EDITORIAL BOARD
EDITOR
David Vogels, CWP
David Vogels, CWP,
has been the Editor of Sommelier Journal since its inception in 2007. He is a
Certified Wine Professional of the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and has
passed the introductory level of the Court of Master Sommeliers.
David is also Executive Editor of the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics, based in Boulder, Colo., where he has been on the editorial staff since 1981. His writing has been published in various newspapers and magazines around the country. After graduating first in his class from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1975, he also earned a master’s degree in music literature from the University of Colorado. As a freelance classical organist, David is currently the National Councillor for Competitions and New Music for the American Guild of Organists. In his remaining time, he enjoys golf, skiing, and raising and showing Morgan horses.
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Beverley Blanning, MW
Beverley Blanning is an independent wine journalist, based in London. She is a
regular feature writer and taster for Decanter magazine and
writes for a number of other publications internationally. She contributes to Tom
Stevenson’s Wine Report and Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine, on the subjects of both wine and health. She
also has a particular interest in organic and biodynamic wine. Beverley is an
experienced international competition judge and travels widely. She also presents and
educates about wine through consumer tastings, corporate and trade events, and
Christie’s Wine Course. She has led consumer wine tours across France, Spain, and
South America. Beverley became a Master of Wine in 2001, passing the examination in
her first attempt.
Randy Caparoso
Randy Caparoso enjoyed a multi-award-winning career as a restaurant wine
professional for over 25 years. Since put out to pasture, he is now a freelance wine
journalist, living in a sea of old-vine Zinfandel in Lodi, Calif. Besides penning the
Bottom Line column for Sommelier Journal, he is a regular contributor to
The Tasting Panel magazine, San Joaquin Magazine, and Lodi
News-Sentinel. He has also bylined a biweekly wine column for his hometown
newspaper (The Honolulu Advertiser, 1981 to 2002). As a founding partner of
the Roy’s family of restaurants, where he was VP/corporate wine director for 13
years, he earned the distinctions of being named Santé’s first Wine &
Spirits Professional of the Year (1988) and Restaurant Wine’s Wine Marketer of
the Year (1992 & 1998).
Catherine Fallis, MS, ACWP
Catherine
Fallis, aka grape goddess®, is the first person in the world to have earned both the
Master Sommelier diploma from the International Court of Master Sommeliers and the
Advanced Certified Wine Professional diploma from the Culinary Institute of America.
She is founder and president of Planet Grape LLC ( www.planetgrape.com ), a wine consulting firm
providing education, content, sommelier services, and innovative custom cellar
systems from Revel Cellars for restaurants, wine bars, retail locations, and personal
collections.
Catherine is a contributing editor for Sommelier Journal and Santé, editor-at-large for Touring and Tasting , associate reviewer for appellationamerica.com, frequent contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, and numerous other publications, and co-author most recently of Great Boutique Wines You Can Buy Online (Silverback Books). She is an adjunct instructor at the Culinary Institute of America and the Professional Culinary Institute; a sought-after speaker, event host, and educator for corporations, consumers, and the trade; and one of a handful of female professional sabreurs in the world.
Introduced to wine while backpacking around Europe in her college days, she later honed her skills when she went back to live in Florence and Paris. Upon her return to New York, she worked with chef Alain Sailhac at Le Cirque, Leona Helmsley at the Helmsley Palace Hotel, and Kevin Zraly at Windows on the World. Her last full-time sommelier position was as Michael Mina’s wine director at Aqua in San Francisco. Catherine can be found on the web at www.planetgrape.com, and can be reached by e-mail at grapegoddess@planetgrape.com or at (415) 425-5828.
DAVID FURER, CWE
Since 1986, David Furer has performed many roles in the beverage industry. Work
as a buyer in England and U.S. retail shops led to an opportunity as a full-time
wine, spirits, and beer judge and writer, contributing to Wine Enthusiast. To
deepen his knowledge, he’s enjoyed working at wineries in Germany’s Mosel, Rheingau,
and Württemberg regions. For four years, he was the U.K.’s Sherry Ambassador, engaged
in promoting this classic wine to the trade, press, and consumers and contributing to
the best-selling Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book on the subject; he was also
among the first crop of Certified Sherry Educators. He’s led wine classes at the
University of Chicago and consumer classes, seminars, and corporate events elsewhere
in the United States, Germany, and Great Britain, including guest lectures at Oxford
and Cambridge universities. He has appeared on BBC Radio shows and was the host of the 2011 Climate Change & Wine conference as well as the
speakers' coordinator and co-host of Wine Future Hong Kong 2011.
