Luminaries

Kale Anderson

Kale Anderson is the director of winemaking at Pahlmeyer Winery. As a California native, his interest in the wine industry led him to earn a B.S. in Viticulture and Enology from U.C. Davis in 2002. Since then he has held positions at Colgin Cellar’s Pritchard Hill Estate, Terra Valentine, Cliff Lede Vineyards, and finally Pahlmeyer Winery. His passion for producing wines is 10 years strong, and far from finished.

Eric Asimov

Eric Asimov is the chief wine critic of The New York Times and the author of “How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto,’’ publish in October 2012 by William Morow.  His weekly column appears in the Dining section of The Times, and he contributes to the Diner’s Journal blog on The Times’s web site. Naturally, he is on Twitter, too, @EricAsimov. Before he started writing full-time about wine in 2004, Asimov wrote primarily about restaurants and food. He created the $25 and Under restaurant reviews in 1992 and wrote them through 2004. He is a co-author of five editions of The New York Times Guide to Restaurants, and published four editions of “$25 and Under: A Guide to the Best Inexpensive Restaurants in New York.’’

Christopher Barefoot

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Christopher joined Flowers as Estate Director in April of 2010 with over a decade of fine wine sales and marketing experience.  Prior to Flowers, Christopher was the Estate Director for the iconic Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa Valley and has also worked with Estancia Winery in Monterey County and for the Symington Family Port Companies which holds prestigious brands such as Graham’s, and Dow’s.  After many years in consumer goods marketing, including several with the Coca-Cola Company, he is delighted to have the opportunity to reach out to the marketplace and share the story of the pioneering efforts of Joan and Walt Flowers in one of California’s most remote growing regions.

Tony Biagi

San Mateo native Tony Biagi is a fourth generation Californian, whose first experience with wine was watching his father make modest amounts of a private label from a family friend’s vineyard in Lodi. In the mid-1990s, Tony bolstered his practical oenology experience working at Duckhorn Vineyards under the esteemed Tom Rinaldi. After starting at Duckhorn as an oenologist in 1995, Biagi was named assistant winemaker and subsequently was appointed head winemaker for Duckhorn’s Paraduxx label in 1998. 

In March of 2003, Tony joined the PlumpJack Group as winemaker for the company’s PlumpJack estate winery in Napa Valley, and was later also named winemaker for the group’s second winery when CADE was founded on Howell Mountain in 2005. Tony’s wines have achieved extraordinary marks from the world’s top critics, with two of his PlumpJack wines earning 99 and 98 points respectively from Robert Parker, and another wine from CADE earning 98 points from Parker in only its second vintage.

Tony joined Hourglass in 2012, seeing the new position as another opportunity to make estate-bottled wines from two of Napa’s most extraordinary parcels of land. 

Jack Bittner

Upon graduating from Boston College in 1992, Jack Bittner packed up his new passion and headed for the Napa Valley. He’s been there ever since. He first worked at a pair of fine Napa Valley boutique vintners, Clos Pegase and St. Supéry Vineyards & Winery. From St. Supéry, he moved to Silverado Vineyards, where he played a key role in the winery’s marketing and sales efforts.

Jack brings to Cliff Lede Vineyards strong relationships throughout the industry, the vision and experience to develop Cliff Lede into a world-class brand and the management skills that have enabled him to engage his staff in reaching shared goals.

He recently earned his MBA from UC Davis, which has added more depth and breadth to his already keen understanding of business acquired during fifteen years in the wine trade. “It helped me see how non-wine businesses do things,” he says. “It gave me a better understanding of the macro-economics of agriculture, of how the hospitality industry works, even of how my own distributors operate and why some are more successful than others.”

An avid cyclist, Jack says his favorite ride in the valley is the climb up Howell Mountain. It’s no surprise—there are grapevines there.

