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Dawn Martella is currently winemaker for Karmère Vineyards and Winery, a 6500-case facility in the heart of California’s Shenandoah Valley. Dawn’s emphasis on vineyard expression and understanding of yeast attributes and barrel contributions results in carefully crafted, award-winning wines. A relative newcomer to the winemaking industry, Dawn’s passion for her art is evident in the subtle complexity of her wines. Prior to her relationship with Karmère, Dawn and her husband, Richard, were part owners in another local winery, where she served as both General Manager and Assistant Winemaker.

The wines produced by Karmère include Viognier, Syrah, Barbera, and Zinfandel varietals. Dawn and her husband, a winegrower, especially enjoy time with their family and friends. A farmer at heart and an avid gardener, she can often be found walking the vineyards to see what the grapes are doing. Dawn also enjoys hiking, kayaking, and motorcycling.

As a country girl growing up in Grass Valley, Dawn Martella always wanted to be a winemaker. Fate intervened in the most unlikely of places: While taking a college welding class. Martella recalls, “The instructor gave me a bottle of wine from his vineyard. Since I already had a crush on him, at that point the sky opened and a beam of light illuminated him. I think there were angels singing in the background, too.” The instructor became her husband; as a viticulture and plant science teacher, he helped spark her journey. After working on small productions, she initially turned down Karmère owner Marilyn Hoopes’ offer to become winemaker because of the sheer size, but a pep talk from her husband convinced her to reconsider. “And I’m glad I did,” says Martella. “I just love being here and doing what I do.” Martella is now approaching her 11th harvest at Karmère, and is deeply passionate about all aspects of winemaking.

Every winemaker does things a little differently; Martella says she likes to focus on varietal character. “I want to taste those elements that make Barbera, Grenache, Zinfandel, etc., taste the way they are.  When I walk through the vineyard, I taste the whole cluster, because it tells me what the wine wants to be.” Of all the aspects of winemaking, walking the vineyard prior to harvest is her favorite. Says Martella, “There’s a welcoming peace to the vineyard that draws me, and I’m always at my happiest touching the vines and watching their progress. Someone once quoted ‘how can one be an atheist in the vineyard, when you find yourself in the presence of the Divine?’”

Michael Long, son of Larry and Linda, and Head Winemaker- Michael graduated Magna Cum Laude from Fresno State University with a Bachelors of Science in Enology. Michael was just 15 years old when his parents purchased the land that Amador Cellars now sits on. His love and passion for grape growing and winemaking blossomed as he began to learn more about the process and gained an appreciation for what it takes to make a nice bottle of wine.  Michael began working in the vineyard as a teenager and gradually became more involved in other aspects of the business, including working side by side with father and winemaker, Larry.  Michael became the Assistant Winemaker in 2008 and held the position for 5 years prior to taking the reins from his father as Head Winemaker in 2013.  Michael is also very involved with the grape growing and farming, and you may find him pouring in the tasting room and at events from time to time.

Bryan Doreian is the President and founder of Wysebridge Patent Bar Review, an inventive startup designed to help individuals pass the Patent Bar Exam efficiently. This is achieved by providing online resources and materials in a way that anyone can understand, and the means to quickly and efficiently develop the skills to pass.

Bryan Doreian has a background in many areas of research including Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biophysics. He has not only developed analytical skills allowing him to process and summarize information and data, but also how to quickly and efficiently find solutions to problems.

Bryan Doreian's experience in multiple sectors is diverse, providing him with a unique perspective into the field of patents and intellectual property. He has been involved in drug development, process design and control for a major manufacturer, biomedical academic research, and is working on quantitative reforms for the healthcare industry.

Ellen is a grammar freak, a former freelance writer, and a founder and principal of Syntaxis, a communication skills training firm based in New York City. She has a B.A. in German from Harvard and an M.A. in comparative literature from UCLA. Ellen lives with her husband, Brandt Johnson, in a wildly polylingual apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and can often be found walking or running around the city listening to language lessons.

I had studied German, Spanish, and French in school, but I wanted to go more global this time and add other language families. The initial plan of a year soon became two years, which eventually became three years, then four, then five, and which now stands at nearly eight years. The schedule has so far included 21 different languages involving a total of nine different alphabets and writing systems. No end in sight.

Through my blog here, I have chronicled linguistic adventures, some misadventures, and the mental and physical fallout of spending a lot of time outside one’s own alphabet and grammar. In 2013, I added a directory of learning-resource reviews for other people seeking to learn a new language or reinforce old skills. I continue to add to that.

Mostly now I wish to pay tribute to the joys of language learning, and to the extraordinary linguistic riches of my beloved adopted city and makeshift language-learning lab: New York.

I am often asked how I remember all these languages. I don’t! I forget tons. I study, forget, restudy, relearn, reforget, and so on. Doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t do this if it weren’t fun for me: I am a language hedonist! With each new language, my sense of the world, linguistic and otherwise, feels, well, larger. I treasure that.

