Wineries and Winemaking

Langtry Estate & Vineyards of Lake County, California hired Robert Visconti as central division sales manager. Visconti will be in charge of Langtry Estate and Guenoc wine brand sales across the Midwest from Illinois to Texas and as far west as Colorado. Visconti was the Michigan state manager for Foster's Wine Estates (formerly Beringer Blass). He also has worked at the distributor tier as sales manager for General Wine & Liquor and J. Lewis Cooper Co. Langtry Estate also hired Gary Hamachek as Eastern division sales manager. Prior to joining Langtry, Hamachek held the position of Florida region manager for Foster's Wine Estates. Before working for Foster's, Hamchek held various positions at Southcorp Wines NTA, including Eastern zone manager and vice president of Southeast sales.

Michael McNeill was named winemaker for Hanzell Vineyards. Michael Terrien, general manager and winemaker, will remain in a consulting role as he transitions his time to his own brand (Kazmer & Blaise) and Terrine Consulting. Bob Sessions continues as Winemaker Emeritus of Hanzell Vineyards. McNeill's most recent position, prior to joining Hanzell Vineyards, was as winemaker for Keller Estate. He was also previously assistant winemaker at Chalone Vineyards.

Cindy Friedman

The first sparkling wine house in Sonoma Carneros, Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards, announced the appointment of two new leaders for the Consumer Direct Marketing and Tasting Room/Special Events departments. The winery has appointed consumer marketing manager Cindy Friedman and tasting room manager Toni Benton to expand its hospitality, wine education and consumer-direct marketing programs. In designing these new positions, the winery is creating a partnership that will foster new guest and extended consumer education opportunities.

Clos Du Val Wine Company, Ltd. of the Napa Valley announced it will expand the roles of three members of the national sales team. Even Arnesen has been promoted to national hotel accounts manager in addition to his current position as Midwest regional manager. Scott Forrest, Northwest regional manager, will add Nevada to his territories. Southwest regional manager Kristin Schierbaum will now oversee Hawaii. Arnesen is based in Chicago and manages accounts in nine states: Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Iowa. He joined Clos Du Val in 2005 as Midwest regional manager and has 15 years of experience at the hotel, distributor and supplier levels. A Sonoma, California resident, Forrest has served as Clos Du Val's Northwest regional manager since 2006. His territories include Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and now Nevada. He possesses 17 years of industry experience. Schierbaum joined Clos Du Val as Southwest regional manager in 2007. In addition to Hawaii, Schierbaum supervises sales in Southern California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The Huntington Beach, California resident has extensive experience in sales management, including six years in the wine industry.

Kurt Lorenzi, vice president of sourcing and winemaking for Winery Exchange, announced the appointment of Richard Mansfield as winemaker North America. Mansfield will be responsible for all sourcing and winemaking based in the United States. Mansfield holds a chemistry degree from the University of Oregon and a Masters in Viticulture and Enology from Geisenheim University in Germany. He worked in Germany as a winemaker for many years before returning to the United States where he worked at Stag's Leap, Bradford Mountain, Palmaz and Lapis Luna. Winery Exchange partners with global retailers to create and develop private label brands.

Matthew Parish

Gretchen Roddick

Kevin Eyster

Tony Giovanzana

Foster's Wine Estates announced the appointment of Matthew Parish to the position of vice president, premium winemaking, reporting to Michael Kluczko, vice president, wine production. The company said Parish will oversee winemaking activities for all brands priced from $4 to $14. Parish worked at Constellation for five years, most recently as director of group winemaking. From 1994 to 2003, he held various winemaking and production positions in New Zealand, Australia, France and Italy.

Treana Winery of Paso Robles, California announced the promotions of Gretchen Roddick to the position of general manager and Kevin Eyster to the position of on-premise national accounts vice president. Roddick has worked with the Hope Family Winery, owners of Treana Winery, for more than a decade. Originally an employee of Hope Family Winery, she was instrumental in the start-up phase at Treana. She previously served as director of operations. Eyster joined Treana in 2000, overseeing all sales and distribution in the southwest U.S. Prior to joining Treana, he was a regional wine buyer for Cost Plus World Market, based in Chicago.

Michael Davies was promoted to winemaker for A to Z Wineworks and Rex Hill Vineyards, a role he had shared since the 2006 harvest with A to Z partners, husband and wife team Sam Tannahill and Cheryl Francis.