Since 1994, publications in the United States, Europe, and Australia have carried his reporting, feature articles, and restaurant and drinks reviews. He contributed the Luxembourg section of Tom Stevenson’s Wine Report, authored the 2005 book Wine Places (Mitchell Beazley), and contributed several sections to Opus Vino (Dorling Kindersley). Since 2002, he’s been a member of the Circle of Wine Writers, having served on its Executive Committee since 2005; from 2007 on, he's served on the board of directors of the wine journalist organization FIJEV. David has been nominated for aJames Beard Foundation Award for his food and wine writing. He is a judge for several wine and spirit competitions in Europe and the United States, and was the 2007 International Judge for Australia’s Sydney Royal Wine Show.
Trade organizations including Wines of Uruguay, Family Estates Slovenia, Wine Roads of Northern Greece, the Sherry Institute, Wines from Spain, Germany’s VDP, and Aquitaine North America have retained his services as a consultant and trainer. A native of Chicago and California, David travels the world while residing in Austin, Texas. He may be e-mailed at rerufd@yahoo.co.uk and Skyped at dfurer.
Joyce Goldstein
Joyce Goldstein is a restaurant and food consultant and columnist, a cooking teacher,
a prolific cookbook author, and the former chef-owner of Square One Restaurant in San
Francisco. Her next book, Inside the California Food Revolution: Thirty Years That
Changed Our Culinary Consciousness, will be released in the fall of 2013
(University of California Press).
Jamie Goode
Dr. Jamie Goode is a
U.K.-based wine writer with a special interest in the science of wine. A weekly
columnist for The Sunday Express, he writes for a range of wine magazines and
for his own website, www.wineanorak.com. His first book, The Science
of Wine, was published by the University of California Press in 2006.
Jim Meehan
Jim Meehan is a New York
City-based bar operator, consultant, and author of The PDT Cocktail Book,
whose passion for beverage service has helped him become one of the most celebrated
figures in the industry. His career in hospitality spans more than 15 years, from
Madison, Wisc., to Manhattan, where he runs the James Beard Award-winning East
Village bar PDT. Jim is the deputy editor of Food & Wine's annual cocktail
book, serves as an advisor to Banks Rums, and is on Liquor.com's prestigious advisory
board. His work has been featured in magazines and newspapers and on television, the
radio, and the iPad app Speakeasy Cocktails: Learn from the Modern Mixologists.
Marnie Old
Sommelier and author Marnie Old is one of the country’s leading wine speakers,
known for her engaging performances and keen insights. Old writes a humorous wine
column for the Philadelphia Daily News and teaches at New York City’s
luxurious Astor Center as well as contributing to Sommelier Journal. Her
latest book, Wine Simplified (Inkling, 2012), has received a Publishing
Innovation Award for Best App Nonfiction; she is also author of Wine Secrets,
a collection of concise and practical wine advice for beginners shared by 40 of the
world’s top wine experts, and co-author of He Said Beer, She Said Wine, an
entertaining debate on food pairing, with beer legend Sam Calagione, founder of
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.
Formerly the director of wine studies for Manhattan’s esteemed French Culinary Institute, Marnie has also served as the founding education chairperson for the American Sommelier Association. Her company, Old Wines, advises restaurants, retailers, consumers, and trade associations.
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Robert Bath, MS
Master Sommelier Bob Bath has spent the last 30 years working in almost every aspect
of the food and wine industries, from restaurant service to importing. In addition to
running his own sales and marketing consulting company, RLB Wine Group, he teaches at
the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, Calif., where he heads
the CIA's groundbreaking Accelerated Wine and Beverage Program.
Jesse Becker, MS, CWE
Jesse Becker is one of 197 Master Sommeliers in the world. He has worked
for some of the country's top restaurants, including Tra Vigne in the Napa Valley,
Charlie Trotter's and NoMI in Chicago, Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colo., and
The Boiler Room in Omaha, Neb. His training has included three harvests: Miner Family
Winery in Napa Valley in 2001, Maison Camille Giroud in Burgundy in 2004, and
Alphonse Mellot in Sancerre in 2008. He has traveled extensively throughout the
world's winegrowing areas.
