Rudd Oakville Estate’s Managing Director Oscar Henquet discovered his passion for the luxury hospitality industry at a very young age while working with his family’s hotel business in The Netherlands. Spending summers amidst vineyards in Provence with his parents, Oscar’s exposure to the world of wine started at a young age. One of two children, Oscar grew up in the region where Belgium, Holland and Germany intersect, and as a result, quickly learned the importance and value of understanding...

Karen MacNeil is the only American to have won every major wine award given in the English language. These include the James Beard award for Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year, the Louis Roederer award for Best Consumer Wine Writing, and the International Wine and Spirits award as the Global Wine Communicator of the Year.  In a full-page profile on her, TIME Magazine called Karen “America’s Missionary of the Vine.” In 2018, Karen was named one of the “100 Most Influential People in the...

J Pearce is a boutique wine project that was started by great friends, Andrew Renda and Jarred Pearce. Andy and Jarred met in 2005 when Andy hired Jarred to work alongside him at Vintner’s Collective in downtown Napa. Prior to Andy’s career in wine, it was a love of food and the restaurant industry where he first gained experience. Like many others, his first job was as a dishwasher for a gourmet caterer in his hometown. By age seventeen, he began cooking at The Country Club in Brookline MA,...

We started Drive as a home winemaking project in a vintage auto garage in Sonoma County, California. Through years of work in the vineyard, winery, and classroom; a hobby turned into a passion. We are humbled to take part in this journey with you. Drive Wines was started by John Musto and Tom Young. Hobby winemakers who honed their craft in the vineyards, wineries, and classrooms of Sonoma County. Inspired by their surroundings, they've set out to craft single vineyard wines through passion...

Chef Marc-Henri JEAN-BAPTISTE’s fine handmade pâtés, rillettes, ham and head cheese are hand crafted for all clients that want to find authentic European tasting products. Fully-cooked, ready to enjoy! Every product is crafted using traditional European techniques and use only high-quality local meats. We as a company believed in using only products where we can derive the source and the manner in which it is grown. The respect of the product during fabrication is primordial. Hand-made...

Idlewild has a relatively concise aim within a broad context: to produce wines of exceptional balance and beauty. It is a journey to pursue Italy’s Piedmont in the elevated hills of Mendocino County, and to find the sides of these varieties that are intriguing, delicious, and haunting. Each wine is unique and treated as such, though the common thread is balancing depth and seriousness with vibrancy and joy. Emphasis is on the vineyard followed by minimalist winemaking techniques. While not...

All of Jeff’s wines share a theme of fresh fruit reflective of the varietal flavors inherent in the grapes. Jeff selects grapes from vineyards that provide rich full flavors without loads of astringent tannins. Personally, Jeff prefers his wines to have zest and vibrant flavors. “Once I release a new vintage I rarely return to the previous year’s wine. My father likes that; it means more of the older wines for him.” Jeff produces wines from grapes grown throughout California. At last count...

Since way back in 1989, winemaker Rick Moshin has been producing natural, terroir-driven, and delicious wines in the Russian River Valley. He sustainably farms his own prized Goldridge-soil Pinot Noir vineyards, and using the natural yeasts of his grapes — plus the help of a dedicated winemaking team — he gently makes small-lot, premium wines in our gravity-flow winery on Sonoma County’s famed Westside Road.  Celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2019, we're still family-owned and...

Kevin Evans is President of WEB Media Group, a niche media company specializing in the relocation / newcomer and lifestyle market.  Currently, WEB Media Group produces 17 titles and 11 websites across 6 states, with three new branches in 2017.  In 2002 he started with a single employee, single market concept that has grown to a national company employing 20 people.  Evans caught the publishing bug early in college, he served as Editor-in-Chief of his college newspaper, then worked for...

Craig Palmer and Allen Habel, co-founders of the Experience Rosé Today. Experience Rosé brand, which aims to celebrate all things rosé. The new brand will host an array of events in 2018, all honoring the lauded “pink drink,” with the Experience Rosé: The 2018 Competition kicking things off in the Spring. Focusing exclusively on domestic and international rosé wines and directed by globally-renowned wine expert and educator Debra Del Fiorentino, the competition will take place on Wednesday,...

In 1970, San Francisco firefighter Cecil De Loach, and his wife Christine, purchased the prized Barbieri Ranch in Russian River Valley’s coveted Olivet Road district. Both came armed with advanced degrees in anthropology but no background in farming or grape growing. That said, they had long dreamt of finding land their family could own and work together. For his part, Louis Barbieri, whose father Itilo planted the vineyard in 1905, was gratified to pass the vineyard on to a family committed...

We are tiny like an acorn. Our winery is framed by tall oak trees. Our wine is aged in oak barrels. So ACORN seemed the perfect name for our winery. Bill traded in his law books for books on viticulture, pruning shears, and a tractor when we purchased Alegría Vineyards in 1990. In the early years, he was in the vineyards every day, and Betsy helped out on weekends, but within a few years she too was ready for a change and joined Bill full time. At first, we sold all of our grapes to other...

Since 1927, when John Pedroncelli, Sr. purchased vineyard and a small winery in Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley, two elements remain unchanged: the exceptional place the Pedroncelli family farms vineyards, and the family's dedication to making fine wines. From selling grapes to home winemakers during prohibition in order to keep the vineyards going, to growing a small base of business during the 1930s and 1940s, to the second generation joining their father: son John becoming winemaker in...

Debbie is responsible for managing Wine Road events, which include the annual event weekends Wine & Food Affair, Winter WINEland and Barrel Tasting. In her current position Debbie is the first line of contact for participating wineries (up to 100) as well as helping visitors plan their event experience. She coordinates with the health department, hires security, designs programs, event maps and working with a designer comes up with the inspiration for the overall event theme and look for...

Claudia Vecchio has assumed the position of CEO of Sonoma County Tourism. Vecchio has many years of experience in the industry, including multiple leadership roles in tourism organisations, serving as the State Tourism director at the Ohio Department of Development, Division of Travel and Tourism, and senior vice president overseeing the tourism group at Edelman PR in Chicago. In her new role, Vecchio will try to drive Sonoma County Tourism into record-breaking years, with out-of-the-box...

A graduate from the University of California at Davis, Rachele developed a successful sales career in technology for RICOH U.S.A. for the past 22 years. During this time, she met and married Mitch Spaletta, the farmer she prayed she would one day meet. With a passion for people and talent for selling, the experience and knowledge gained through working for “Corporate America” would develop into a business she could call her own. “When you truly believe in something, and you are passionate...

Early on in my glamorous (and painfully fast-paced) fashion career, I realized the way I worked was turning me into a tightly wound little ball of stress and tension. So before every business trip I conducted hours of research planning for self-care in my few precious hours of downtime. It changed my life! Today, as a wellness travel expert and consultant, I lead travelers around the world on wellness tours with Pravassa. Creating group and individualized itineraries for the people and...