Amy Jo Smith, previously executive assistant to the president/CEO and chief marketing officer of Beam Wine Estates, has accepted the role of executive administrator with Cosentino Winery.

Olsen Family Vineyards, the producer of Viridian Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, announced the addition of winemaker Bill Kremer. He spent the past 13 years making wines at King Estate Winery in Eugene, Oregon.

Tony Giovanzana joined Cosentino Signature Estates Winery of Yountville, California as director of hospitality and retail. He is credited with taking Coit Liquor from a fledgling business in 1974 to a multimillion dollar enterprise regarded as one of the country's most influential and important wine sellers. His most recent position was senior hospitality operations manager for Foster's Wine Estates Americas, overseeing Sonoma, San Francisco and Paso Robles properties.

Champagne producer Mandois appointed Eric Chameret as its environmental project manager. Chameret joined Mandois on April 1, 2008 and has been in charge of feasibility studies and monitoring environmental projects there. Founded in 1735, Champagne Mandois has 35 hectares of vines and is based in the village of Pierry, south of Epernay.

Distributors, Importers & Retailers

David Lockie transitioned to vice president and general manager of Spectrum Wine from his most recent role as president of Union Beverage of Illinois. In his new position, Lockie will lead the strategic objectives of Judge and Dolph, LLC to expand and enhance the company's wine brands. Lockie's experience also includes serving as vice president of wine, sales and marketing with Glazer's of Illinois. He also spent seven years at E&J Gallo Winery as Midwest and Mid-Central division manager. Also joining Judge and Dolph, LLC are Dan Keller, director of Spectrum Fine Wine Division, and Derek Holmes, director of Spectrum Corporate Accounts Division. Keller will become director of Spectrum Fine Wine Division from his most recent role as vice president of sales for Union Beverage's Chicago Wine Merchant. Holmes, previously vice president of Spirit Sales at Union, will oversee brand and sales managers to drive brand strategy, advance supplier relationships and increase company performance.

Majestic Fine Wines, the sales organization for Jackson Family Wines, filled 12 newly created positions to support super-premium and luxury wine sales. Peter Repole, formerly an estates education manager, was promoted to Southeast division vice president, based in Miami. Taking over the new position of Texas sales manager is Ashley Flautt, based in Dallas. Brent Bolding, based in Seattle, steps into the new role of Northwest region manager. Billy Connely is the new Nevada state sales manager based in Las Vegas. Kevin Kennedy takes on duties in the newly created position of New York sales manager. Brenda Wojcik is the new Illinois sales manager. Jimmy Clement is the new Florida sales manager. Sonia Winters is the region manager for California and Nevada. Eric Gieseker is the new Northern California area manager and John Vidal is the new Southern California area manager. Jayne Waters is the new district sales manager for Atlanta, Georgia. Kim Wallace is the new sales educator/trainer for the Gulf and Southeast divisions and has completed her third-level Master Sommelier program.

Sam's Club named Dex McCreary merchandise director of wine, beer and spirits. Most recently, McCreary was national wine buyer for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., joining the company in 2007. McCreary led the launch of the Wal-Mart private label wine Oak Leaf. Prior to joining Wal-Mart, McCreary was a national accounts manager with Beam Wine Estates. He held a similar position with Vincor USA.

Mitchell Boyd joined Vinum Global as the company's newest regional sales and marketing director. He will oversee sales in the Northwest. Boyd began his wine career with Heck Estates, worked with importers Diego Planeta and Settesoli. Most recently he was with Calistoga Cellars.

Sopexa North America, which markets French wine, announced three appointments for its Sopexa USA subsidiary. Serge Lozach has been appointed managing director of Sopexa USA. Lozach is a veteran of Marnier-Lapostoll, The Hess Collection and Heublein Palace Brands, and he replaces Greg Deligdisch, who led Sopexa USA from 2005 to 2008. Lozach comes to Sopexa USA from Moët Hennessy USA, where he held the position of brand manager for sales and marketing of Casa Lapostolle winery. Assisting Lozach in leading the Sopexa USA team will be Anabell Bassat, who has been promoted from director of account services to the new position of associate managing director. After beginning her career in the research and development food sector, Bassat joined Sopexa's international organization in 1999, serving until 2007 within Sopexa Germany, where she eventually rose to the post of group director for food products. She joined Sopexa USA in September 2007. Sopexa USA also announced the promotion of Cédric Villars from senior account services manager for Bordeaux to director of sales promotion. Formerly a member of Yoplait's international marketing team in London, Villars joined Sopexa USA in January 2005.