In addition to teaching wine at both the trade and consumer levels, Jesse is the co-creator of www.WineToMatch.com and an import-portfolio specialist for Winebow. He resides in Chicago.
Shayn Bjornholm, MS
Having turned a serious eye toward wine only eight years ago, Shayn has attained a
level of career achievement on a global scale usually reserved for decades’ worth of
effort. Based in Seattle, he is currently the education director for the Washington
Wine Commission, the marketing arm for the wines of Washington state. He comes to his
current position after having served as wine director at Canlis Restaurant for six
years. During his tenure, Canlis garnered numerous awards for its vinous efforts, and
two Canlis sommeliers were recognized as Wine & Spirits Top Young
Sommeliers in the United States in consecutive years—the only time one restaurant has
achieved such a feat. In 2005, Shayn earned the title of Master Sommelier on his
first effort, thus becoming only the 10th person in the world to receive the
prestigious Remi Krug Cup. Other recognitions have included 2006 Sommelier of the
Year from Seattle Magazine, 2005 Regional Wine Professional of the Year from
Santé, 2004 Most Trustworthy Sommeliers in the United States from
Gentleman’s Quarterly, and 2004 Sommelier of the Year from The Seattle
Times . A wine columnist for Seattle Magazine , writing bimonthly articles
on the Pacific Northwest’s booming wine industry, Shayn has also been published in
The Chalk Hill Sommelier Guide, Sommelier Journal, and Luxe .
His love of the stage (he was a New York City actor in another life) and joy in
educating people about the wonders of wine has led him to become an entertaining
fixture on the national wine festival circuit, having appeared as a panelist at the
Aspen Food & Wine Classic, the Kapalua Wine and Food Festival, Cornucopia,
and Taste WA. As an expert voice on wine, he has appeared in articles in Food
& Wine, Wine Spectator, Food Arts, Wine & Spirits,
Gourmet, and Wine Enthusiast. In 2007, Shayn was featured on the
Fine Living Network’s “I Want Your Job” as the sommelier everyone wants to
be.
Shayn’s most treasured position in the industry, however, is as a wine
educator and mentor. He has been a course instructor and examination adjudicator
since 2005 for the Court of Master Sommeliers, and he serves as a judge for the
Chaines des Rotisseurs’ “Jeune Sommelier du Monde” competitions each year. From 2002
to 2006, he taught the 12-week, classroom-style Level One and Two courses for the
International Sommelier Guild. Even amid such honors, it is his one-on-one,
under-the-radar mentoring of scores of the best and brightest in the wine industry
that stands as Shayn’s highest professional achievement.
Matthew Conway, ASA
In June 2008, when
Restaurant Marc Forgione opened in New York City, general manager and sommelier
Matthew Conway created a beverage program that articulated the restaurant’s approach
to fine dining, including an intuitive, inventive, and carefully constructed
selection of approachable wines. Marc Forgione was awarded a Michelin star in the
2010, 2011, 2012 guides, along with consecutive cocktail symbols, which recognize
Conway’s program and reflect the growing trends in cocktail culture. Like Forgione,
Conway trained professionally in France, and their dual commitment to world-class
service is felt from the moment guests walk into the dining room.
Conway moved to New York in 2004 to attend the American Sommelier Association, where he completed the 24-week course in Viticulture and Vinification. In March 2005, Andrew Bell, president and CEO of the ASA, recommended Conway to Gray Kunz, owner of Café Gray, and he was hired as the restaurant’s sommelier. Working alongside renowned wine director Alexander Adlgasser and general manager Richard Hollocou, Conway proved to have his own taste and style; upon Adlgasser’s departure, Conway was named beverage director, a position he held for over three years; he helped open Kunz’s second New York venture, Grayz, before moving to work with Marc Forgione.
In the summer of 2010, Conway was asked to join the prestigious sommelier team at Taillevent in Paris. With Chef Forgione’s blessing, he accepted and became only the third American sommelier to complete the three-month training program in the restaurant's storied 65-year existence. During his three-month, stay he worked with one of the largest wine cellars in the world while learning the intimate details of traditional three-Michelin-star French service.
In 2011, Conway was asked to participate in a number of prestigious industry events, serving as a judge at the ASA's Best Sommelier in America competition and as a sommelier at the James Beard Awards. He worked with Krug to create its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring Roger Dagorn, MS, and he hosted the award ceremony at Restaurant Marc Forgione. With Chef Forgione and winemaker Jamey Whetstone, he also organized the first Coast to Coast charity event, a one-of-a-kind wine dinner that raised over $30,000 for Feeding America and attracted top chefs in New York City and winemakers from California.
