Professional Wine Competition

Freelance Wine Writer, A Year in Wine, Sacramento, CA
Mike Dunne is a freelance wine writer and consultant who divides his time between Sacramento and San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur. The former food editor, wine columnist and restaurant critic of The Sacramento Bee, he continues to contribute a weekly wine column to The Bee and its online platforms, including www.sacbee.com and www.sacwineregion.com. His blog - A Year in Wine - also is a partner in The Bee’s online community of Northern California bloggers, Sacramento Connect. Mike contributed the Inland California and Mexico chapters to the recently published book "Opus Vino," and is at work on a spinoff about outstanding everyday value wines.

Sahar is the owner and wine buyer of La Dolce Vita Wine Lounge, Petaluma, CA
An experienced Owner with a demonstrated history of working in the wine and spirits industry. Skilled Food & Beverage, Beverage Industry, Wine Education, and Retail Wine Sales. Strong operations professional with a Wine Professional Degree focused in Wine Steward/Sommelier from Apicius Culinary Institute in Florence, Italy. Sahar has also received her Level 3 Advanced Certification at the WSET as well as the French Wine Scholar Certification from the Wine Scholar Guild.

Bill Hayes is the Wine Category Manager the growing BevMo! Retail chain of 163 Stores throughout California, Arizona and Washington. With over 33 years of career experience in the Wine Retail industry, Bill has developed key relationships with winery Owners, Winemakers, Growers as well as other industry partners that have cultivated his vast knowledge of and passion for Wines around the world.
Bill’s career in the Wine business began as a Buyer with the Liquor Barn stores. Bill was also a part of the Kendall-Jackson Family Wine organization where he managed the Distributor portfolio that included Kendall-Jackson, La Crema, Cambria and Stonestreet Wines. In 1994 Bill joined BevMo! as one of its very first employees as the Corporate Wine Buyer. He has played key roles in the development, launching and fostering of BevMo!’s iconic 5₵ Wine Sale that has grown from one Wine to now over two-hundred. As part of the BevMo! Private Label/Exclusive Wine program, Bill has traveled throughout Europe and South America to work with Wineries and industry partners to blend and bottle Import Wines such as Zolo and Tapiz, and has blended and developed varietal extensions of the Unruly , Shiloh Road and Stateland Cellars brands. Bill’s current focus with BevMo! is sourcing and developing the premium selection of wines from around the world and promote the local brands for the next-generation BevMo! Consumer.

Pat Henderson is a veteran with more than thirty years of wine making experience and has been the chief winemaker for Kenwood vineyards, Valley of the Moon Winery and Hedges Cellars. He currently works as a wine making consultant and wine educator in the Sonoma Valley. In addition to his work making wine, he also taught wine making classes for many years at both Santa Rosa Junior College and VESTA. A graduate of the Viticulture and Enology program at the University of California at Davis Pat supplemented his formal education by interning at five different wineries while getting his degree. After graduation he worked in both the Napa and Sonoma valleys before taking his first position as head winemaker at Hedges Cellars in Washington State in 1995.

Barry has more than three decades of experience in the wine industry, ranging from sommelier and wine shop owner to high-level retail and private cellar acquisitions. He was raised in Southern California, where he earned his stripes in some of LA’s most celebrated restaurants, among them Chinois on Main and Osteria Angelini. Most recently, Barry was General Manager of the Rare Wine Company in Sonoma, as well as working with Soutirage and Bounty Hunter Rare Wine & Spirits in Napa Valley. Currently, he is the wine buyer for Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa, CA, a 15,000 square foot superstore and arguably has the largest and finest selection of fine wines north of San Francisco. Barry blames a bottle of 1980 Jayer Vosne-Romanée Cros Parantoux for having sent him down the rabbit hole many years ago. Today, he lives in Petaluma, CA with his wife, two children and Australian Shepherd, Elvis, to whom he happily dedicates every spare moment outside of work.

Jennifer Kelly is a Certified Sommelier and passionate wine professional with over 20 years of wine industry experience. Her many talents include wine education, marketing, sales, public relations, and most recently adding assistant winemaker to her diverse repertoire. Ambitious by nature, Jennifer has held an executive role with the likes of famed importer, Wilson Daniels, specializing in French and Italian wines, based in St. Helena, California. Climbing the ranks with Sonoma County-based Jackson Family Wines working with both domestic and international portfolios, and is the founder of Luxury Wine Marketing, a consultancy for small, boutique wineries/winemakers in Sonoma and Napa County.

Rick Kushman is a New York Times bestselling author and an award-wining journalist who is the wine commentator and a guest host for Capital Public Radio, Sacramento’s NPR affiliate. He is also the creator and co-host of the popular podcast “Bottle Talk with Rick and Paul,” which is featured on the Capital Public Radio podcast lineup among many others.

Rick was a longtime columnist for The Sacramento Bee and his writing has appeared in publications ranging from Time Magazine to Sommelier Journal to Daily Variety. He has worked in the wine industry as a consultant on service and communication and as a Napa Valley-based Communications Strategist for E&J Gallo Winery. His day job now is handling Executive Communications for UC Davis Health.

He is the author of two books, and the second, “The Barefoot Spirit,” a business book set in the wine world, spent two months on the New York Times Bestseller list. He also offers inventive, light-hearted, anti-winespeak programs for corporate events and for the public, and he conducts media trainings and public speaking seminars for wineries, corporate clients and industry groups. Rick has served as Co-Chief Judge for the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition and is currently Chief Judge of the State Fair’s Home Winemaker’s Competition.

