Attendee Bios for the 2014 Symposium* 10 th annual Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood Napa Valley Neil Beckett, Faculty Alumnus Neil Beckett ascended what he hoped might be an ivory tower via a first class honors degree in English and medieval history (St. Andrews), a doctorate in medieval history (Magdalen College, Oxford) and a prize fellowship of the Royal Historical Society (University of London). Always equally interested in wine, he soon wanted to spend more time down in the cellar than up in the tower, and between the two did an MBA, managing to wangle a dissertation on white Burgundy. During a year at Lay & Wheeler wine merchants he graduated with distinction in the WSET Diploma and took the top prizes, before going on to Harpers Wine & Spirit Weekly, of which he was for several years contributing editor and for which he wrote a regular column on fine wine. In 2004 he became the first editor of The World of Fine Wine, an award-winning quarterly review on which he works with Hugh Johnson and Andrew Jefford. Since 2009 he has also been the general editor of the Finest Wines series of regional guides, published in association with University of California Press. He has judged around the world, won prizes for his writing on wine, and is one of the two UK tasters on the Grand Jury Européen. [email protected]
Transcript
Attendee Bios for the 2014 Symposium* 10th annual Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood Napa Valley
Neil Beckett, Faculty Alumnus Neil Beckett ascended what he hoped might be an ivory tower via a first class honors degree in English and medieval history (St. Andrews), a doctorate in medieval history (Magdalen College, Oxford) and a prize fellowship of the Royal Historical Society (University of London). Always equally interested in wine, he soon wanted to spend more time down in the cellar than up in the tower, and between the two did an MBA, managing to wangle a dissertation on white Burgundy. During a year at Lay & Wheeler wine merchants he graduated with distinction in the WSET Diploma and took the top prizes, before going on to Harpers Wine & Spirit Weekly, of which he was for several years contributing editor and for which he wrote a regular column on fine wine. In 2004 he became the first editor of The World of Fine Wine, an award-winning quarterly review on which he works with Hugh Johnson and Andrew Jefford. Since 2009 he has also been the general editor of the Finest Wines series of regional guides, published in association with University of California Press. He has judged around the world, won prizes for his writing on wine, and is one of the two UK tasters on the Grand Jury Européen. [email protected]
Katie K. Bell, Fellowship Winner Katie has been trotting the globe in pursuit of wine, food and travel stories for Forbes, USA Today, Modern Luxury, Decanter and Southern Living for over 12 years. Her work has also appeared in several in-flight magazines including Delta Sky and Silk Air Silkwinds. In the past she worked as senior editor at The Wine Report and she is the co-author of The Everything Guide to Ireland. In 2013 her Forbes.com blog post titled, “Is There a Difference Between Cheap and Expensive Wine?” was a finalist for Wine Blog Post of the Year (Wine Blog Awards), and in 2012 she was awarded the MAGS Association Magnolia Award for excellence in writing and editing. She currently holds a WSET Intermediate Level certificate and lives in Atlanta with her three kids, one dog and one very patient husband. [email protected]
Virginie Boone Boone began her writing career wandering the world for Lonely Planet, contributing to guidebooks on South America, Northern California, France and America's Deep South. She figured it'd be just as much fun to write about her own backyard, Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino, and that led quite naturally to wine, a subject she's covered regularly for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, a New York Times regional newspaper. Her work also appears in Savor Wine Country Magazine and on zester.daily.com; she is the author of Napa Valley and Sonoma: Heart of California Wine Country. Boone reviews California wines for Wine Enthusiast Magazine. [email protected]
Tina Caputo, Fellowship Winner Tina Caputo is the editor-in-chief of the wine industry trade magazine, Vineyard & Winery Management. Before joining V&WM in 2008, she spent five years as the managing editor at Wines & Vines. Throughout her career she has written about wine as a freelancer for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, Harpers Wine & Spirit (UK) and Decanter. She is currently a monthly contributor for ZesterDaily.com. [email protected]