Conway has contributed articles about his creative cocktails and wine selections to Santé, Food & Wine and Bon Appétit.
Fred Dexheimer, MS
Master Sommelier Fred Dexheimer is an award-winning
sommelier and mixologist. He has spent the last 10 years of his career in New York
City, first working as a bartender, cellar rat, sommelier, educator, and wine and
beverage director with esteemed restaurant establishments such as Restaurant Daniel,
Gramercy Tavern, and the Jean Georges Group. In 2004, he joined highly esteemed chef
Laurent Tourondel to become the opening sommelier and beverage director for BLT Steak
to rave reviews. When BLT Steak expanded their culinary wings and opened BLT Fish in
2005, Fred took over the full responsibilities of wine and beverage director for the
newly formed BLT Restaurant Group. While with BLT, Fred created and managed their
national wine and beverage programs, eventually opening and overseeing more than a
dozen restaurants with locations in New York City; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.;
Miami; Atlanta; Las Vegas; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Puerto Rico, all to wide
international acclaim.
Over his career, Fred has been awarded a number of accolades, including awards from Wines and Spirits , Starwine , and Star Chefs . In 2007, Fred passed the rigorous Court of Master Sommeliers Master Level Exam, becoming the 78th Master Sommelier in the United States. In addition, Fred has competed in many sommelier competitions, including the “Best Sommelier in the World Competition” as the representative from the United States in 2007 in Rhodes, Greece.
He has offered his expertise and experience to many of the world’s leading wine publications as a taster, commentator, contributor, and panelist. His credits include The New York Times , Food and Wine , Wine and Spirits , Wine Spectator , Beverage Media , Food Arts , Sommelier Journal , and Wine Enthusiast . He has also been featured in many of the world’s leading lifestyle publications, including Time Magazine , Men’s Vogue , Cosmopolitan , Newsweek , and People magazine, and has been featured live on Martha Stewart Radio and MSNBC.
Additionally, Fred is an accomplished mixologist and cocktail enthusiast. He has had several of his cocktail creations published in The New York Times, Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, Cosmopolitan, and Bill Hamilton’s Shaken and Stirred.
Fred is the founder of Juiceman Consulting, a wine, spirits, and cocktail consulting agency. He resides in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Christie Dufault, ACWP
After spending five years
as wine director at Restaurant Gary Danko and two years as wine director at Quince,
Christie Dufault, a San Francisco-based sommelier and wine educator, is currently one
of the sommeliers at RN74. For seven years, she has been a member of the wine faculty
at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, Calif. She is a
candidate for the Master Sommelier diploma and continues to support wine education in
every way possible.
Tim Gaiser, MS
Tim Gaiser is a nationally renowned wine expert and Master
Sommelier. From 2003 to 2011, he served as the education chair and the education
director for the Court of Master Sommeliers, Americas. He now serves as an adjunct
professor for the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute
of America at Greystone in Napa Valley.
Tim has experience in all phases of the wine industry—online, wholesale, retail, winery, and restaurant—and has done stints at Heitz Cellar in the Napa Valley and Bix and Cypress Club restaurants in San Francisco. He has developed wine-education programs for restaurants, schools, and distributors and taught classes on wine and spirits at every level of education. His client list includes Constellation, Foster's, Diageo, American Express, Evian, Pepsico International, Franklin-Templeton, Wells Fargo, Wines of Germany, the VDP, and the Consorzios for Prosecco Superiore, Chianti, Chianti Classico, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and Brunello di Montalcino. Prior to developing his wine expertise, Tim received an M.A. in Classical Music from the University of Michigan. He played classical trumpet as a freelance professional and as an extra with the San Francisco Opera.
DAVID GLANCY, MS, CWE, CSS, FWS
David Glancy is the founder and chief education officer of the San Francisco
Wine School, established in 2011. He is one of only 197 people in the world to pass
the Court of Master Sommeliers' Master exam (MS) and one of only 12 to also pass the
Society of Wine Educators' Certified Wine Educator exam (CWE). In addition, he has
passed the Certified Specialist of Spirits exam (CSS) and French Wine Scholar exam
(FWS).