Ettore Nicoletto

Santa Margherita S.p.A Wine Production Group director general Ettore Nicoletto is assuming the title of chief executive officer. Gaetano Marzotto, meanwhile, was "reconfirmed" as president of Santa Margherita S.p.A. Luca Marzotto, who has been in charge of the Wine Production Group for the last few years, will maintain the post of vice president with the aim of developing, in concert with the CEO, the growth of the Group through acquisitions. Santa Margherita, among other things, is known for its Pinot Grigio.

Kate Harborne has been appointed PR manager by Constellation Europe. This is a newly created role. Harborne has seven years' experience in PR and marketing. She started her career with sports retailer Decathlon, then moved to Dubai to work for ITP, a trade and consumer publishing company. On her return to the U.K. in 2004, Harborne became marketing manager for H&H Bancroft Wines and, in 2006, became New World marketing manager for Enotria World Wine, responsible for all the company's corporate and wine PR.

As part of a restructuring, David Cox, the managing director of Brown-Forman Europe, will be leaving the company. The company is based in London, and Cox set up the wine division 13 years ago.

Anne Burchett, managing director of Castel UK Ltd., is leaving the company to make a career change. Castel UK Ltd. is the U.K. subsidiary of Castel Frères, France's largest wine company, and owns the High Street wine merchant chains Nicolas and Oddbins.

According to media reports, Foster's Group chief executive Trevor O'Hoy resigned as the global beverages company downgraded its earnings and flagged write-downs of up to $670.5 million ($A700 million) on the value of its underperforming wine assets.

Industry Suppliers & Services

François Peltereau-Villeneuve

François Peltereau-Villeneuve has joined Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage, Inc., as president and CEO. He succeeds Lance Spears, who joined the firm in 2003. Sequin Moreau is part of the barrel division of Oeneo of France and is considered the largest supplier of French oak barrels. Peltereau-Villeneuve was previously president of Laurent-Perrier US, the subsidiary of the largest family-owned Champagne brand, which he started in 1998 after joining Laurent-Perrier Champagne in 1994. He and his team successfully built that champagne brand within the three-tier system and the U.S. market by reaching 50,000 cases last year. Peltereau-Villeneuve is also no stranger to the Napa Valley as he started his career in 1985 as sales and marketing manager of Cork & Seal of California (later Pechiney, now part of Alcan). As such, he was a supplier of the wine industry for seven years, until 1992. He can be reached at: francois@seguinmoreau.com.

Dixie Gill Huey formed Trellis Wine Consulting to consult with wineries and related business regarding leadership and organization, distribution and sales strategy, marketing and public relations and operations and finance. Before founding Trellis Wine Consulting, she served as director of marketing and communications for Premium Port Wines, the North American importer for the Symington Family Estates of Portugal. Prior to representing the Symington Family, Huey managed public relations for Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines.

Jeri Hansen-Gill is joining Napa consulting firm NewLevel Group as a senior consultant. The public affairs manager with the Napa Valley Vintners for eight years, Hansen-Gill was instrumental in creating the Napa Green Certified Winery Program. She is a past chair of the Napa Chamber of Commerce and serves on the board.

Snooth, which bills itself as the world's most comprehensive wine review site, announced the formation of an advisory board, including Paul Mabray, founder and chief strategy officer of Inertia Beverage; Andrea Johnston, VP channel development of Inertia; Mike Mitchell, COO MMP, former director of NextAction; Rodolphe Boulanger, president of The Wine Messenger and Jean-Michel Stam, VP Global Wines and Spirits. Snooth is a highly interactive, social database of the world's wines.

Universal Specialties Inc. (USI), a screen printer company that offers services to the wine industry, announced the addition of Mike Tims to its team. Tims joined USI as manager of sales and product development. He will deal directly with a large number of winery accounts throughout the western United States and has over 15 years' experience in the packaging industry.