I would love to see more Americans in particular, but also people around the world, enjoy the study of languages they did not grow up speaking.

A new language is a hand held out to one’s neighbor, an opener of doors, a new way to see, a mental tickle, a road to unmediated communication with strangers in other lands, access to the world’s news, a gesture of peace — really, language study can be anything you want to make of it.

 Light has more than two decades of experience in wine industry  communications. Prior to forming Nancy Light Public Relations in 2003, she  was Vice President of Public Relations for Robert Mondavi for seven years,  acting as chief communications strategist and managing public relations  programs for the company and its portfolio of 16 wineries and labels.  Light  was responsible for communications programs for the launch of ten new labels,  including international joint ventures, during a period of intense growth and  expansion in the US and key export markets.  She also managed press activity  for family and key company executives and served as spokesperson on  promotional, business and industry issues.      This direct experience augments the broad view of the industry that Light  gained as Wine Institute Communications Director and in her previous positions  as Account Supervisor for Shelly Berman Communicators, a public relations and  advertising agency, and as Public Relations Manager for Kobrand Corporation in  New York, where she started the company's first in-house PR department in the  1980s.      Wine Institute is a public policy advocacy group representing  637 California wineries and affiliated businesses responsible for more than  80 percent of the nation's wine production and 90 percent of U.S. wine  exports.  Light replaces Kari Birdseye who departs the organization and plans  to remain in the wine industry.    

Experts in wine appraisal, Benchmark is one of the largest buyers of private wine collections. Established in 2002, Benchmark Wine Group is the leading source of fine and rare wine for wine retailers, restaurants and collectors around the world. Based in Napa Valley, they acquire the most sought-after wines from private individuals and professional contacts. Their staff draws on decades of industry experience and is dedicated to providing exceptional service to all of our clients. Benchmarkwine.com offers 24-hour access to they're cellar, displaying inventory in real-time. They acquire fine and rare wine from well-maintained private cellars and reputable wholesalers after provenance is verified by our team of acquisitions professionals. Before purchasing a private collection, they travel to meet the collector and inspect storage conditions to verify provenance. As a result, we guarantee the provenance of all wines that they sell.

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, April 18 at Soda Rock Winery in Healdsburg. The Experience Rosé brand will offer a collection of curated consumer events beyond the competition as well, including The Great Rosé Pairing for Summer, to be held on Saturday, June 16, at The CIA at Copia in Napa, and The Great Rosé Pairing for Thanksgiving, which will take place Friday, October 19, at Jaxon Keys Winery and Distillery in Hopland.

Experience Rosé is all about providing extraordinary experiences for everyone who revels in our passion for Rosé and its infinite possibilities all year-long. Foodie to newbie. Wine maker to chef. Sponsor to volunteer. Because every day pairs better with Rosé. Fill your glass with us. We promise you a fulfilling experience that will be personal, passionate and perfect.

Celebrating a wide range of rosé winemaking styles and taking place on Wed, Apr 18 at Soda Rock Winery in Healdsburg, Experience Rose: The 2018 Competition will showcase the best of the best from both domestic and international producers in dry, sparkling and sweet categories.

“We’re excited to introduce these new elements around the Wine Competition,” states Del Fiorentino. “Our goal is to create an event that is beneficial to both our wine competition entrants and the attendees to the two consumer events, as we want everyone to have the best experience possible.”

The Brand will introduce two new wine events to the general public. On Saturday, June 16, 2018, Experience Rosé will debut The Great Rosé Pairing for Summer, to be held at The CIA at Copia in Napa. Event-goers will have the opportunity to sip winning wines paired with gourmet bites inspired by cuisine from the four major rosé producing regions (France, Italy, Spain and the United States/California). The bites will be prepared by teams of CIA students directed by Lars Kronmark, Professor of Culinary Arts at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa Valley. This curated event will also include special arts programming and Experience Rosé Talks – an educational series featuring presentations, panel discussions and pairings.

Gabrielle and Anthony Poston are avid wine lovers and wine country explorers.

Their passion for wine, and knowledge of winery locations and attributes, caused friends and family to frequently ask for recommendations on “which wineries” to visit.

They began to realize that they, like so many others, were recommending and visiting the same wineries repeatedly. One serendipitous moment in France, with a map in hand, unable to find the champagne house that they wanted to visit, they realized there needs to be a better way.

Gabrielle proposed the idea of creating a website that shared their travel experiences and included a searchable tool that allowed friends, family and ultimately users to make more informed decisions on finding wineries that fit their preferences.

WhichWinery.com now boasts over 20K+ wineries across 47 countries and is the world’s first winery based, travel site that connects each winery’s unique qualities with user preferences, allowing users to find wineries, plan and share trips utilizing the trip planner tool, track their visits and continue to learn about the world of wine.

They’ve launched a VIP service to accommodate clientele who want an elevated experience of allowing us to plan their winery trip - whether that means winery visits, transportation, lunch, accommodations or all of the above.

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