The San Francisco Wine School offers professional wine studies, including preparation for the French Wine Scholar (FWS), Society of Wine Educators’ Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW), its own trademarked California Wine Appellation Specialist (CWAS), and more. Glancy also runs SFsommelier Consulting. Previously, he created, managed ,and taught the Certified Sommelier Program at the Professional Culinary Institute (now known as International Culinary Center California). During that time, he secured the partnership for the school with the Court of Master Sommeliers and helped over 400 students pass the Court of MS’ Certified Sommelier exam (CS). Glancy also taught wine and business management at Le Cordon Bleu’s California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. He has worked in the industry for over 20 years, working throughout the United States and in Asia, and has traveled to many of the wine regions of the world. His first love was a glass of Vouvray, soon followed by another glass. Today, he could happily live on Champagne alone.
Timothy L. O'Neal
Timothy O'Neal
started his wine career by volunteering to manage a small wine list at an upscale
bistro in St. Louis, Mo., in 2001. After 15 years of bussing, serving, and
“sommelteering,” O'Neal left St. Louis for Kansas City; following a one-year stint at
JJ's, O'Neal was hired on as sommelier of Avenues Bistro in 2006. His award-winning
inaugural wine list was called “smart, sassy, and eclectic” by the Kansas City
Star.
Named Sommelier of the Year 2011 by Kansas City Magazine, O’Neal, now Avenues' wine director, is best known locally for his Monday night wine-dinner series, including Iron Sommelier. As a writer, he has contributed to Santé as well as Sommelier Journal; his colleagues hear threats of an emerging blog and an eventual book.
Bobby Stuckey, MS
Bobby began his career working in restaurants in Arizona; he moved to Colorado
in 1995 to join the staff of The Little Nell restaurant in Aspen as a sommelier.
During his five-year tenure, the restaurant received numerous awards for wine and
service.
In 2000, Bobby joined chef Thomas Keller at The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif. Within his first year, he received the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Wine Service award, and San Francisco Magazine recognized him as Wine Director of the Year. He also met his future business partner, chef de partie Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson.
Pursuing their vision of opening a neighborhood restaurant reminiscent of the Frascas they had visited in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, Lachlan and Bobby opened their restaurant, Frasca Food and Wine, in August 2004 in Boulder, Colo. Having researched and traveled throughout Italy many times, both were deeply inspired by this region in particular—the international influences of its cuisine, the profusion of local ingredients in its rustic yet elegant dishes, the passionate relationship between its food and wine, and the gracious hospitality of the locals.
Bobby earned the Master Sommelier diploma from the Court of Master Sommeliers in 2004. In 2008, he was nominated by the James Beard Foundation for the Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional award. This distinction notwithstanding, he walks the dining room nightly, enthusiastically dispensing advice and recommendations and sharing his passion for wine with Frasca guests.
Alder Yarrow
Since January 2004, Alder Yarrow has been publishing Vinography.com, where he
writes daily about wines, the wine world, and good restaurants around the globe.
San Francisco Magazine called Alder "the wine world's brightest
cyberstar."
Started as a personal project to keep track of Alder’s notes about food and wine, Vinography has grown a large and devoted international readership. It was most recently named Best Overall Wine Blog at the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards.
In both his writing and his selected postings of news and miscellany from the world of wine, Alder tries to create an alternative to the traditional sources and styles of wine journalism. Vinography concentrates on sharing the stories, the people, and the passion behind wine from a decidedly down-to-earth perspective, often exploring the quirky or controversial aspects of wine.
Alder is also a columnist reporting on the American wine scene for JancisRobinson.com.
He currently lives in San Francisco with his wife, Ruth.
Brett Zimmerman, MS
Born and raised in Colorado, Brett Zimmerman took a position with Domaine
Select in fall 2007 as its regional manager for the mountains and desert. After
completing college with a degree in business administration from the University of
Colorado, Brett moved to Chicago, where he accepted a position as a sommelier at the
world-acclaimed restaurant Charlie Trotter’s. He then moved to San Francisco to
become the sommelier at Aqua.
Brett’s experience in Chicago and San Francisco provided him with the skills and desire to return to Colorado to open his own restaurant with a business partner from Aqua. Mateo, a popular Provençal-style restaurant in Boulder, opened in fall 2000. After dedicating three years to Mateo, Brett took a position with Southern Wine and Spirits to focus his energy on his passion for wine. He spent four years as general manager of Southern's American Fine Wine Division in Colorado.
In spring 2007, Brett achieved the Master Sommelier diploma from the Court of Master Sommeliers.