Vintage Card Consultants

Vintage Card Consultants

The IWFS is very fortunate to have a team of specialist consultants based around the world who each year provide a review of the latest vintage and also update the development of recent vintages.  Many of them have been doing this for a number of years; providing their expert knowledge to assist the IWFS in producing our Vintage Card.

The consultants assisting with the our new 2024/25 Vintage Card are listed below alphabetically.  You can find out more about some of our consultants below also - those with "(see below)" after their name have provided details.

• Mimi Avery - England Sparkling  (see below)
• Amanda Barnes – Argentina (see below)
• Richard Baudains - Italy, Tuscany and Sicily  (see below)                                 
• Konstantin Baum MW - Germany (see below)
• Jim Budd - Loire (see below)                                 
• Bob Campbell, MW – New Zealand (see below)                    
• Emma Dawson MW - Italy, Valpolicella - Amarone
• Bill Easton, California, Shenandoah Valley, Amador County (see below)    
• Greg Esch – New York 
• Lance Foyster MW - Austria (see below)
• Harold Heckle - Spain (see below)
• Adolfo Hernandez - Sonoma (see below)
• Will Heslop - Beaujolais (see below)
• Britt & Per Karlsson - South West France (see below)
• Annette Lacey MW - Australia (see below - joined in 2024)
• Adam LaZarre – Central Coast (see below)
• Harriet Lembeck  - US Consultant Co-ordinator (see below)
• David Ling - Alsace (see below)
• John Livingstone-Learmonth - Rhone (see below)
• Julie Lumgair - Napa (see below)
• Greg Melick - Australia (see below)    
• Charles Metcalfe - Portugal (see below)
• Charles Mount - Tokaji
• Richard Mayson - Port (see below)
• Jean-Francois Pellet - Washington (see below)       
• Luisa Ponzi - Oregon (Chardonnay) (see below)                                       
• John Salvi MW - Bordeaux (see below)
• John Schreiner – British Columbia (see below)
• James Simpson MW - Champagne (see below)  
• Roderick Smith MW - Provence (see below)                           
• Alex Sokol Blosser – Oregon (Pinot Noir) (see below)
• Matthew Stubbs MW - Languedoc (see below)
• David Swingler – South Africa (see below)   
• Charles Taylor MW - Burgundy
• Rick VanSickle – Ontario (see below)
• David Way - Italy, Piedmont (see below)      

Thanks go to our outgoing consultants for their longstanding support - 2024 - Michael Garner (Italy), 2023 - Peter Bell (New York); in 2022 Tony Aspler (Ontario),  James Halliday (Australia). Roman Horvath MW (Austria), Anne Krebiehl MW (Germany) and Jamie Kutch (Sonoma) have also stepped aside, in recent years, with thanks for their assistance.  

 

ARGENTINA 

AMANDA BARNES - consultant for the wines of Argentina 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amanda Barnes is a British journalist who moved to Argentina in 2009 to focus on wine and travel writing. She is Editor of the Argentina-based magazine Wine Republic, Editor for the Circle of Wine Writers newsletter The Circular and also works as a freelance writer for travel and wine publications including Wine-Searcher and Fodor’s Travel Guides. Based in Mendoza, she regularly travels and works around the wine regions of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Her recent book The South America Wine Guide has been heralded as the definitive guide to the wines of South America.  For more details visit Amanda's website on www.amandabarnes.co.uk

 

AUSTRALIA

ANNETTE LACEY MW - co-consultant for the wines of Australia (joined in 2024)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annette has extensive management and operational experience across all levels of restaurants and hospitality venues. She is currently the Group Beverage Manager for Solotel, a large and diverse hospitality group in Sydney. Annette has held similar roles developing skills as a restaurant manager and head sommelier for international hotel groups and award-winning fine dining restaurants across traditional, modern and Asian cuisines. 

Annette became a Master of Wine in 2020, the highest academic accolade in wine, a globally recognised qualification that is the epitome of wine knowledge and excellence. She has also completed all levels of WSET and is a certified educator focusing on the development of the next generation through the delivery of wine courses in the Australian market.