Tricia H. Conover Tricia Conover is the founder of GrapeStone Concepts, an L.L.C. dedicated to wine and travel writing. Tricia is Contributing Wine and Food Editor for PRIME, an online magazine targeting the 55+ high fashioned-woman. Tricia’s blog focus, “Passages to Wine & Health”, is a point-of-view centered on wine, health, and wine tourism. See www.grapestoneconcepts.com. Tricia is an on-going contributor to Tuscan Living magazine, Lucca, Italy. She appeared as a wine professional on KDAF-TV, Dallas. Tricia, is a C.W. P. - Certified Wine Professional, from the Culinary Institute of America and holds a WSET Level 3 award. [email protected]
Joe Czerwinski Managing Editor Joe Czerwinski coordinates all aspects of digital and print production for Wine Enthusiast Magazine as well as helping drive the creative direction of the
dynamic online and print publications. Czerwinski has been a wine journalist, editor and taster for over a decade and is a regular wine panelist, speaker and educator for events and organizations worldwide. Czerwinski rates and reviews the wines of Australia, New Zealand and the Rhône for the magazine. [email protected]
Heidi Cusick Dickerson, Fellowship Winner Author of the newly published Mendocino Roots & Ridges: Wine Notes from America’s Greenest Wine Region, I also wrote Mendocino: The Ultimate Wine & Food Lover’s Guide; and two editions of Sonoma: The Ultimate Winery Guide; a grape glossary and insider pieces on people in the wine industry for Savor, the Press Democrat’s glossy magazine, a piece on Red Wine & Sushi and other articles for the Wine Enthusiast and the Wine Notes column in the Ukiah Daily Journal for three years. [email protected]
Jeb S. Dunnuck Born in Indiana, and an aerospace engineer by training, Jeb Dunnuck moved to upstate New York in 1999 to work for Lockheed Martin, and later to Colorado in 2001 to work for Ball Aerospace. While traveling extensively throughout the wine regions of Europe and the United States, he quickly developed a passion for the wines of the Rhône valley and the Rhone Ranger Movement in California and Washington. To gain a better understanding of the business side of the wine industry, he took a temporary wine retail
position in 2006. Jeb launched the "The Rhône Report" publication and website in 2008 and began releasing a quarterly newsletter reviewing Rhône variety wines from around the world. Completely independent and including coverage on wines from France, Spain, Australia, and both California and Washington in the United States, the publication continued to gain in popularity and subscribers, and by 2013, was read in over 24 countries and seen as one of the leading authorities on Rhône variety wines. In 2013, after being approached by Robert Parker to join The Wine Advocate team, Jeb gave up his engineering career and now writes full-time covering the wines of the Rhône Valley (North and South), Southern France, Washington, and Central & Southern California. He resides in Colorado, with his wife Traci and two dogs, where he pretends to rock climb and race a bicycle. [email protected]
Ann Ward Ernst I'm the editor of The Weekly Calistogan and cover the wine industry in and around Calistoga and Napa Valley. [email protected]
Stella Fong Stella Fong lives, works and plays in Billings, Montana. There she has taught the Wine Studies Classes since 2007 in conjunction with the annual Montana State University Billings Wine and Food Festival. Her articles on food and travel have appeared in Big Sky Journal, Western Art and Architecture, and Blue Water Sailing as well as The Washington Post and Fine Cooking. Fong received her Certified Wine Professional
certification from the CIA in summer of 2008. Currently she is working on finalizing her blog: Sip, Savor and Experience, on land and on water under the big sky at stellafong.com. [email protected]
Janet B. Forman, Fellowship Winner A journalist and film producer, Forman has two Lowell Thomas Gold Medals and a Silver, two Bill Muster Gold Medals - 2014 for Best Cultural Photo and 2011 for Single Subject Portfolio - and was named Pacific Asia Travel Association Journalist of the Year 2000. She has received awards from SOLAS, NATJA, the governments of Belgium and South Africa and two 2013 SATW Eastern Chapter First Place awards. Outlets include Wine Enthusiast, National Geographic Traveler, Premier Traveler and Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia. Forman holds an M.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and writes from her brownstone in Harlem. janetforman.com, [email protected]
