensuring that its testing lab equipment is properly calibrated. In addition to being on the legislative committee for the Loudoun Wineries Association, Jim sits on the boards for the Virginia Wine Council, which helps wineries from a legislative standpoint, and the Virginia Winery Distribution Company, which gives Virginia Farm Wineries the ability to self distribute in the Commonwealth.

Claude DelFosse is the Founder, President and Owner of DelFosse Vineyards and Winery, near Charlottesville. Founded in 2002 and open to the public since May 2005, the winery specializes in high-end varietal wines that express the Virginia terroir. The heavily terraced vineyards are planted at 850-1,200 feet, and are farmed using sustainable practices. Prior to founding the winery, Claude was an executive in the aerospace software business in Northern Virginia and California. A native of France, he came to the United States in the 1960s under a Fulbright fellowship. He and his wife have three children - each with a wine named after them.

Michael Dorf is Founder and CEO of City Winery, in New York City. In 2008, Michael created Manhattan's first fully operational winery, complete with two wine bars, a cheese bar, restaurant and a performance venue. At the heart of the 21,000-square-foot City Winery is a custom crush facility that produces world-class wines from the fruit of some of the best vineyards in the US. Whether participating in the winemaking process or stopping in after work to indulge in some cheese, wine and music, City Winery brings together several of Michael's passions.

Etienne Dorignanc is a chemistry engineer who trained at Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie in Montpellier, France. In 2007, Etienne obtained a degree in oenology from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie in Toulouse, France. That same year, he joined Fermentis - the business unit of Lesaffre dedicated to the development and sales of yeast and yeast production in alcohol applications - as Product Manager, Oenology. Among his duties, he is responsible for product innovation, technical support and quality management for the oenology segment worldwide.

Mark Friszolowski became winemaker at Childress Vineyard in Lexington, N.C. in 2004. Before joining Childress, he was Cellarmaster at Pindar Vineyards on Long Island's North Fork for the past 17 harvests. He holds a B.A. and B.S. from SUNY Stonybrook, and a master's in international diplomacy from Columbia University. He formerly held winemaking positions at Bidwell and Duck Walk Vineyards on Long Island and was Consulting Winemaker at two additional wineries. Mark was a Distinguished Graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College, and has 23 years of service in the US Army Reserve, where he holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Chris Gerling is an extension associate in enology at Cornell University in the department of food science and technology at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, in Geneva, N.Y. Before being appointed to the position in 2008, Chris worked for Anthony Road Wine Company as a winemaker, and as a technician in both the horticultural sciences and food science and technology departments at the Geneva station. He received his B.S. degree in communications from Cornell in 1999 and an M.S. in food science in 2007, also from Cornell. Chris plays a leading role in facilitating educational programs for winemakers that support the growth and improved quality of premium wines throughout the state. Gerling can be reached at cjg9@cornell.edu or 315-787-2277.

Sigrid Gersten-Briand is a Technical Support Manager in North America for Lallemand, Inc., manufacturer of a wide variety of winemaking products including dried yeasts, yeast nutrients, bacteria and enzymes. She has a degree in microbiology from McGill University in Montréal, and started her fermenting career in the quality control lab of Mosti Mondiale, a kit and fresh juice supplier. She then worked at Pelee Island Winery in Ontario before joining Lallemand in 2001 on the East Coast, transferring to the West Coast a few years ago.

Charlotte Gourrand, VP and Technical Manager for Laffort USA, was born and raised in the Champagne region. She studied agronomy, viticulture and enology in Montpellier, France. Her training included marketing work in Switzerland, along with harvests in Sonoma Valley (2004) and Ovalle, in northern Chile (2005). She joined the Laffort team for the 2005 harvest to coordinate the new-product trials in France, and then became the company's Yeasts and Nutrition Product Manager. In this position she has had the opportunity to travel and gather fermentation experience in different wine-producing countries, sharing information and experience. Charlotte moved to California in 2009 and is now the company's VP and Technical Manager.