Other accolades include the winner of the prestigious 2014 Vin de Champagne Award (Professional) and being selected for the highly prized Len Evans tutorial.

Annette also has extensive experience as a wine show judge and panel chair at numerous shows around the country and overseas, also participating in trade and educational tastings, presentations and master classes.

She is the Australasian co-coordinator for The Institute of Masters of Wine delivering a week long educational seminars to MW students, additionally running several course days for MW students during the year.

GREG MELICK - co-consultant for the wines of Australia

AUSTRIA

LANCE FOYSTER MW - consultant for the wines of Austria

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lance Foyster was seven when he first became aware of the existence of wine on family holidays to Portugal. He observed his parents’ amazement and delight at the large and apparently free bottles of wine which regularly arrived on the dining table at lunch and dinner. Upon subsequent visits, when he and his sister hit their teens (still not drinking, mind, but no longer paying child fares) he witnessed his parents’ valiant attempts to polish off the second bottle which now appeared automatically. Once he hit 18, there was no holding him back as he set off to work on the harvest in Tavel, where he discovered the romance of the vineyard. Later still, with his BA Hons (Oxon) in his back pocket, he passed over the opportunity to join the world of banking, law, teaching, academia (as if…!) and followed his growing passion in a series of menial jobs in the wine trade which eventually led him to the MW in 1991. The next 10 years saw him exploring all areas of the wine trade, from own-brand wines for supermarkets, to sourcing top Burgundy.

The opportunity to set up Clark Foyster Wines came in 2002. He looks after buying and selling, in collaboration with his colleagues, and finds his enthusiasm for this endlessly fascinating subject as vivid and stimulating as he ever did.

 

CANADA

JOHN SCHREINER – consultant for the wines of British Columbia

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Schreiner Based in North Vancouver, B.C., John Schreiner is among Canada’s most prolific authors of wine books. He has authored 20 since 1984, including three Whitecap bestsellers: British Columbia Wine Country, The Wineries of British Columbia and John Schreiner’s Okanagan Wine Tour Guide. The sixth edition was released in early 2020. A companion volume, John Schreiner’s Coastal BC Wineries Tour Guide, was released in April, 2011. John juggled his passion for wine with a 40-year career as a business writer for The Financial Post until retiring in 2001 to devote himself totally to wine. He has frequently judged at wine competitions, has been an accomplished home vintner and has chaired the selection committee for the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival. He blogs actively on johnschreiner.blogspot.ca. In  the spring of 2023, he released his memoir – Goodgrog: A Life in Wine & Journalism, published by Friesen Press.

RICK VANSICKLE – consultant for the wines of Ontario

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rick VanSickle is the publisher and chief writer for WinesInNiagara.com (https://winesinniagara.com/), a hyper local website that focuses on the regional wines of Niagara and Ontario, Canada. He has an extensive background in the newspaper industry as an editor and wine writer for various newspapers and wine magazines. He lives with his wife in the heart of Niagara wine country.

ENGLAND

MIMI AVERY - consultant for English sparkling wines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are very pleased that we again have a member of the Avery family assisting us with our Vintage Card - Mimi Avery, John's eldest daughter.  As well as being Brand Ambassador for Averys Wine Merchants and previously their wine buyer, Mimi also passed the first year MW exams and holds the WSET diploma, so is more than qualified to help in our exciting new addition of English sparkling wine.  Some of you may recall that this is not Mimi's first involvement with the Vintage Card as she used to put the Card together during her time working at the International Secretariat from 1994-1999 and we are very honoured to have her back on board in this very different role. 

 

FRANCE

JIM BUDD - consultant for wines of the Loire

Being born in the great vintage of 1947 Jim Budd was probably predestined to love Loire wines. He started writing about wine in 1988 after teaching for a number of years just off the Old Kent Road in South London. For 20 years he travelled widely visiting the world's vineyards, which was a great privilege. Then in 2008 he decided to stop travelling so much and concentrate on his first love: the Loire. He spends at least three months a year in the Loire, where he has a house with friends that they bought 29 years ago.