Andrea Bonivento

Director of Félsina, manages worldwide sales & marketing activities of both the brands Félsina and Castello di Farnetella. Strategic thinking and hands-on the market, very passionate about wine and people, Andrea travels extensively around the globe but loves to live inside the winery the simple and natural life of the Tuscan farm. Strongly linked with the Poggiali's family, owners of Fèlsina that following the fil-rouge of the Sangiovese have invested also in a small but very significant winery called Podere La Berta, he has also the responsibility of the development of this rising star of the region Emilia-Romagna, where both Andrea & the Poggiali have their origins. Degree in Economics at the University of Bologna, Andrea has a background as a manager with a successful track record as Commercial Director of some of the most prestigious companies in the Fashion and Italian's lifestyle industry. Passionate about the valorization of the potential each territory as unique, studied wines as sommelier for passion without imagining that it would have become such a fundamental part of his life.

Stuart and Suzanne Bryan

Pride Mountain Vineyards sits high atop the Mayacamas Mountains straddling the Napa/Sonoma county line.  Located at the site of historic Summit Ranch, where wine grapes have been grown since 1869, this beautiful setting includes wine caves dug deep into the mountains and the haunting ruins of an old stone winery dating to 1890.

Founded in 1990 by Jim and Carolyn Pride, Pride Mountain Vineyards is recognized as one of the “world’s greatest wine estates” by Robert Parker, Jr., joining just 22 other California wineries for this distinction.  Pride wines have appeared numerous times on The Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of the World list, and have been served at the White House more than 25 times during the last two decades. 

In 2004, second-generation siblings Suzanne Pride Bryan and Steve Pride took the reins, furthering Pride Mountain Vineyards’ tradition of producing highly lauded wines.  In the cellar, winemaker Sally Johnson and her team work with the property’s exceptional estate-grown cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, syrah, sangiovese and chardonnay to produce world-class cuvées deserving of a place in any serious collector’s cellar.

Paul Chevalier

After acquiring a wealth of experience working for some of the greatest names in the wine world, Paul Chevalier is the National Fine Wine Director at Shaw-Ross International Importers. Educated in winemaking and viticulture at the University of Reims and the University of Bordeaux, he went on to acquire his practical knowledge of wine at Château Margaux, making wine at the side of one of the great masters in œnology, Emile Peynaud, and later with Louis Latour in Burgundy.

For the LVMH group, Paul was the youngest member of the winemaking team at Champagne Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin in Reims as well as technical advisor for Cape Mentelle in Australia and Cloudy Bay in New Zealand. He later worked in Bordeaux for the Chateau & Estates/Seagram group with Barton & Guestier until joining the House of Calvet as Winemaker & Export Director for North & South America.

Throughout his winemaking career in France, Paul has continued to share his passion for wine as he traveled extensively conducting seminars and wine tastings in over 60 countries around the world. Today, Paul works Sacha Lichine and Patrick Léon (former winemaker for Château Mouton-Rothschild, Opus One, and Viña Almaviva) in the development of the 4 unique rosés from the Château D'Esclans estate. The Château D'Esclans «Garrus» rosé (3 barrels produced) in the most expensive rosé in the world.

Roberto Damonte

Roberto Damonte is the principal winemaker of the Azienda Agricola Malvirà.  Known for its award-winning nebbiolos and arneis, Malvirà is the preeminent winery of the Roero winemaking zone in Piedmont, Italy.  Roberto inherited the winery—along with his passion for winemaking—from his father, Giuseppe Damonte, who began producing wine under the Malvirà label in the 1950s.

Joseph Donelan

Joe Donelan is the founder of Pax Wine Cellars, one of the most respected and lauded makers of Syrah and other Rhone varietals in North America. Joe started his journey as a casual collector and then turned his passion for tasting wine into a passion for producing. Now Joe has begun the next chapter of his love affair with wine, the launch of Donelan Family Wines.

Laurent Drouhin

He followed his father to the vineyards at a tender age, roller-skated in the cellars and played in the cuverie. His fondest memory (a la Marcel Proust) is the smell of the macerating must. Today, Laurent is the Maison Joseph Drouhin ambassador to the United States and the Caribbean. Besides his commercial responsibilities, he is also involved in communication and other public relation activities such as tastings and wine dinners. He has lived in New York since 2005.

Fabio Fantino

Born in 1982, Fabio Fantino awards himself the down-to- earth definition of “enotecnico”, wine technician. He is, in fact, an enologist from the prestigious school of Alba. Again, it says a lot about him that he will play down this weighty qualification and specify, “What’s most important is, I got my dad’s nose and palate, and my mom’s Olympian calm.”