David Harris is a native of Georgia, and received a degree in enology and viticulture in 1985 from California's Fresno State University.  With a diverse range of professional experience spanning three continents, David currently tends an all-vinifera planting of 24,000 vines on a 90-acre estate, Blackstock Vineyards & Winery.  He is the founding winegrower in the small mountain hamlet of Dahlonega, which boasts seven wineries and more than 100 acres under vine. In 1996, David fostered the passage of a referendum in White County to allow retail sales at a Farm Winery, ending 50 years of local prohibition.  As a winemaker, he garnered the first several gold medals awarded to Georgia wines. In 2008, Blackstock Vineyards appeared in Tom Stevenson's Wine Report as the No. 1 up-and-coming winery in a 40-state regional roundup. He provides technical consultation to other winegrowers and provides premium fruit to an impressive list of wineries.   

Kristina (Tina) Hazlitt, Financial Manager at Sawmill Creek Vineyards, has a degree and background in bank management. She returned to the Finger Lakes in 1997 in search of a new direction. Deciding that her next favorite thing after managing money was wine, she took a job as the Creative Sales Director at Glenora Wine Cellars. This opportunity led her to become the Director of the Finger Lakes Wine Festival for Watkins Glen International for three events, before joining her husband Eric at Sawmill Creek Vineyards. In order to direct her financial skills toward farming, Kristina attended the "Focus on the Future - Agribusiness Skills for the 21st Century" series of classes offered by Farm Credit of WNY. Eric and Kristina's newest venture has been forming the Finger Lakes Food Company with partners Dave and Deb Whiting, whose first product is a "verjuice" made from green cabernet franc grapes. 

Bryan Hed is a Research Support Technologist in the plant pathology department at Penn State University. Bryan has been conducting research to evaluate chemical and cultural disease management strategies for grapes for 11 years at the Lake Erie Regional Grape Research and Extension Center in northeast Pennsylvania. He has just completed a three-year examination of leaf removal timing and bloom applications of gibberellic acid to chardonnay grapes for effects on cluster architecture, bunch rot development and yield. Bryan holds a B.S. in biology from the University of Illinois and an M.S. in plant pathology from the University of Tennessee.

Pat Henderson is Senior Winemaker for Kenwood Vineyards in the Sonoma Valley, a Winemaking Instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College and the author of "About Wine," a wine textbook for culinary students. A veteran of more than 25 vintages in the wine business, Pat has taught winemaking classes at Santa Rosa Junior College since 1991. A graduate of the viticulture and enology program at the UC Davis, he supplemented his formal education by apprenticing at five different wineries while he was still going to school. After graduation he worked in both the Napa and Sonoma valleys before taking his first position as Head Winemaker at Hedges Cellars in Washington state, in 1995. After returning from the Northwest he became winemaker at Valley of the Moon winery. After six vintages, he returned to Kenwood Vineyards as Senior Winemaker, where he had previously served as enologist 10 years earlier.

Chris Hill has owned and farmed Glendower Vineyard, near Scottsville, Va., since 1981, giving him many years of vineyard experience on a terrible site with too-shallow elevation and too-deep soil. Chris graduated from Duke University with a degree in sociology in 1971, served in the US Army 1971 to 1974, then earned a B.S. and M.S. from Virginia Tech in horticulture. Despite his poor site, Chris grows reasonably good grapes today at Glendower Vineyard. He began vineyard consulting in 1995 and actively consults today. Since then, he has grown grapes on some darned good vineyard sites - and boy, what a difference that makes. He has sold lots of grapes, at lots of different prices, from many different vineyards, in the Charlottesville area.

Art Hunt, along with his wife, Joyce, own Hunt Country Vineyards, a farm winery in Branchport, N.Y. They also grow 55 acres of various wine grapes on the seventh-generation family farm. He and Joyce began growing grapes in 1973 and have been steadily expanding the business since. Art and Joyce are committed to sustainable growth and being good stewards of their land - producing their own compost and biodiesel, and experimenting with other ways to reduce and replace non-renewable energy sources on the farm. Of their three grown children, two are interested in the farm and winery, including Jonathan, who works full time in the business.