Paul Franson, Fellowship Winner After a career in technology-related business journalist and public relations, I started writing full time about wine, travel and related subjects such as food in 1996 when I moved to Napa Valley. Since then, I've written a book about Napa Valley, one on wine marketing, have published the weekly newsletter NapaLife for 10 years, and written hundreds of articles for publications and online media including the Napa Valley Register, Wines & Vines, Wine Business Monthly, Senior Connection, Wine Enthusiast, Decanter, Food & Wine, the San Francisco Chronicle, NapaStyle and Napa Valley Life. [email protected]
Melody L. Fuller Melody writes about high-end food, wine, and travel and was published on a James Beard Award winning site. She has also enjoyed being published in Australia. Melody hopes to share her worldwide experiences in the food and wine industry through a book that is under construction titled, The Table. This book takes the reader through over thirty years of fine wining and dining at home and abroad. Melody is close to completing her first memoir, One Suitcase Now, A Woman’s Travel Confessions and Recollections. Melody holds a Master of Fine Arts, Creative Writing; and a Master of Public Administration. [email protected]
Richard Jennings Richard Jennings is among IntoWine.com’s Top 100 Most Influential People in the U.S. Wine Industry. He writes a weekly wine column for HuffingtonPost.com, and is a regular contributor both to Snooth.com and to IntoWine.com. Richard is the author of over 38,000 tasting notes on CellarTracker.com. His blog, RJonWine.com has been a finalist for the Wine Blog Awards for the last three years. Richard delivers occasional seminars on wine for the trade and serves as moderator on panels for public wine tasting events. Richard is a graduate of Stanford University and Columbia University School of Law. [email protected]
Marianne Karas I'm the wine columnist for Venice Magazine, a regional magazine published on the Suncoast of Florida. I am a Certified Specialist of Wine from the Society of Wine Educators and an appellate attorney. [email protected]
James Knight, Fellowship Winner Two paths diverged in a yellow vineyard, and I—come to think of it, it might have been three or four; maybe a good half dozen paths—first found inspiration in writing about wine in a dog-eared paperback copy of Vines in the Sun, by 20th century journalist Idwal Jones. I have found that since 2007, writing the wine column for the North Bay Bohemian, Sonoma and Napa County’s alternative weekly newspaper, has made all the difference. [email protected]
Rick Kushman, Fellowship Winner Rick Kushman is a New York Times bestselling author, the wine commentator for Capital Public Radio, Sacramento’s NPR station, and an award-wining journalist who was a longtime columnist for The Sacramento Bee. He’s the regular guest host for Insight, CPR’s highest profile show, has been nationally syndicated and continues to write about wine and food. He’s also covered television, politics and business, and his writing has appeared in publications ranging from Time to Sommelier Journal to Daily Variety. Rick is also the Co-Chief Judge of the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition, and is the author of “The Barefoot Spirit,” the bestseller about the founding and unique marketing of Barefoot Cellars. His first book is “A Moveable Thirst: Tales and Tastes from a Season in Napa Wine Country.” [email protected]
Tony Lawrence Tony "Winechef" Lawrence is a trusted wine and food pairing specialist. As a talented chef, sommelier, international wine and food judge, educator/lecturer and writer, he designs wine pairing programs for the global wine trade, associations, groups, college culinary/wine programs and wine festivals. His company, A Chef For You, LLC, focuses on wine and food as a lifestyle by educating about their history, art, science of terroir, sense of place and culture bridging wine to food as one. Tony started at the age of 13 cooking at a camp, then in restaurants and wineries in Maryland then vocational cooking school. He received a full scholarship to Widener University's Hotel/Restaurant program,