As well as writing for Decanter and other magazines, he edited Circle Update, the Circle of Wine Writers' newsletter from 1991 to 2015. Jim has three blogs: Jim's Loire, investdrinks (drinks investment scams) and Les 5 du Vin - shared with four other journalists. He is the regional chair for the Loire at the Decanter World Wine Awards. Jim is also a keen photographer. He prefers to be discreet avoiding gaudy shirts and sparkly shoes thus keeping a low profile.  

WILL HESLOP- consultant for the wines of Beaujolais

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will joined Flint Wines as a Buyer in 2021 having spent six years at Berry Bros & Rudd. Will studied French and Spanish at university then spent two years teach English at the Sorbonne in Paris where his love of wine began. His main focus at Flint is on Italy, France (excluding Burgundy) and Australia. Will has also worked a number of harvests, including at Frankland Estate and with the Bret Bros in the Mâconnais. Away from wine, he enjoys running, dance and literature.

BRITT & PER KARLSSON, BKWine - consultants for the wines of South West France

  

Britt and Per Karlsson are two Swedes living in Paris (France) since over twenty years where they founded BKWine. They are active as wine journalists, wine writers, wine photographers, consultants and wine educators.

Britt and Per’s business, BKWine, is also one of the leading wine tour operators, organising wine tours, wine events, and education both for wine “amateurs” and for wine professionals in English and in Swedish. Their wine tours can be found on https://www.bkwinetours.com (and in Swedish: https://www.bkwinevinresor.com). Britt and Per spend a substantial part of the year travelling in wine regions and visit some 200-300 wine producers annually. They have written more than ten books on wine that have won awards from the Swedish Gastronomic Academy, Gourmand International and the OIV-International Organisation of Vine and Wine. They publish the online magazine BKWine Magazine (https://www.bkwine.com) and are contributors to Forbes.com (https://www.forbes.com/sites/karlsson/). They are also responsible for all subjects on wine for the Swedish National Encyclopaedia (Nationalencykolpedin).

DAVID LING - consultant for the wines of Alsace

Son of a Chester wine merchant, David Ling’s childhood was steeped in wine and hospitality. Plan A (RAF fighter pilot) failed so plan B (UK wine trade) followed. After a WSET diploma, in 1973 he went to France for 6 weeks’ training at Hugel in Alsace but emerged only on retirement 43 years later, having progressed internally from production to export administration. Married in 1978, his wife’s family have been winegrowers in Alsace since 1653. Their son is involved in oenotourism and their daughter is a reconstructive surgeon in Switzerland. In 2016 David became the first-ever foreign Grand Maître of the Confrérie Saint-Etienne d’Alsace, said to be the oldest wine guild in France, and is now charged with external relations and organizing their annual overseas events that promote Alsace wine and food culture. www.confrerie-st-etienne.com

JOHN LIVINGSTONE-LEARMONTH - consultant for the wines of the Rhône

John Livingstone-Learmonth has been visiting the Rhône vineyareds since June 1973.

“The Wines of the Rhône” was the first book written on the Rhône, and appeared in three editions (the last one published by Faber (1992, 680 pages). “The Wines of the Northern Rhône” (University of California Press, 2005) won the Louis Roederer International Wine Book Award in 2006. In December 2011, “Gigondas, Its Wines, Its Land, Its People” was published in French and English (Bottin Gourmand and IG & AV); here John covers every vintage of Gigondas from 1959 to 2009. His works are available around the world. His Rhône website is www.drinkrhone.com.

John’s articles have appeared in a range of British magazines, notably Decanter, Wine, and the World of Fine Wine, as well as the Singapore Wine Review. He contributes to annuals such as the Hugh Johnson Pocket Wine Book, the Wine Atlas, and the Oz Clarke Wine Atlas and Pocket Book. He has held tastings in Britain, the United States, France and Asia, and tasted on Panels including the Mâcon, San Francisco and McLaren Vale South Australia Wine Fairs. He is an Honorary Citizen of the Rhône village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and in July 2006 was made a Chevalier of the Ordre du Mérite Agricole by The French State.