Chris Kearney is a wine instrumentation sales and implementation team member for Hanna Instruments. He has a keen interest in both the theoretical application of equipment to monitor fermentation and finishing, and the practical process of making better wine with simple lab and cellar tools. Chris has worked in management, lab and production positions with Christian Brothers Winery, along with a variety of work for the Mirassou Family Winery during the `80s and `90s. He continued his interest in winemaking and viticulture with a Research Associate's assignment at the University of California's Central Valley Field Station at Parlier and enjoyed establishing himself in the sales arena with Winetech in California. Chris joined the Hanna team in 2005.

Brad Knapp established Pinnacle Ridge Winery in 1993 in Berks County, Pa. In addition to its estate vineyard, the winery sources nearly all of its fruit from Round Ridge Farms, located five miles from the winery. Production has grown from less than 1,000 gallons in 1993 to 12,000 gallons in 2008. Chambourcin has been identified by many of the wineries in Lehigh and Berks counties as a signature grape and represents more volume in production at Pinnacle Ridge than any other grape.  Brad has a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry and worked full time in the chemical industry through 1998. Brad consulted part time from 1998 to 2004 and went to full time at the winery in 2004. Pinnacle Ridge has been awarded three Governor's Cups: in 2003, 2006 and 2009.  The cups for 2003 and 2009 were awarded for dry red wines made from Chambourcin.

Ron Kreutzer, founder of WineWeb, has more than 25 years of information technology expertise across a broad range of industries and technologies. Prior to founding WineWeb in 1995, Ron spent more than eight years as a management consultant with Deloitte Consulting, rising through the ranks to the Senior Manager level. Subsequently Ron was a Senior Engagement Manager with Syntel, a global outsourcing information technology services provider.  Ron is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and a Certified Project Management Professional.

Wayne Luckenbill is Vineyard Manager at Pennsylvania's Round Ridge Farm, established in 1991 by his parents, Curtis and Christine Luckenbill. Round Ridge began as a 3-acre vineyard intended to supply Pinnacle Ridge Winery, and grew to 14 acres of hybrid and vinifera varieties. Wayne holds several bachelor's degrees and is also a Certified Physician Assistant.  His knowledge of grapegrowing has come from his experience at Round Ridge Farm and through attending educational programs. His management responsibilities include variety-specific pruning, creating and implementing disease management strategies via spray programs and canopy management, upholding contractual agreements, general repairs, overseeing personnel and executing harvest. Wayne also spends time with Pinnacle Ridge winemaker Brad Knapp, sampling wines throughout the winemaking process.

John Martini is President of Anthony Road Wine Company, near Penn Yan, N.Y. Born and raised in the north New Jersey suburbs of New York City, John graduated from Boston College in 1964 and joined the Peace Corps. He worked in Malaysia from 1964-66, then became an instructor at the Peace Corps' Hilo training center on Hawaii. He was a sales engineer from 1968-1973, and has been a grapegrower since 1973. He was also a IR-4 Northeast Region Field Coordinator for NYSAES/Cornell University from 1973-1996. He has been president of Anthony Road Wine Company since 1989, and has held many posts in local government and local and state wine and grape organizations.

The 2009 harvest marked Brad McCarthy's 22nd year working in the wine business. He has worked as a winemaker and consultant for wineries and vineyards in California, France, Virginia, North Carolina and other states in the Southeast. In 2008, after establishing several premier Virginia wineries, Brad started working as a "virtual" winemaker under his own label. Brad joined Chêne & Cie as its Sales Agent for the Southeast in June 2009.

John McDermott is the President and CEO of Label World, a printer of custom labels based in Rochester N.Y. John served previously as VP of Sales and Marketing after joining Label World in 2006. Prior to that, he served in a variety of marketing and general management positions for Eastman Kodak for 23 years. He spent much of his career in international assignments in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, where he worked on consumer and business-to-business marketing and sales in multiple countries. After returning to the US in 1999, he worked in e-commerce and then as a product manager in Kodak's digital kiosk business before joining Label World. He has extensive experience creating marketing and sales plans, working with advertising agencies, using the web for business development and building robust brands.

Lucie Morton is an independent viticulturist. Trained in Europe and based in Virginia, she is an author, lecturer and consultant on viticultural topics in the international arena. Areas of special interest are ampelography, rootstocks, grape and wine quality, and vineyard longevity.