earning a BS degree. He honed his innate love of food interning and training at the Hotel Krone Assmannshausen in Rudesheim, Germany. He was a member of the inaugural class that launched The Culinary Institute of America Pro-Chef program at Greystone in Napa Valley in 1998. In 2000, he completed the Wine and Food Pairing for Chefs program at the CIA Greystone and a graduated from the Wine Educator Napa Valley Wine Academy in 2010. This will be Tony's eighth year attending The Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood Napa Valley. He is a member and lecturer with the Society of Wine Educators, American Wine Society, German Wine Society, Tasters Guild Society, and the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine & Food Festival. Lawrence was appointed to the Pennsylvania Wine and Spirit Advisory Counsel [PLCB] in 2010. The "Winechef " has over 34 years experience in the food & wine industry serving in various capacities including restaurants, corporate, motion picture and private catering, chef for the Philadelphia Eagles organization, and NFL Films. He was also the executive chef at two highly regarded clubs in Pennsylvania: the Germantown Cricket Club and the Merion Golf Club. [email protected]
EveAnn M. Lovero Business School Professor that writes Italy Travel Guides at www.vino-con-vista.com and blogs about travel and wine events at www.vinoconvistablog.me. [email protected]
Elin McCoy, Faculty Alumna Elin McCoy, a writer on wine and spirits for Bloomberg News, Shattered, and Food & Wine, is author of The Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker Jr. and the Reign of American Taste. Elin met Parker in 1981 when she was his first magazine editor, and
she has followed his extraordinary rise ever since. She is fascinated with the written word and with the wine industry as history and as it is active now. [email protected]
Glenn T. McGourty Glenn McGourty is a University of California Farm Advisor who works with winegrowers and wineries in Lake and Mendocino Counties. He assists growers and wineries on all aspects of growing high quality fruit, including viticultural practices, designing vineyards and selecting high quality plant material. He is the University of California's expert on growing Mediterranean wine grape varieties; and alternative farming practices including sustainable, organic and biodynamic winegrowing. He has been an invited speaker to share his research and knowledge at conferences all over the USA, Canada, Italy, France, Spain, England, Sweden, Germany and Brazil. He is a regular columnist for Wines & Vines, and contributes articles to Practical Winery & Vineyard Magazine, Vineyard and Winery Management, as well as other trade journals. He is the co-editor and contributing author of 4 UC technical manuals. [email protected]
Sophie Menin Sophie Menin is a New York-based wine and travel writer whose work has appeared in Barrons, Wine Spectator, Departures, The Daily Beast, Saveur, The New York Times and Fine Cooking, among others. She is a contributing editor at Bottlenotes, a wine social media website that provides the wine content for Epicurious. She earned her MA in Cultural Reporting and Criticism from NYU and is currently a WSET Diploma
candidate. In 2011, she was shortlisted for the Louis Roederer International Wine Writer Awards in the Emerging Wine Writer category.
Kathy Merchant Kathy holds a WSET Level 4 Diploma Society of Wine Educators’ Certified Specialist of Wine. With fellow wine educator Amy Neyer, Kathy co-writes Vino Ventures (Facebook or www.vinoventurescincinnati.com). Kathy has also written about food and wine for Cincinnati’s Venue Magazine online and a print feature about Monteverdi Tuscany, and published a blog series on Burgundy for travel company French Wine Explorers. She previously served as resident wine educator for 1215 Wine Bar & Coffee Lab, where she is also an investor, and in 2013 partnered with The Painted Chef to host a “Perfect Pairings” series exploring food and wine. Consultations have included The Grotto Wine Bar, US Bank Ascent Private Capital Management, and custom wine education and events. Kathy is also president/CEO of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation. [email protected]
Ben Narasin Ben Narasin launched his wine writing career at the wine writers symposium nine years ago and currently writes about wine, food, travel and luxury lifestyle for various publications. He is the restaurant critic for San Francisco and the SF Peninsula for Gayot. [email protected]
