Wineries and Winemaking
Art Jeannet is the new senior vice president and CFO at Wente Family Estate and will report to president and COO Peter Chouinard. Jeannet was most recently with Kendall-Jackson as senior vice president, finance and administration. Prior to K-J, he was with Foster Farms and the Dial Corporation. The Cypress Group assisted with the placement.
Jim Silver has joined Peconic Bay Winery on the North Fork of Long Island, New York as their general manager. Silver comes to Peconic Bay Winery after two years at Bedell Cellars as their senior vice president of sales and marketing. Silver has been working on the North Fork since 2003 when he joined Pindar Vineyards and Duck Walk Vineyards as their national sales director. He obtained his Advance Certificate from the Institute of the Masters of Wine in 2001. In addition, Silver has worked for Henry Wine Group and The Hess Collection.
Robin Langton is the new assistant winemaker for Patz & Hall. Langton has worked as the winemaker for both Spring Creek Winery and MGP in New Zealand and as enologist for Lynmar Winery and Calera Wine Company in California. Born in England, Langton has a postgraduate diploma in Viticulture & Oenology and an honors degree in Systems Science.
Veteran winery executive Gary Ramona has been named vice president of marketing and sales for Argentina's Antigal Winery & Estates, a prominent Mendoza producer with headquarters here. Antigal president Horacio Peiro said, "We're extremely pleased to have Gary join our family winery and work with us in building our international fine wine company." Napa Valley-based Ramona, who spent decades working with Bronco Wine Company and Robert Mondavi Winery, said, "This is a new exciting opportunity with a growing, quality-focused winery. I have the greatest respect for the Franzia family and appreciate their support over the years." Antigal Winery & Estates is based near the city of Mendoza, where a newly refurbished winery and extensive new vineyards focus on the Malbec varietal. An expanded marketing and distribution program is expected in the near future.
Kautz Family Vineyards announced the hiring of Barbara Messer as national corporate accounts manager. Messer will be responsible for developing and coordinating the Kautz Family Vineyards' wine portfolio in and through national on-premise operators. Additionally, Messer will be responsible for management of the Kautz portfolio in the states of Texas and Louisiana.
Cana's Feast Winery of Carlton, Oregon named Mason Ainsworth general manager. Ainsworth most recently was general manager with Jordan Vineyard & Winery. Founder Gino Cune will remain a partner but has stepped away from his duties at the winery to focus on his own brand, Tre Nova. Winemaker Patrick Taylor continues to oversee the wines at Cana's Feast.
Van Ruiten Family Winery has brought Jim McMichael on board as vice president national sales manager. McMichael started his career as a sales representative with E&J Gallo Winery and later became the company's district manager. After serving as the wine sales manager for an E&J Gallo distributor, McMichael worked with Heublein Wines and Rémy Martin as a district manager. McMichael was also general manager for Western Distributors and has owned and operated his own brokerage firm. Most recently, McMichael served as national sales manager for Oak Ridge Winery and its brands.
Schramsberg Vineyards hired Matthew Levy as public relations and marketing manager. Levy honed his wine marketing and public relations skills at Balzac Communications in Napa working with Jordan Vineyard & Winery, Ventana Vineyards, APCOR -- The Portuguese Cork Association and Eisch Glaskultur.
Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard announced the addition of a new member to the winemaking team as well as a reorganization of winery/vineyard operations. Gregory Brun will now lead both winery and vineyard operations. He will work in concert with vineyard consultants, Thierry Blaise and Bertrand Sutre, to define viticulture practices in Virginia, specifically to Albemarle County. Brun came to Kluge Estate in 2008 after three years with Bank of Credit Agricole in Champagne-Bourgogne, France. Brun's education includes an M.S. in Viticulture-Oenology and a National Diploma of Oenology, and he has also completed Advanced Studies in Agronomy. Winemaker Jonathan Wheeler will now spearhead Kluge's sparkling wine program. Wheeler joined the winemaking team in 2006 from Ledson Winery in Napa. Prior to Ledson, Wheeler worked at wineries in California and New York. Jonathan holds a B.A. in Chemistry from State University of New York at Oswego. Katell Griaud has recently joined the winemaking team to lead the red wine program and organizational aspects of winery operations. Griaud's last assignment was as a winemaker-consultant in Michel Rolland's laboratories in France. Prior to that Griaud had several positions in winemaking in France and New Zealand. Griaud's education includes a Master of Viticulture and Oenology Degree, a National Degree in Oenology and a Professional Specialized Degree in Agronomy.