Ellen is a published Wine Writer, Certified Sommelier, Certified Wine Specialist, Wine Educator and Professional Wine Judge. She is the author of the blog EllenOnWine.com and writes for the AWS Wine Journal (AmericanWineSociety.org) among other publications.
Ellen is a moderator for the highly acclaimed Vintner’s Holidays annual event at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, and participates as a key speaker, moderator and panelist at various other wine events. For the past sixteen plus years, she and husband Ken co-owned award winning Landis Shores Oceanfront Inn where Ellen served as Wine Director and Sommelier. They recently sold their Inn to devote more time to the world of wine. Ellen was also a Sommelier at the Ritz Carlton for several years. Ellen has traveled many wine regions throughout North America including California, Oregon, Washington, Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, Connecticut, New Mexico, Arizona, New York and Canada, and several international wine regions including Bordeaux, Champagne, Burgundy, Rhone, Tuscany, and wine regions throughout Spain, Portugal, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

Laura Ness is an avid wine journalist with a deep respect for the many hands behind the myth and reality of wine. Every aspect of wine is infused with stories, and telling those stories in a compelling way has become her passion.

A visit to France shortly after college imprinted the concept of terroir indelibly as she tasted wines in the very towns that bear their names. Sancerre, Chinon and Vouvray were not just wines, they were actual places: places you could taste.
Laura’s wine obsession eventually led her from high tech communications to the wine industry, where she is the wine columnist for Spirited and Los Gatos magazines, as well as several Bay Area newspapers. She also writes regularly for industry and consumer publications like Edible: Monterey, Wine Business Monthly, Wine Industry Network, and WineOh.Tv. She judges wine competitions throughout California and enjoys playing “wine concierge” for people seeking out wineries and experiences that provide a unique sense of place.

Deborah Parker Wong, DWSET is Global Wine Editor for sister publications the SOMM Journal and The Tasting Panel magazines. In 2018 she was appointed California Editor for the Slow Food Slow Wine Guide which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2018. Deborah teaches as an adjunct professor in the Wine Studies departments at Santa Rosa Junior College and Cabrillo College and she owns a Wine & Spirit Education Trust school offering Level 2 and Level 3 certifications. In addition to writing and speaking about wine, she consults to producer groups, judges wine competitions and scores wine for Planet Grape Wine Review. Her motto is: To learn, read. To know, write. To master, teach.

Dr. Peterson began his career as a home winemaker in 1948 in Iowa. After receiving his B.S. degree in Chemical Technology from Iowa State University in 1952 and M.S. degree in Food Technology in 1956 from the University of California, Berkeley, and Ph.D. in Agricultural Chemistry from the University of California, he joined the E. & J. Gallo Winery in New Product Development and Research in 1958. His highest positions held in his ten years at Gallo were Research Director and Assistant Production Manager in charge of winemaking.

From 1968 through 1973 Dr. Peterson replaced Andre Tchelistcheff as Wine Master at Beaulieu Vineyard at Rutherford in Napa Valley. From 1974 through 1986 he was Wine Master and President of The Monterey Vineyard. Dr. Peterson has been a professional member of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture since 1959, a Director (1973 – 1975), and its President (1977 – 1978). He was a long time director of the Wine Institute, Chairman of WITS, a Supreme Knight in the Universal Order of Knights of the Vine, and a member of most professional wine societies.

Rob Renteria is a Wine, Restaurant and Hospitality Professional. Throughout his career has been a Bay Area Sommelier and Wine Director at distinguished restaurants such as: Rubicon, bacar, Eos, Martini House, Redd and La Folie.

He’s also a participating sommelier for Pebble Beach Food & Wine, Los Angeles Food & Wine, Nantucket Wine Festival and the Somm Journal Magazine.Rob has been a tasting panelist for: Wine and Spirits Magazine, Sunset Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times. You can follow his rants about wine and culture on Twitter: @angrysomm. Instagram: @angry_somm

Currently wine steward at Safeway Stores, Greg has a broad background in the wine and spirits marketplace. His experience includes management in hospitality, marketing, production and business modeling. Greg is WSET certified and has been an accredited judge for the past eight years.

Christopher Sawyer is an internationally-renowned sommelier, wine judge, consultant, wine journalist and public speaker. Voted Best Sommelier of Sonoma County 2020 by Bohemian Magazine for the seventh consecutive year, he is also a recipient of many more prestigious awards and industry honors. To enjoy his wine adventures follow his Blog The Sommelier Files & YouTube Channel featuring The Varietal Show!

Radio, Wine Guy, Simoneau Vineyards, Healdsburg, CA.
There are few people in Northern California’s Wine County — in fact, just one — who truly can be defined as The Wine Guy. That would be Tom Simoneau. Grape grower and Winemaker. Wine Educator, Wine Competition Judge and Wine Critic. Wine Marketer. And for two decades, the clever and insightful host of a syndicated daily radio show offering reviews and “wine stains” to help guide listeners towards exceptional wine experiences.

Evan Williams is a restaurateur with fifty-seven years of experience in the business, 42 in management and 32 as an owner. Currently he and his wife and partner, Candice, are owners of Evan’s American Gourmet Cafe located in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Evan has worked in virtually every possible position in the restaurant business, front of the house and back as well, from Busser to Waiter, Captain, Maitre d’ Hotel, Food and Beverage Director at a Five Star Resort, Chef de Cuisine, Sommelier and Proprietor and has been a wine buyer for 42 years and a Commercial Wine Competition Judge for 30 years. Evan’s American Gourmet Café is the top rated fine dining restaurant in South Lake Tahoe and the only DiRoNA Award recipient in the entire Tahoe/Truckee region.