Kerry A. Newberry, Fellowship Winner Kerry Newberry is a Portland-based freelance writer who loves chasing stories about people through food, wine and farms. She contributes regularly to regional and national magazines, newspapers and online publications covering food and wine, farms, travel and lifestyle. Her favorite stories have taken her from the forest to the coast and into the kitchen—foraging with chefs, traveling by skiff with oyster farmers and cooking at the International Pinot Noir Celebration. Her work has appeared in The Oregonian’s MIX Magazine, Forbes, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Wine & Spirits, Fodor’s Travel Publications and more. She will write for shoes. [email protected]
Kara Newman, Fellowship Winner Kara Newman is the Spirits Editor for Wine Enthusiast Magazine, and author of Cocktails for a Crowd (Chronicle Books). Her work appears in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Slate, Imbibe and Arrive magazine. She is also the founder/curator of the Drink.Think literary reading series. [email protected]
Monica Prelle, Fellowship Winner As a young snowboarding bum, Monica Prelle moved to Mammoth Lakes, Calif. to pursue winter adventures. Fresh out of journalism school, she found a job in a fine dinning restaurant so she could work at night and play all day. Monica recently retired from the restaurant business and is working as a full time freelance writer covering the great outdoors, adventure travel, and wine. She has contributed to About.com, Alaska Airlines Magazine, Afar Media, Bespoke Magazine, the Matador Network, Montage Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, and many other regional and trade publications. [email protected]
Michael Reiss Michael Reiss is an entrepreneur, management consultant and executive coach. He has completed advanced wine studies at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, California. He is the Editor, Chief photographer, and Webmaster of www.foodandwineaccess.com. He speaks German, French, Spanish, and Japanese, and has lived in these countries as part of his life-long travel adventures. His formal education includes a Masters Degree, M.B.A., and Doctorate Degree from Occidental College, UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Nova Southwestern University. Website: www.foodandwineaccess.com [email protected]
Thomas R. Riley Tom Riley is a freelance wine writer and educator. He currently writes for The Alcohol Professor, the online magazine of the New York International Beverage Competition; Nosh, the food and wine supplement of Berkeleyside.com, and the American Winery Guide. Prior to joining the world of wine, Tom taught high school literature and rhetoric, and freelanced as a literary editor. He began his career in public relations, overseeing publications for colleges and universities in New York and Massachusetts. Tom holds a master’s degree in literature from the University of Connecticut. He blogs at The Grape Belt (www.thegrapebelt.com) and lives in Alameda. He is halfway through the WSET Level IV (Diploma) course of studies. [email protected]
Laura D. Sanchez, Fellowship Winner Laura Sanchez has farmed her own Syrah vine at Bien Nacido Vineyards in order to chronicle the challenges of viticulture. She’s brewed batches of beer to understand and explain the molecular intricacies of fermentation. She’s worked alongside pruning crews to document the efforts of the industry’s unsung heroes. In essence she lives to experience and share wine’s intrigue from fresh perspectives. And her curiosity is insatiable. Laura has worked in the publishing industry since 2003 as a writer and editor of both print and online media and is the former managing editor of Destination Wine Country magazine. She currently covers the Central Coast wine region for Edible Santa Barbara and Santé magazine. [email protected]
Patricia Savoie, Fellowship Winner Patricia Savoie is a freelance wine, food and travel based in NYC. She is the wine columnist for ICON magazine. Her articles have appeared on a regular basis in the recently discontinued Sommelier Journal. She is a columnist for Beverage Media, writing on "The New York City Wine List." Pat is a long-time member of the Wine Media Guild of New York, an association of professional wine writers, and has been Co-Chair for five years. She is co-author the Fairleigh Dickinson University online wine course, "Discovering the World of Wine." Her book, A Wine Tasting Course (McKay 1978), was the first book that taught people how to learn about wine. [email protected]
Pam Strayer Author specializing in apps, sites and books about organically or Biodynamically grown wines including the 3 app series Biodynamic Wine Finder (releasing Jan. 2014) and the 2 Organically Napa apps (releasing Feb. 2014). [email protected]