Sierra Madre Vineyard hired Sara Brewer as national sales manager. Brewer has many years of experience as a sommelier and has worked with wineries for 14 years. She was a senior regional manager for Chalone Wine Group for 10 years before moving to smaller wineries including Chalk Hill, Small Vineyards and Krupp Brothers Estates.
Michaela Rodeno, founding CEO of St. Supéry, a French-owned Napa Valley winery, announced in April that she is retiring. Rodeno's departure is a friendly one; she remains on the St. Supéry board of directors. Before coming to St. Supéry in 1988 as one of the few female winery bosses in California, Rodeno had worked at another French-owned Napa winery, Domaine Chandon. She was the first hire of president John Wright, and over more than 15 years rose from being Wright's assistant to vice president of marketing. Replacing Rodeno, who has run the company for the Robert Skalli family since 1988, is Emma Swain, who departed Sebastiani Vineyards in January after 13 years. Swain was already committed to St. Supéry as president before Rodeno decided to retire. Then chairman Robert Skalli announced that Swain would take the higher post of CEO. Winemaker Michael Beaulac has also left St. Supéry to become general manager and winemaker at Pine Ridge Winery, also in Napa.
Distributors, Importers & Retailers
Stephen Brauer, general manager of Pernod Ricard USA Wines, will take over the American wine division of Foster's Wine Estates. The London-born executive was with Beam Global Spirits and Wine and Seagram Chateau & Estate Wines. Brauer started April 13.
Eric Morham is the new president of Vincor Canada, taking over from Jay Wright. Morham was most recently president of Icon Estates, the luxury-end division of Constellation Wines U.S., and joined Constellation when the company bought Robert Mondavi, where he focused on national sales. Prior to that, Morham was chief executive with Delicato Family Vineyards and ran Heineken Beer's division in Canada.
Mike Cekay has been named senior vice president/national sales manager for the Three Loose Screws Division of Don Sebastiani & Sons International Wine Negociants. Cekay has worked with Michael Holden, president and COO of Don & Sons, on three occasions and most recently was vice president of off-premise sales for Beam Global Spirits.
Andrew Smith was named national director of corporate accounts for importer Palm Bay International; this is a new position in the company. He will head an existing division of nine professionals dedicated to national on-premise accounts, hotel groups, chain stores and transportation accounts. Smith joined Palm Bay in 2007 and before was with Republic National Distributing Company in Texas.
John Moreau, vice president of sales, North America for Clos Du Val Wine Company, Napa Valley and the fine wines of Goelet Wine Estates, announced the appointments of two sales professionals. Jim Stover was named Midwest region manager. Previously he worked for Don Sebastiani & Sons, Palm Bay Imports and Brown Forman. Based in Chicago, Stover will manage Goelet Wine Estates' business and distributors in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, North and South Dakota and Minnesota. Jim Cheer was named Southeast region manager and was most recently the national on-premise manager for Terlato Wines International.
A.V. Brands, Inc., a national importer and marketer of fine wines and spirits, named Charles Spelman to the position of vice president, western region. With more than 25 years in the wine and spirits industry, Spelman's tenure has included sales positions with Palace Brands, Southern Wines and Spirits, the Robert Mondavi Corporation as vice president, northern division sales and Delicato Family Vineyards as national senior vice president of sales. Spelman comes to A.V. Brands most recently from Joel Gott Wines.
Industry Suppliers & Services
Wilson Daniels Ltd. announced the appointment of Mike Jaeger as president and chief operating officer. Jaeger brings more than 20 years of experience in general management, marketing, operations, sales and strategic planning within the wine industry. He succeeds Andy Fromm. At Wilson Daniels, Jaeger will be responsible for managing day-to-day operations, developing strategic marketing and sales initiatives and preserving the company's long-standing philosophy of representing family-owned estates. Jaeger will report directly to Jeff Underwood, chief executive officer of Wilson Daniels Ltd. Jaeger most recently served as president and chief operating officer of Bacchus Capital Management, LLC, a San Francisco-based investment firm specializing in private equity wine industry investments. He will remain a senior advisor to the firm. Prior to Bacchus Capital, Jaeger was president of U.S. wine business at Vincor International, overseeing its portfolio of wines from California, Washington, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Before joining Vincor, Jaeger served as a group president at Constellation Brands, managing its California and Washington wine portfolio, which consisted of 21 domestic and imported brands. Jaeger's career in the wine industry began at Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, where he held several senior marketing positions and was responsible for the growth of its super-premium California wine portfolio, which included Sterling Vineyards and Mumm Napa Valley.