John's website is: www.drinkrhone.com

JOHN SALVI, MW - consultant for the wines of Bordeaux

COUNT JOHN UMBERTO SALVI, son of Giuseppe Umberto Salvi, President of Wine and Spirit Association of Great Britain. Military Service with 5th Royal Inniskillin Dragoon Guards and temporary colonel in Intelligence Corps. Russian interpreter.

MASTER OF WINE 1970

42 years in Wine Trade. Board of Directors of Allan Sichel Ltd and Sales Director Maison Sichel and Mähler-Besse. Diploma of Oenology under Emile Peynaud, 1957-9. Master of Wine 1970. Member of Travellers Club, Fédération Internationale de Journalistes et Ecrivains de Vin (FIJEV), Association Française de la Presse de Gastronomie et Tourisme (AFPGT), Association Professionnelle des Chroniqueurs et Infomateurs de la Gastronomie et du Vin (APCIG), Association de la Presse du Vin (APV), Club des Gastronomes de la France, Circle of Wine Writers, Press Club of Bordeaux.

Represents Great Britain at the International Union of Oenologists. Member of a Committee of Experts of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). Officer of the Commanderie du Bontemps de Médoc et des Graves, Sauternes et Barsac and member of the Jurade of Saint Emilion. Member of the International Academy of Wine and of the Academie du Vin de Bordeaux.

Living in Bordeaux John is an active professional taster, wine consultant and wine writer.

 

JAMES SIMPSON MW - consultant for Champagne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James joined Pol Roger Ltd from Bollinger agents Mentzendorff & Co. in September 1993, was appointed as a Director of Pol Roger Ltd. in July 1997 and Managing Director in January 2015. James qualified as a Master of Wine in 1992 – at the time the youngest to qualify. He is a member of the Worshipful Company of Vintners and is also a Non-Executive Director of Timothy Taylor Brewery. James is a keen Real Tennis player (member of RTC) and golfer (member of Royal Saint George’s).

 

RODERICK SMITH MW - consultant for wines of Provence

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rod Smith MW is a wine educator, marketer and salesman, based in the South of France. Currently with a client list that includes the world’s wealthiest, most discerning and demanding customers.  Rod is the director of the Riviera Wine Academy.   

Prior to this, Rod worked for Vins Sans Frontières – the leading wine supplier to the superyacht industry in the South of France, and before that in the UK for a variety of fine wine importers and retailers, as well as being an established WSET educator and occasional journalist. A Master of Wine since 2006, Rod has been extensively involved in judging wine competitions in London, Sofia, Shanghai and Moscow.  He is currently the Vice-Chair of the Institute of Masters of Wine.

Rod’s personal interests include cycling, running, travel, literature, card magic and film.

 

MATTHEW STUBBS MW - consultant for wines of the Languedoc

Matthew began his career in the UK Wine Trade in 1987 after graduating with a language and business degree. He worked in all aspects of the business from sales, marketing and brand management to buying, sourcing and retail development. 14 years was spent with Seagram, one of the world’s largest drinks companies, followed by 3 years as Director of Wine at the UK supermarket Safeway.

In 2004 he moved to the South of France to set up his own consultancy and training company.  Finally in July 2008 he opened Vinécole, a wine school based at Domaine Gayda near Carcassonne in the Languedoc. He runs tastings, courses and events in the South of France as well as UK, USA and Asia. He qualified as a Master of Wine in 1996, achieving the best results in the Tasting and Vinification papers. 

For more information about Matthew and his consultancy and training company please visit: www.vinecole.com.

GERMANY

KONSTANTIN BAUM MW- consultant for the Rhine and Mosel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Konstantin is Germany’s youngest Master of Wine, an entrepreneur, and an educator. It is his mission to "make the world taste better”, improving the selection of wine in the on- and off-trade, and improving the ability of people to taste and appreciate wine.