Fabio is also a very talented soccer player – in fact, it took some soul-searching for him to choose between the soccer pitch and the vineyard, for Guido’s son is not one to do things by halves... Keen and enthusiastic, he loves his work and is always on the lookout for new challenges and experiences. The Conterno Fantino winemaking heritage eventually got the better of sports, though Fabio is just as physical and energetic among the vines or wine barrels as he was playing ball. The score today amounts to 8 CF harvests full-time, flanking his dad and “uncle Claudio”, plus three winter harvests in the southern hemisphere: Australia, New Zealand, and finally (for now) Chile, in 2007. In his own words, “There’s always something to learn.” One thing is certain: Fabio is sure to keep the ball rolling for Conterno Fantino quality.

Valter Fissore

In 1985, Valter Fissore began working at Azienda Cogno-Marcarini, which was started by his father in-law, Elvio. In 1990, Valter purchased an old farm house in Novello from the 700’s, and began managing 11 hectars of family vineyards alongside his in-­laws, including wine production and sales. Elvio and Valter’s joint collaboration was their first release of Barolo Ravera 1991 and Nascetta 1994 -­ a white native grape well known and only found within the community of Novello.

Kirk Grace

Kirk Grace is the Vineyard Manager for Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. He's been with the winery since 2006 and he oversees Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’ 142 acres of estate vineyards. Under his leadership, the iconic estate vineyards – FAY and S.L.V. – became Napa Green certified in 2010.  Kirk knew from an early age that he wanted to be a farmer, but it wasn’t until he graduated from Cal Poly with a B.S. degree in Crop Science that he decided to work in viticulture.  Of course working in wine country wasn’t exactly foreign to Kirk. His family moved to Napa Valley in 1976, starting the winery that would ultimately become the highly-regarded Grace Family Vineyards. Prior to joining Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Kirk worked at St. Supery Vineyards, Bettinelli Vineyard Management and Robert Sinskey Vineyards. 

Jack Guinan

In 1996 Jack met a new neighbor, the Spanish icon Jorge Ordoñez, who moved in just a couple of doors up the street.  Immediately Jack and Jorge hit it off, both had a great love for food and an insane passion for wine.  They would sit together and taste wine discussing the “typical old style Spanish wines” that were pale, flat, and cheap. Jorge said he was going to change the landscape and develop high quality wines, reflective of the grape varietals and bring them to the U.S.

In 2002 Jack was looking for a career change and Jorge asked if he would be interested in joining his company Fine Estates from Spain, Jorge Ordoñez Selections. He eagerly accepted seeing the vast potential on the horizon. Jack has since then had great mentors Jorge, Sara Floyd MS and Craig Gandolf 3rd level Sommelier and Master Chef who have taught him all the nuances of wines. 

Jack is on the team that tastes 100’s of barrels and tanks to deciding and producing the final blends.  Recent successes are the creation of Volver 2009 92 Points, Robert Parker, and Tarima Hill, 91 Points International Wine Cellar, which are phenomenal scores for their category, just to name a few. He has devoted his life and career to Spanish wine, touring the country professionally as the National on and off premise Sr. Account Manager, as well as conducting intensive training and educational seminars, wine festivals.

David Hamburger

David Hamburger has been the director of special events at the prestigious wine purveyor, Acker Merrall & Condit Company since the year 2002 and is the managing director of The Wine Workshop which is America's leading series of fine and rare wine tastings and dinners. He lectures about 100 times a year at public, corporate and private wine events all over New York City and abroad. He has done guest sommelier spots at such New York restaurants as Bouley, Le Bernardin, Daniel, and Per Se. He has developed tasting events for such notable wine makers, writers and critics. He currently spends his time hosting wine events, lecturing, teaching and consulting to private collectors and restaurants in New York City and abroad.

Bill Hatcher

A poet, Bill discovered an equal taste for food early on and after getting an MBA, embarked on a corporate career in Financial and Strategic planning. Ten years later, tired of five billion dollar corporations, he and his wife, Deb, abruptly moved to Oregon and jumped feet first into wine. Bill consulted through 1987 when the Drouhin family acquired their first property in Oregon. Subsequently, he was engaged to build and develop Domaine Drouhin, remaining there until 2001. Soon thereafter, he founded A to Z with Deb and partners Sam Tannahill and Cheryl Francis as well as handcrafting a tiny production of his own William Hatcher wine.