Stephen Mullen is the Wine Market Manager for the Food & Beverage division at Pall Corporation. He has over 25 years of filtration experience working with a diverse range of industries, with the last 10 years focused on providing filtration solutions to the wine market. Steve has been a guest speaker at the UC Davis Winemaking Short Course, presenting and demonstrating crossflow filtration. He has also hosted and presented Wine Filtration Workshops at Fresno State University, Oregon State University and Walla Walla Community College.

Neal Newsom is proprietor of Newsom Vineyards, located on the High Plains of West Texas in the appellation of Llano Estacado. Neal's family started the business in 1986 with 3 acres of cabernet sauvignon, and it has grown to more than 90 acres of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, sangiovese, orange muscat, tempranillio, malbec and pinot grigio, among others. The family currently contract-grows for 12 wineries, and Newsom grapes almost always wind up in clients' reserve programs with vineyard designation. Wines entered by Newsom Vineyards' clients have won several international medals (in Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego and Switzerland), and gold and silver medals in many regional events.

Peter Oldak, MD is owner and winemaker at Jewell Towne Vineyards, New Hampshire's oldest winery. Peter has been growing grapes since 1982 and producing wine commercially since 1994. He is President of the New Hampshire Winery Association, Chairman of the Northern New England Chapter of the American Wine Society, and a member of the board for Wineries Unlimited. In 2002, he proposed legislation and successfully testified before the New Hampshire House and Senate to allow farm wineries to sell their wines at farmers' markets.

Scott Osborn, President of Fox Run, discovered his passion for wine when he entered the real estate development business in California's Lake County. This led to Cellar Master positions at Firestone Vineyards, Zaca Mesa and Byron Winery. Returning East in 1986, he worked for a distributor, then became General Manager of Long Island's Pindar Vineyards in 1989. After two years, he moved back to Rochester and purchased Fox Run in 1993. The winery has grown from a 25-acre vineyard producing around 1,000 cases of wine in 1993, to a 50-acre vineyard producing 15,000 cases. Scott is a past president and active member in the Seneca Lake Winery Association and an active director of the Camp Good Days and Special Times "Finger Lakes International Wine Competition." He received the Industry Award from the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, and in 2003, Fox Run was named by the Geneva Chamber of Commerce as Business of the Year. In 2008 the winery was named by Wine & Spirits Magazine as one of the world's "Top 100" wineries.

Chris Pearmund is one of Virginia's most recognized and decorated winegrowers and winemakers.  He has 24 years of experience as a winemaker, vineyard manager and winery operator. He is Managing Partner of Vint Hill Craft Winery, Pearmund Cellars, the Winery at La Grange and Meriwether Vineyard. Chris also has professional history as a retail chain wine buyer, sommelier and importer. Chris has been President of the Virginia Vineyards Association, Chairman of the Virginia Wine and Food Society and a board member of the Virginia Wineries Association.  Chris is a nationally certified wine judge by the American Wine Society, has taught the Higher Certificate Education course for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, and has organized and taught numerous courses to both amateurs and professionals on various aspects of the wine industry.

Trent Preszler is a Ph.D. student in viticulture at Cornell University, where his research is related to the effects of grapevine cropload on wine flavor chemistry and economic sustainability. He is also Chief Operating Officer at Bedell Cellars on Long Island, and he currently serves on the board of directors of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation and WineAmerica. During the Clinton Administration, Trent was an intern at The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy and a research associate at the National Institutes of Health. He holds a B.S. from Iowa State University, a M.Dipl. in botany from The University of Edinburgh and Royal Botanic Gardens (U.K.), and an M.S. in agricultural economics from Cornell University.

Todd Rausch is a member of the sales team for M.G. Newell Corporation, based in Greensboro, N.C., and has been working with North Carolina and Virginia wineries for the past five years. He graduated from Purdue University in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in food science and went on to earn a master's degree in food science from North Carolina State University.  He currently resides in Winston-Salem, N.C. with his wife and two children. 