Konstantin runs the innovative online retail company www.baumselection.com,importing artisanal wines and distributing them throughout Europe. In addition to that he runs the wine program of one of the best Hotels in the World – the Brenners-Park Hotel in Baden-Baden and he works with organizations like the Wine Institute of California, Vins du Centre-Loire and Prosecco DOC, giving lectures all over Europe. On social media he has one of the biggest following in the wine world with more than 80,000 subscribers on his popular YouTube Channel and more than 27,000 followers on Instagram.

Links: https://baumselection.com/  https://www.instagram.com/konstantinbaum_mw/

https://www.youtube.com/c/KonstantinBaumMasterofWine

HUNGARY

CHARLES MOUNT - consultant for wines of Tokaji Aszu
awaiting details

Website: www.royal-tokaji.com  

 

ITALY

RICHARD BAUDAINS - consultant for the wines of Tuscany and Sicily 

Richard Baudains was born and brought up on the formerly French-speaking Island of Jersey (hence the French surname). To satisfy his wanderlust he studied to become an English language teacher, a profession he has had the good fortune to pursue in many of Italy's top wine regions. He published his first article with Decanter in 1989 and has been writing about Italian wine for the same London-based magazine ever since. He is a regional chair at the Decanter World Wine Awards, on the team of the Slow Wine Guide for Friuli Venezia Giulia, contributes to the Wine Scholar Guild and teaches M.A. Courses on Wine Journalism at the Università delle Scienze Gastronomiche. Outside of wine, he works as a Cambridge University English language examiner. He lives in Gorizia.

DAVID WAY - consultant for the wines of Piedmont

 

 

 

 

David Way has been engaged with Italian wine for the last fifteen years. He writes about it extensively on his website, www.winefriend.org, which has been his platform since he began as a wine blogger in 2009. Since 2015, he has worked for Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET*). He was one of the two principal writers of the new digital textbooks for the WSET Diploma in Wine, the highest level WSET qualification, first issued to students in 2019. Since then his job has been to update and improve the five books which run to 1,100 pages. In his own name he researched and wrote a comprehensive book entitled The Wines of Piemonte. This was published in September 2023 in the Classic Wine Library, now part of the Académie du Vin Library. More details about the book can be found here.  The book is the first to treat all 60 of Piemonte’s wine denominations with the depth usually reserved only for Barolo and Barbaresco. 

* global provider of drinks education

NEW ZEALAND

BOB CAMPBELL, MW – consultant for the wines of New Zealand  

Bob Campbell was the second New Zealander to gain the Master of Wine qualification. After working in the wine industry for 13 years as an accountant, export manager and marketer Bob became a freelance writer and educator in 1986.

He is wine editor of two New Zealand magazines and has contributed to wine publications in seven countries. More than 22,000 people have attended Bob’s wine certificate courses in New Zealand, Asia and Europe. He has been a senior judge in wine competitions in eleven countries.

Bob is a partner in the website www.therealreview.com which contains over 23,000 wine reviews with ratings as well as a wine blog. 

NORTH AMERICA

GREG ESCH - consultant for the wines from New York

awaiting details

 

 

ADOLFO HERNANDEZ - consultant for the wines of Sonoma

 

 

 

Adolfo Hernandez is a Sonoma County winemaker with over 15 years of experience in the industry. California born but raised as an expat in Saudi Arabia, winemaking was a covert home family activity that was responsible for his initial wine exposure. Adolfo returned to California where he graduated in molecular biology and proceeded to work in organic pesticide production before following legitimate winemaking.

Adolfo has been a key member of winemaking teams at Eisele Vineyard (with both Araujo and Chateau Latour), Checkerboard Vineyards, Pahlmeyer, and currently with the Russian River pinot noir house Benovia.