Bill Vyenielo has started a consulting business, using his experience managing luxury-focused winery operations and brands to help winery clients achieve their goals. After working with American Ag Credit, Vyenielo served as controller and vice president of Monticello Cellars and Vineyards in Napa before joining Peter Michael Winery, where he was chief executive for 14 years. Vyenielo consults on marketing and sales development, business planning and more.
Jessup Wiley joined Gusmer Enterprises, Inc. as product manager. Wiley earned a B.S. in Business Administration -- Marketing from California State University Fresno's Sid Craig School of Business. Prior to accepting his position at Gusmer Enterprises, Wiley worked as product marketing manager for the Fresno State Winery and also as a marketing assistant for Pride of San Juan Specialty Produce, Inc.
Wine Associations
Roger King was named president of Appellation America, the online publication that operates the "Best-of-Appellation" evaluation program seeking to define the characteristics of North America's wine growing regions and identify wines that best represent them. King joined the company in August 2008 as vice president, marketing and sales. Earlier, he served in various executive settings within the resort and hotel industries before settling into his own businesses of vineyard management and small lot wine production. According to company CEO Tom Welch, King has played a key role in reorganizing the company since the departure last fall of Appellation America's founders, Roger Dial and Adam Dial.
At its annual meeting held in Washington, D.C. on March 22-25, Winegrape Growers of America (WGA) elected new officers for the coming year. Heading up the new board as chairman is Ron Bitner of Idaho. Owner of Bitner Vineyards Winery, Bitner has more than 35 years' experience in agricultural consulting. He has degrees in Entomology from both Purdue University and Utah State University and is an internationally known bee biologist. He has been an IPM Specialist with the University of Idaho and is a past director of the Idaho Grape Growers and Producers Commission. Vice Chairman is Don Tones of New York and elected as secretary-treasurer is Brenton Roy of Washington. Bitner replaces Bruce Fry of California as chairman, who served for two years.
Mario Perelli-Minetti turned 100 years old on March 20. From 1946-1977 Perelli-Minetti was employed by Fruit Industries, later known as California Wine Association, as a marketing agent for a number of wineries. He was general manager from December 1950 until he retired. In 1979 he started MPM Vineyards and Wines.
Wine Education
Laurent Deluc, a research viticulturist at the University of Nevada-Reno, has been selected to join Oregon State University to further develop a nationally and internationally recognized viticulture research program within OSU's Department of Horticulture. Deluc's work will be aimed at improving the quality and performance of grapevines and enhancing both grape and wine quality. His position is among those recently established at the Oregon Wine Research Institute at OSU. Deluc was educated in France and earned his bachelor's degree in plant physiology and doctorate in plant molecular biology at the University of Bordeaux.
Obituaries
Chris Johnson, a top winemaker for Kendall-Jackson, passed away in April after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Johnson was a Fresno State graduate who started with K-J in August 1996, having worked in Eastern Canada and Virginia prior to returning to California. After his start at the Piner Barrel Warehouse in Santa Rosa, he ran the original K-J winery in Lakeport before taking over as the winemaker at K-J Oakville (Cardinal). He later took on the role of K-J red winemaker based out of Skylane-Kittyhawk.
Matthias J. Eiser, well known throughout the industry for his work representing Euro-Machines, Inc., the provider of harvesters, presses, tanks and other equipment, died of a heart attack while in Germany on April 8, 2009. He was 44. Eiser, who was born in Winkel, Germany, moved to Virginia in 1986 to become vineyard manager for Prince Michel Vineyard. In 1988 he joined Euro-Machines, based in Culpeper, Virginia, and became widely known for his commitment to service to his customers. When the company decided to expand Euro-Machines activities to the western part of the U.S., Eiser moved to California in 2000. He left Euro-Machines in 2007 and moved back to Germany in 2008. He is survived by Karen Eiser, Fairfield, California; his son Roger Eiser, Virginia Beach, Virginia; and his parents Karl Eiser and Marga Schabinger in Germany. wbm