Howard Imber

Howard Imber is currently the Regional Manager for Frog’s Leap Winery.  Howard previously held the roles of National Sales Manager and East Coast Manager for C. Donatiello Winery & Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, respectively.  Howards experience is not only working with Suppliers but with Distributors as well.  He worked in Sales and as a Manger for Charmer industries in New York.  In addition, Howard is also a Certified Sommelier.  He spent many years honing his skills in the Restaurant business from St. Thomas USVI, to New York where he spent time working at Tavern on the Green and then finished as the Beverage Director for B.R. Guest restaurant group before moving into the his career as a supplier.

Errol Joseph

Errol has ardently managed the wine program at Tosca Restaurant in scenic Hingham for the past twelve years.  Additionally, Errol offers Private Sommelier & Cellar Services in the Greater Boston Area.  He is a Certified Sommelier within the prestigious Court of Master Sommeliers and is currently an Advanced Sommelier Candidate.  A native of Berkshire County, Errol has also worked on Nantucket, at The White Elephant Resort, as well as in San Diego and Boston.  

Sean Larkin

Sean Larkin is the owner/winemaker of Larkin Wines. Since the first vintage in 1999, Larkin has been on a roll. Crafting serious wines culled from a short list of Napa Valley vineyards, he has managed to quickly capture the eye of critics and connoisseurs alike for his lusty brand of brawny reds. Sean produces 500 cases annually.

Todd Lipman

Head Sommelier Todd Lipman, C.S. is a native of Fairfax, Virginia but has called Boston home for over 15 years. Under each year of his direction at Bistro du Midi, his wine program has been granted Wine Spectator’s Best of Excellence Award and his wine list has been dubbed “one of the city’s most formidable” by Bon Appetit Magazine.  In addition, he was individually recognized and awarded the title of Boston’s Best Sommelier by Improper Bostonian in 2011.  He is the all-time winner of the SommSmack competition held by Gordon’s Fine Wines and Liquors in Waltham, where two Sommeliers battle each other under time constraints to pair wines with a surprise menu.  He is also known to serve as a frequent guest lecturer, and occasional wine writer for various blogs and magazines.  

Chris Millard

Chris joined Newton Vineyard in May 2008 – located on the Mayacamas mountain range that defines Napa Valley’s eastern border, and can leverage his expertise with intensely concentrated mountain fruit.

As Newton Winemaker, Chris continues the legacy of producing the winery’s highly acclaimed wines, including the Unfiltered Chardonnay and its Bordeaux-style red wines from the estate on Spring Mountain in St. Helena. For Newton's award winning Chardonnay, Chris maximizes the eight separate galleries in the Chardonnay cave by grouping similar barrel lots together to allow for optimal fermentation of individual batches. To craft Newton's acclaimed red wines, he takes advantage of the winery's small tanks to keep the fruit from each vineyard block separate before artfully blending them to create the final Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Bordeaux-blend red wines.

Carissa Mondavi

Carissa plays a key role in Communications, Hospitality and in bringing Continuum to the market. She worked in the vineyards, cellar, as a Senior Wine Educator and just prior to Continuum, in the Cultural Affairs Department at Robert Mondavi Winery. Keen on liberating people's experience with wine, she is thrilled to be sharing her family story with others, and contributing to the realization of her father's vision. In her free time Carissa enjoys music composition, yoga, hiking, cooking, and dreaming of travel yet to come.

Philippe Newlin

Philippe Newlin is a former Tasting Director and Associate Editor of Wine & Spirits Magazine where he spent two years running the magazine’s tasting program.  Newlin holds the Diploma degree of the Wine and Spirits Education Trust of London. Philippe teaches on wine at both Columbia University’s School of Business Administration and Yale’s School of Management.  Newlin has driven a yellow cab in NYC, lived in the jungles of South America as a Peace Corps volunteer, and spent fourteen years on Wall Street trading floors as a currency specialist at UBS and Bank of America before succumbing to the pleasures of the grape. Newlin is U.S. Head of Sales and Marketing for top Bordeaux wine house Duclot La Vinicole.