In 2018 he launched his own brand, Monroy Wines, focusing on cool-climate expressions of cabernet sauvignon and fermentations only by closed-head rolling macerations which Adolfo coopers himself.

www.monroywines.com

ADAM LaZARRE - consultant for the wines of Central Coast

Adam LaZarre is an award-winning winemaker residing in Paso Robles on California's Central Coast.  A graduate of Fresno State University's Enology program, Adam has spent the better part of his 30+ year career making wines from Santa Barbara to Monterey. Although he has worked with grapes from almost every part of the state as well as projects overseas, he insists on making the Central Coast his permanent home, as he loves the unique challenges of the region in both growing grapes and making wine. 

Adam is currently the Director of Winemaking for The Wine Hooligans, a Sonoma-based wine company that produces several internationally recognized brands. Prior to this, he was a US based Enologist for the prestigious French-based wine laboratory, Laffort, which specializes in natural products for winemakers.

Adam worked for Villa San-Juliette Winery owned by successful British TV producers Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe, until 2012. He also consulted for the Hearst Ranch Winery. He has his own Pinot Noir brand, LaZarre Wines. Prior to his move to Paso Robles, he was the Vice President of Winemaking for Monterey's Hahn Estate Winery and was at the forefront of the creation of the successful Rex-Goliath and Cycles-Gladiator brands.

In 2005 he was named the Sacramento Bee's Winemaker of the Year and was named one of the "Top 5 Winemakers of the Year" by the San Francisco Chronicle.  Also, in 2012, he was named by Intowine.Com to the "Top 100 Most Influential Persons in the US Wine Industry". In addition, he is now a tenured judge at several large international wine competitions and has been judging for 15 years.

HARRIET LEMBECK - US Wines Consultant Co-ordinator 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harriet Lembeck is a noted wine and spirits educator. She is an accredited  'Certified Wine Educator' and 'Certified Spirits Educator.'  She Graduated with Honors from Harold Grossman's 'Grossman Beverage Program', established in 1945 - a one-evening-a-week, 15 week class held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. It is arguably the oldest alcoholic beverage class in the United States, and definitely the first one to include spirits. At the end of her class, Harold Grossman asked her to work for him.  This resulted in, after Harold Grossman's untimely passing, with her running the class, and, eventually, doing all of the lecturing.  It is now called 'Harriet Lembeck's Wine & Spirits Program.' Harriet is very active in the International Wine & Food Society and Les Dames d'Escoffier, and was the Wine Director of The New School besides her ongoing classes.  She has revised the textbook "Grossman's Guide to Wines, Beers and Spirits" several times, and has received the Wines & Vines Award for Excellence and other recognitions.

JULIE LUMGAIR - consultant for the wines from Napa 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julie Lumgair is an award-winning consulting and hands-on Napa Valley winemaker. Her wines span seventeen vintages and 25 varietals from nine of Napa Valley’s world class AVAs, Italy and key Sonoma AVA's for wineries including a new artisan Napa winery launching in 2022, J. Moss, Ideology Cellars, Valley of the Moon / Lake Sonoma, Castello di Montegiove, Windsor Oaks Vineyards and more.

As a fifth generation family farmer, she has served many clients in combined winemaking and winegrowing roles with a keen eye on agricultural practices impacting sustainability and quality. Her calling cards are consistently producing wines that garner acclaim, distinct farming and vineyard expression, excellence in operations and a passionate attention to customer delight and lasting relationships.

Julie's ongoing wine trials and experiments have been featured in industry press and conferences.  Over 70 of her wines have consistently achieved 90+ scores and been noted by critics as a Wine Spectator "Producer to Watch," Wine & Spirits varietal "Top Ten" and "Year's Best" lists.

Julie is a contributing technical writer, educational speaker and wine judge for publications, Napa Valley Vintners' Vintage Perspective Tasting and collaborations with the Culinary Institute of America.  She is one of thirty industry leaders on the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium Program Committee (North America's largest industry conference) and serves as long-time Chair of the Napa / Sonoma Winemaking & Viticultural Roundtable of Women for Winesense. She is active in Napa Valley Vintners, a past board member for Napa Valley Wine Technical Group and IQ (Innovation + Quality) Conference for luxury winemaking advances.

For more information, please connect via Linkedin.