Diane Sukiennik Diane Sukiennik is an internationally recognized writer, coach, keynote speaker, consultant, educator and licensed therapist. She is the author of The Career Fitness Program: Exercising Your Options, 10th edition, Prentice Hall, the most widely used text in colleges and universities in the subject area. A self-proclaimed ‘leisurologist," she speaks French and Spanish, is an avid world traveler and is a freelance food, wine and lifestyle writer with a well established website, www.foodandwineaccess.com. Her formal education includes a Masters Degree and Doctorate Degree from Columbia University and Nova Southwest University and advance training at the Wine Program, CIA, Napa. Website: www.foodandwineaccess.com [email protected]
Sean P. Sullivan, Fellowship Winner Sean P. Sullivan is the founder of Washington Wine Report, an on-line publication dedicated to the wines and wineries of the Pacific Northwest. In 2013 the site was named ‘Best Single Subject Wine Blog’ by the Wine Blog Awards, its third year as a finalist. Sullivan is also a Contributing Editor at Wine Enthusiast, covering Canada, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. He is also the Northwest Correspondent for Vineyard & Winery Management. Sullivan has written about wine for Seattle Metropolitan, Decanter, Washington State Wine Touring Guide, Edible Seattle, Washington Tasting Room, and Wine Press Northwest. He resides in Seattle, Washington. [email protected]
Fred Swan Fred is a SF Bay Area-based wine writer and an authority on California wines and wineries. He holds Diploma, Wine & Spirits a Certified Sommelier and California Wine Appellation Specialist certifications. In 2009, he was inducted into the Eschansonnerie des Papes, the honorary society of the Chateauneuf-du-Pape AOC. His writing appears in various publications, and at his own site, NorCalWine.com. In addition to his writing, Fred is an instructor for the San Francisco Wine School and WSET, judges wines, conducts focused wine tastings, dinners and seminars and leads tours of Northern California wine regions. [email protected]
Luke Sykora, Frank Prial Fellowship Winner Luke Sykora is a senior editor for Wine & Spirits Magazine. He reviews most California wines for the magazine, regularly writes columns and features, and runs the blind tasting panels for US wines. He's also published work with DRAFT, Tasting Table, Rain Taxi Review of Books and other publications. [email protected]
Pat Thomson, Faculty Alumna Italian wine is Pat Thomson’s beat, and the village of Varinella (pop. 252) near Gavin her home when not in Brooklyn. Thomson’s feature stories and photographs regularly appear in Tastes of Italia, an Italian cooking magazine where she has been a contributing writer since 2002. Other outlets include Decanter, Wine Enthusiast, Uncorked, and Gastronomica, as well as her blog Living La Dolce Vita, a sister site of La Dolce Vita Wine Tours, the wine tour company she cofounded with her Italian husband in 1999. [email protected]
W. R. Tish, Fellowship Winner W. R. Tish is the pen name of Pittsburgh native William R. Tisherman, known in the wine trade simply as Tish. After a psychology degree (Harvard 1982), an MFA in Creative Writing (American University) and a proofreading stint at Friends of Wine, he went on to edit Wine Enthusiast from 1988-’98. Via his New York-based firm Wine For All (“Pairing Wine and Fun Since the 20th Century”), Tish designs tastings, seminars and dinners in addition to freelancing. He was founding editor of PalatePress.com (2009); became managing editor of the trade “bible” Beverage Media in 2011; and is active on Twitter (@tishwine). [email protected]
Kort E. van Bronkhorst Sometimes a wine writer, sometimes a tech marketer, always playing with words...that's Kort in a nutshell. After a promising start in 2013, he is looking to take his wine writing experience to the next level in 2014. [email protected]
Bill Ward, Fellowship Winner Bill Ward has been covering wine for the better part of a century (the 21st). His “Liquid Assets” column runs in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and he has a wine website, www.decant-this.com. A longtime editor who wrote “on the side,” he became the world’s oldest cub reporter a year after winning a James Beard Award for a series on Italian regional cuisine. He lives in Hopkins, Minn., with his wife, Sandy. [email protected] * For speaker bios, please go here.