Oenodev-Vivelys Group, the Montpellier, France-based inventor of the micro-oxygenation process for enhancing the maturation of wine, appointed Cyril Derreumaux as vice president and general manager for the company's Santa Rosa, California-based U.S. subsidiary. Derreumaux is responsible for the North American operations, sales and marketing of the Oenodev line of micro-oxygenation products, the company's line of precision-toasted French oak chips sold under the brand name Boisé France, and the company's new computer-controlled, digital grape-monitoring and wine evaluation products, Dyostem and Siryel. Derreumaux comes to Oenodev-Vivelys Group with expertise in international sales and marketing at several companies, including wine industry experience as the director at Nadalié, Mendoza, Argentina.

Wine Associations

Margaret Duckhorn was elected California Wine Institute board chairman for the 2008-2009 fiscal year during the 74th annual meeting of members in Santa Barbara. She is co-founder and executive vice president of industry relations at Duckhorn Wine Company, including Duckhorn Vineyards in St. Helena, Paraduxx in Napa Valley and Goldeneye in Anderson Valley. Ray Chadwick of Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines was elected first vice chairman; Tom Klein of Rodney Strong Vineyards was elected second vice chairman; David Kent of The Wine Group was elected treasurer and Kathleen Heitz Myers of Heitz Wine Cellars was elected secretary.

Leslie Bramwell-Smith

Gary Werner

The Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley appointed Leslie Bramwell-Smith as director of marketing. Bramwell-Smith served as executive director for Brutocao Vineyards' Personal Vineyards program. She also worked with Brown-Forman Wine Group on brand management for Bonterra Vineyards and developed sales and consumer promotions for Korbel Champagne. Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley is an association of 65 wineries and 150 growers.

Xavier de Eizaguirre was appointed president of Vinexpo Bordeaux, the international wine and spirits exhibition. Xavier de Eizaguirre, general manager and member of the management board of Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA, takes over from Jean-Marie Chadronnier, director of CVBG Dourthe Kressmann, who presided over the exhibition during the three Vinexpos in Bordeaux in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

Patrizio Cencioni has been appointed the new chairman of the Brunello di Montalcino Wine Producers Association. Cencioni, 52, is native to Montalcino, Italy. He is the nephew of one of the founders of the Association, which was created in 1967. The appointment follows the recent resignation of Francesco Marone Cinzano as chairman after serving one year of his three-year term.

Gary Werner is the new director of communications for the Washington Wine Commission. Werner, a University of Colorado graduate, is relocating from the U.K., where he spent the last decade covering the international wine scene for a wide variety of trade and consumer media organizations including The Sunday Times, Evening Standard, Off-License News, Decanter and Wines & Vines.

Allan Sichel was re-elected for the sixth consecutive term as president of the Bordeaux wine and spirits union (l'Union des Maisons de Bordeaux). He was re-elected at a meeting of the union in mid-May. Sichel is managing director of Bordeaux négociant Maison Sichel.

Richard Bampfield MW has been elected chairman of the U.K.-based Association of Wine Educators (AWE), which has a membership of nearly 70 educators. Bampfield replaces Susan Hulme MW, who steps down after three years in office.

Tony Burke, the Australian minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, has announced the composition of the new board of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation. There are five new members on the board: Dr. Tony Jordan, Cloudy Bay and Domaine Chandon (in the Yarra Valley), Josephine Rozman, Kevin McLintock, Kate Thompson and Natalie Toohey. They join two existing members--Andrew Moore and Mark Purbrick--who are returning to serve a further three-year term. John Moore will chair the new board, whose term will last to April 2011.

Obituary

David Friedland, chairman of the top beverage alcohol distributor in Nebraska, died June 11, 2008 after a long illness. He was 75. The son of a wine and spirits retailer, Friedland joined Seagram Distillers in New York in 1955. A year later he returned to Chicago to work for Brown Vintners, the Seagram Import Company and later joined the Munson Shaw Company. He and his wife, Nancy, met in his hometown of Chicago and were married in 1962. He moved with her to Nebraska to work at United Distillers Products Company, a business started by her grandparents in 1893. In February 2008, United Distillers became a part of Republic National Distributing Company, the second largest distributor of premium wine and spirits in the United States. Friedland retained his role as chairman, and his son, Ted Friedland, retained his role as president of the new organization, RNDC-Nebraska Eagle Division. Friedland was past president of the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America. Services were held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. Donations may be made in memory of Mr. Friedland to The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, the Nebraska Humane Society and the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation. wbm