 

JEAN-FRANCOIS PELLET - consultant for the wines from Washington

 

Born and raised in Switzerland, Winemaker Jean-François Pellet is a third-generation wine grower. Working alongside his father, who has managed the same vineyard for 30 years, Jean-François always knew what he wanted to do with his life: make world-class wine.  Jean-François supplemented his experience by earning degrees in both enology and viticulture. As part of his studies, he interned in Switzerland, Germany and the Napa Valley.

After graduating, he managed vineyards and made wine in Switzerland and Spain. Along with making wine in Spain, he was responsible for managing 500 acres of vineyards, designing a new winery and developing a market for the product. 

His experience and reputation for meticulous winemaking brought him to the attention of Heitz Cellars in the Napa Valley, where he worked for four years. Pepper Bridge Winery then recruited him, so he moved to the Walla Walla Valley to become that winery's creative force. His success at Pepper Bridge (where he is still the winemaker, as well) allowed him the opportunity to join the Amavi partnership and to apply his winemaking skills to different grape varietals, particularly Syrah and Sémillon.

"This is a great adventure," says Jean-François. "Walla Walla impressed me right away as an extremely unique grape-growing area. Distinctive climate, soils and geography make it different than anywhere else in the world, and now we have the chance to incorporate the latest winery design and techniques with the very high-quality grapes."

In addition to being winemaker, Jean-François plays a key role in the management of the winery's estate vineyards. He is also a founding member and current vice-president of the Walla Walla Valley's sustainable agriculture organization, VINEA.

LUISA PONZI- consultant for the wines of Oregon (Chardonnay)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luisa is the Director of Winemaking and Viticulture at Ponzi Vineyards in Oregon. Luisa studied viticulture and enology in Burgundy and worked in prominent wine regions around the world before returning to the family winery in Oregon (today owned by Bollinger), where she and her sister, Anna Maria, have built the winery from 10,000 to 40,000 cases per annum. 

ALEX SOKOL BLOSSER - consultant for the wines of Oregon (Pinot Noir)

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Sokol Blosser, son of Sokol Blosser’s founders, Susan Sokol Blosser and Bill Blosser, grew up working in the family vineyards and winery.  After starting college in Texas, he realized his heart lay back on the family farm, so he returned to Oregon to finish his college degree and acquire more wine industry experience.

In 1998, after working in neighboring vineyards and with a Portland wine wholesaler, Alex started full time at Sokol Blosser, simultaneously working for the president, his mom, Susan, while earning his MBA degree.  When he achieved his MBA, Alex became Vice President of Sales at Sokol Blosser.  In 2010, Alex transitioned his sales role to the winemaking and grape growing side of the business. He became the wineries fourth winemaker in 2012 and actively participates in the Oregon wine industry, including spearheading the project to develop six new American Viticultural Areas in the northern Willamette Valley in 2012. 

In February 2023 Alex became President of the winery and vineyard. Throughout all his time at the winery he has overseen their vineyards, forever tying him to the land and further reinforcing a simple truism: wine is made in the vineyard. After all these years and various roles at my family’s Estate, he is more excited than ever to take his past experiences and lead their team toward its goal every vintage: craft compelling wines worth putting on your table.

Alex lives on the vineyard with his wife, Ginny, and their golden retriever, Gus. They've raised two great men who are currently out finding their paths in life. When time allows, they love to take their RV out on adventures, read (especially sci-fi), and when the skies are clear, he take his telescope out to wander around the heavens.

PORTUGAL 

CHARLES METCALFE - consultant for the wines from Portugal

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Metcalfe is one of the best-known, most spontaneous and amusing British wine critics. He presented drinks and occasionally food items for 12 years as one of the Richard-and-Judy team on the ITV programme, ‘This Morning’, and was drinks expert for ‘Great Food Live’ (UK Food) and ‘Taste Today’ (Taste TV CFN).  He has also presented many other TV wine and food programmes. He was Co-Founder of the International Wine Challenge, the world’s best wine competition, held annually in London, and was also one of the founders of Wine International magazine.