Elizabeth Slater is a marketing savant, internationally recognized within the wine industry as a seminar and workshop leader, a speaker, and trainer. Specializing in all facets of direct marketing, her seminars, presented with humor and enthusiasm, are jammed with innovative, useful and easy to implement concepts and information. Through her company, In Short Direct Marketing, Elizabeth works with wineries of all sizes and state associations. While consulting on all facets of creating and implementing marketing and public relations programs and strategies, her focus is primarily aimed at marketing wines directly to consumers. She writes a regular marketing column for Vineyard & Winery Management magazine and served as Public Relations Chair for the Sonoma County Tourism Council.

Bob Spadafora entered the wine industry as a Sales Engineer for KLR Machines, Inc., selling crush pad equipment in 1997. One of the company's product lines at that time was Begerow, the world's leader in mineral-free depth filtration media, and in 2003, Bob joined Begerow as its Director of Sales, Food & Beverage, for North America. In 2009 he took that knowledge and put it to work in Regional Sales for AFTEK INC.

Richard Keith Striegler has been Director and Viticulture Program Leader at the Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology at the University of Missouri in Columbia since 2006. He received a doctorate in horticulture from Michigan State University in 1990; an MS in horticultural food science from the University of Arkansas in 1982; and a BS of agriculture in horticultural food science from the University of Arkansas in 1979. His professional positions have included: Assistant Director and Director of the Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center, Missouri State University (2003-2006); Extension Fruit Specialist, University of Arkansas (1998-2003); and Julio R. Gallo Director's Chair, Viticulture and Enology Research Center, California State University, Fresno (1997-98). Keith is currently Chair of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture, Eastern Section, and also serves on the National Clean Plant Network, the National Grape and Wine Initiative, and the Viticulture Consortium-East. His most recent professional award was the Nesbitt Award, SERA 014 (presented for significant research and /or extension contributions to the grape industry in the Southern Region), 2005.

Jeff Sully, CPA, CMA has spent more than 35 years in the wine industry. He started out working in a wine shop and worked his way up through the industry as a grape nurseryman, winemaker, winery manager, and as a production and marketing consultant in the Finger Lakes. He is currently a partner in the firm of Dillwood, Burkel & Sully, with offices in Santa Rosa, Calif., and Walla Walla, Wash., which focuses almost exclusively on wineries and vineyards, offering services such as wine costing, tax preparation and financial statement presentation. Jeff sits on the executive board of the Washington Wine Institute, and is on a state taskforce to define winery activities and how they interact with Washington state law. Jeff also writes a regular financial column for Vineyard & Winery Management. Still wanting to get his hands dirty, he founded "428," a Walla Walla winery focusing on limited-production merlot.

Helder Teles is General Manager of Saxco Canada, a distributor of glass containers and closures to the wine industry.  Helder has been involved with the packaging industry for 25 years. Prior to Saxco, Helder held a Senior Purchasing position in the distilling industry. He has also worked for a variety of packaging manufacturers, including companies producing closures, portion-control food systems, and glass and plastic containers.

Paul Wagner formed Napa-based Balzac Communications & Marketing in 1991. His clients include a broad range of national and international companies and organizations, with primary focus in the food and beverage industries. Current clients include Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, Constellation Wine US, the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, Vinitaly/Veronafiere, Regione Sicilia, DO Navarra, White Rocket Wine Company, and a host of other wine and food specialists. Paul is an instructor for Napa Valley College's viticulture and enology department, and is a regular columnist for Vineyard & Winery Management Magazine. He also contributes to Allexperts.com in the field of wine and food. With Liz Thach and Janeen Olsen, he recently published the book: "Wine Marketing & Sales, Strategies for a Saturated Market," which won the Gourmand International Award in 2008 for the best wine book for professionals.

Donniella Winchell, Executive Director of the Ohio Wine Producers Association and chair of the Vintage Ohio wine festival, joined the association in 1978 and became its Executive Director in 1984. She is on the board of the Winegrape Growers of America and the WineAmerica State Advisory Panel, and is a member of the Knights of the Vine. Donniella has received many honors for her work in the industry, including the Monteith Trophy, given annually to one national figure in the American grape and wine community; the Ohio Travel Association's Paul Sherlock award; and election to the Ohio Wine Hall of Fame. She also helped to create the License to Steal - National Wine Marketing Conference. She has contributed to several national wine publications and consults with a number tourism and wine marketing organizations across the country. She and her husband have three married children, five beautiful granddaughters and three handsome grandsons.