Paul Pontallier

Paul Pontallier was born in 1956 in Bordeaux, in a family of longtime established wine producers. He is married and has 4 children.

He studied agronomy in Paris, then viticulture in Montpellier, and came back to Bordeaux in 1978 to prepare a Ph.D of Oenology at the renowned Institute of Oenology. He became Doctor of Oenology in 1981, after a thesis on barrel ageing of red wines.

A few months later, he went to Chile, South America, where he worked during one year and a half as a professor of Oenology at the University of Santiago, thus accomplishing his military service in what is more or less the equivalent to the Peace Corps.

He came back to France in 1983 and immediately started working as a winemaker, manager, and then general manager of Château Margaux.

Matthew Paul Reiser

A ten year veteran of Upstairs on the Square, Matt has worked in nearly every capacity to hone his skills at his current post, Wine Director. Under his direction the wine collection at the restaurant is a culmination of years of relationship building, daily tastings and continuing education. Reiser leads one of the most innovative wine programs in the country. His extensive knowledge and love of wine spans the entire globe offering both exceptional value as well as exposure to many of the world’s most coveted wines. His unique Socratic approach to wine fosters an environment of learning and exploration that is contagious among staff and customers alike.

Reiser has twice presented wine at the James Beard House and interned at the Burgundy Boulland Symposium where Clive Coates, MW presided. Matt has been praised in numerous local and national publications, most recently with the 2009 Sante Award: Best Wine Hospitality New England.

Matthew Ryan

Matt began his career in wine as a food-runner for a fine-dining restaurant in Boston.  From there, he made the transition into being a server at fast-paced restaurants so he could refine his knowledge of the world of wines. Matt became a Certified Sommelier in the summer of 2011 while working in a large retail store, where he was a manager in the wine department until early 2013.  He credits the exposure to such a wide variety of wines as an exceptional learning tool.  Matt currently works as the General Manager for Beaver Brook Bottles in Waltham, MA, focusing on small-production fine wine and a wide selection of craft beer. 

Christiane Schleussner

Christiane Schleussner is the Associate Winemaker for Silver Oak assisting Director of Winemaking Daniel Baron with their Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. She has worked for Silver Oak for seven years and has worked in the wine industry for nearly 20. Silver Oak was founded in 1972 with the philosophy of making food friendly wine that is deliciously drinkable upon its release. Silver Oak produces only two wines--a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon--with a winery dedicated to producing each.

Charles Symington

Charles Symington, along with six other Symingtons, are part of the 13th generation of the family business (Symington Family Estates).  From the Douro vineyards to the winemaking, aging and tasting, a member of the family is directly responsible for every bottle of Port they produce. Since 1995 Charles has been responsible for the winemaking and blending.  The family’s commitment to their wines is stronger than ever after 350 years, an unparalleled tradition in the Port trade.

Aviram Turgeman

Aviram Turgeman is the Chef Sommelier of Restaurant Nice Matin on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The famous wine program features 2,500 selections, highlighting mature wines, mostly from Bordeaux and Provence, alongside the rest of France, Classic Europe, California and a smaller selection of the rest of the New World classics. The restaurant owns wine collections such as JFK's that features pre-phylloxera historical vintages, the famed Restaurant Chanterelle collection, among others.

In addition, Aviram is the beverage director of the "Chef Driven Group" that consists of the Tour de France restaurant group, Barbounia, as well the 5 Napkin Burger group. He supervises the beverage programs, wine, fresh ingredient cocktail program and excellent coffee and tea.

Geoff Whitman

Geoff Whitman’s passion for wine was born in Boston, MA, where he paid his way through college by working in various positions at some of the city’s most exciting restaurants.  In 1994, Geoff moved from Boston to Santa Barbara, California, and began exploring wine on a deeper level.

In October 2007, Geoff joined his friends Rob, Jr. & Lydia Mondavi in Napa, California, as managing partner & assistant winemaker for their brands Spellbound and Medusa.  Two years later, Michael Mondavi asked Geoff to take on the role of general manager for his Michael Mondavi Family Estate, calling on Geoff’s winemaking and production skills, along with his expertise in fine wine sales and marketing.