Over the years, Charles has written about wine for many newspapers and magazines. He has written a number of books with his wife, Kathryn McWhirter, including books on Spanish and Portuguese wines. Their ‘The Wine & Food Lover’s Guide to Portugal’, a travel guide about Portuguese wines, food and places to visit, won the Louis Roederer International Wine Book of the Year 2008 award. They have also written books about matching wines with food. Charles and his wife now live in Portugal.

Charles is the Honorary President of the Association of Wine Educators, a Comendador do Ordem do Mérito Empresarial (Classe do Mérito Agrícola) in Portugal, and a member of the Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino.

Charles is in great demand as a wine educator and entertainer, helped by his earlier career as a professional singer. The Winesinger is his identity on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. He still enjoys drinking, talking and occasionally singing about good wine with friends.

RICHARD MAYSON - consultant for Port

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘University theses can be pretty abstruse at the best of times. One wonders then whether Richard Mayson knew how useful his thesis on Microclimates of the Vineyards of the Douro Valley  (written at the tender age of 21) would be later on in life. After working for the Wine Society for five years he wrote Portugal's Wines and Wine Makers (Ebury Press, London 1992) and no doubt he found his labours very fruitful indeed. He is now one of the most respected authorities on Port, Sherry, Madeira and the wines of Spain and Portugal. He writes and lectures on wine and divides his time between London, Portugal and a family business in the Derbyshire Peak District’.  (Decanter Magazine)

After graduating from the University of Sheffield, Richard Mayson began his career working for The Wine Society, Britain’s oldest and most respected wine club, from 1984 – 89 and won the Vintner’s Company Scholarship in 1987. He specialises in the wines of Iberia (especially fortified wines) and has written five books on wine including The Wines and Vineyards of Portugal (winner of the André Simon Award 2003) and Port and the Douro, both initially published in the Faber series. His recent books include a new edition of Port and the Douro and Madeira: the Islands and their Wines and The Wines of Portugal which have been published by the Infinite Ideas Classic Wine Library where he is also a Series Editor. He has also written a book on L.S. Lowry entitled Lowry’s Lamps published by Unicorn Press.  

Signed, dedicated copies of Richard’s books can be obtained by clicking on his website: http://www.richardmayson.com/books-and-publications

Richard writes regularly for The World of Fine Wine and Decanter magazine, chairing the Port and Madeira panels in the Decanter World Wine Awards. Richard is a Cavaleiro of the Confraria do Vinho do Porto. In 2019 he had the pleasure of being guest lecturer on the IWFS cruise on the River Douro.  When travel regulations permit Richard will be writing a monograph for the IWFS entitled The Essential Guide to Modern Madeira.

From 2013 to 2021 Richard Mayson was on the Council of the University of Sheffield, latterly with the position of Pro-Chancellor.

DAVID SWINGLER - consultant for the wines from South Africa

David is a long-standing member of the International Wine & Food Society, and was Director of Wine for the celebrated 2009 IWFS Cape Town Festival. He is immediate-past Chairman of the Cape Town Branch and its current Cellarmaster.

While David earns his keep outside the drinks trade, he has blended his love of both the good things of the table and words by writing about food and wine for nearly twenty years. Co-author of One Hundred Wines – an insiders’ guide to South African wine and drinks contributor to the award-winning Posh Nosh, David is a taster and writer for the seminal John Platter South African Wine Guide (“Platter’s”) since the late Nineties. He has, over the years, consulted to restaurants, game lodges and convention centres, taught wine courses and contributed to various radio, print and other media. He is blessed to have tasted the great wines of the world, particularly those of his first love, Burgundy.

“Platter’s” website: www.wineonaplatter.com

SPAIN

HAROLD HECKLE - consultant for the wines from Spain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harold Heckle is an English foreign correspondent currently reporting from Madrid, Spain for an international news agency. He has also had an abiding interest in wine since very early in his career. Harold has written about wine in a number of publications including Decanter, Wine, Wine & Spirit International and has maintained a wine column, in Spanish, in leading Spanish newspaper El Mundo.