WINE FOR NEWBIES

Below you will meet the people who very kindly allowed me to use some of the content they developed for their own sites and businesses. Make sure to click on the links and visit these amazing people’s corners.

Dagan Koffler
Epiphany
www.epiphanynyc.com
epiphanynyc@gmail.com

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Worlds of Wine Rod Phillips is the wine columnist for the Ottawa Citizen, the main daily newspaper in Canada’s capital. I’ve written for other periodicals from time to time, including Wine Spectator and France Today.

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Cork Jester Jennifer Rosen, award-winning wine writer and educator and author of Waiter, There’s a Horse in My Wine, and The Cork Jester’s Guide to Wine, writes the weekly wine column for the Rocky Mountain News and articles for magazines around the world. Jennifer speaks French and Italian, mangles German, Spanish and Arabic, and works off the job perks with belly dance, tightrope and trapeze. She thinks you learn about wine best while spitting it out your nose laughing. Read her columns and sign up for her weekly newsletter at: www.corkjester.com Look for her upcoming wine game: Cork Jester’s Wine Teasers.

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Smith & Vine
Patrick Watson
Patrick Watson is the co-founder of Smith & Vine retail wine store and the Northeast Director of Winebid.com. With more than a dozen years of experience in the food and wine industry, Patrick offers expertise in selecting brilliant wines, creating successful promotions and teaching compelling educational seminars for his customers.

He began his career while working in the restaurant business in San Francisco for such esteemed restaurants as One Market and Moose Café. This was the beginning of Patrick’s passionate journey into the wine business. After a successful west coast experience Patrick came back east and worked at some of New York City’s top restaurants, such as Lupa, Gotham Bar and Grill and Blue Hill. Before opening Smith & Vine, Patrick was the wine buyer at the famous Raoul’s French bistro in Soho.

In his spare time Patrick is also an opera singer (tenor) who has performed with many companies in New York City. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Michele and dog Lola.

Michele Pravda
Michele Pravda is the co-founder of Smith & Vine retail wine shop. Also with over a dozen years experience in the food and wine industry, Michele offers her sharp sense of style and taste and charming personality as she interacts with their customers. Her extraordinary talents to pair food and wine come from working alongside some of New York City’s best sommeliers and chefs.

Chefs Floyd Cadoz of Tabla and Dan Barber from Blue Hill really formed Michele’s palate to understand the nuance of food flavors with wine. Previous to opening Smith & Vine, Michele was a sales associate at Slope Cellars, a bustling wine and spirits store in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It is here where Michele’s vision for Smith & Vine was culminated.

Like her husband Patrick Watson, Michelle is a musician and the lead singer for her band Rare. They have just completed their first CD.

Michele lives in Brooklyn with her husband and dog Lola.

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Tony Aspler
About Tony Aspler
Tony Aspler has been writing about wine for 30 years, and today he is the most widely respected wine writer in Canada. He was the wine columnist for The Toronto Star for 21 years and has authored eleven books on wine and food, including The Wine Lover’s Companion, The Wine Lover Cooks, Travels With My Corkscrew and Vintage Canada. Tony is currently working on The Wine Atlas of Canada.

Tony is an accomplished wine educator and lecturer. He averages 40–50 personal appearances a year at seminars and lectures.

Tony is a member of the North American advisory board for the Masters of Wine, creator of the annual Ontario Wine Awards competition, an honorary governor of Cuvée and a director of the Independent Wine & Spirit Trust. He is also a director of The Canadian Wine Library and serves on the wine selection committee for Air Canada. At the Niagara Grape & Wine Festival 2000, Tony was presented with the “Royal Bank Business Citizen of the Year” Award.

Tony writes for a number of international wine magazines, including Harper’s, Tidings, Post City Magazines, Fine Wine & Liquor (China), www.decanter.com and www.winepros.com.au in Australia. He is the Canadian contributor to Tom Stevenson’s annual ‘Wine Report’. You can hear Tony on 680News every week talking about wine.

Tony is one the most technologically advanced wine experts in the world, and has his own Palm application.

Tony also writes fiction. He is the author of nine novels. His latest series is a collection of wine murder mysteries featuring the itinerant wine writer/detective Ezra Brant: Blood Is Thicker Than Beaujolais, The Beast of Barbaresco and Death On The Douro (published by Warwick Publishing). He is currently working on Nightmare In Napa Valley.

In February 2001, Tony co-founded a charitable foundation with Arlene Willis. Grapes for Humanity raises money through the wine community for the victims of landmines and children with disabilities (www.grapesforhumanity.com).

In December 2007 Tony was awarded the Order of Canada.

Tony can provide the following wine services for you:

• Corporate and private wine tastings
• Client appreciation wine tastings
• Food and wine dinners
• Wine evaluations for estate or insurance purposes
• Wine auctioneering
• Staff training in wine service
• Consulting on wine lists and menus

Tony Aspler Wine Services
53 Craighurst Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario
M4R 1J9
Canada

Phone: 416-488-8597
Fax: 416-544-8946

e-mail: tony.aspler@sympatico.ca

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Joy of the Table
JoyoftheTable.com™ is a wine appreciation and education Web site and the brain child of Tonya and Russel, a husband and wife team who have decided to share our love (or dare we say obsession) of wine, as we take our appreciation to the next level.

This site is for those who, like us, enjoy wine and have a passion to learn more about all aspects of wine. We are new to the world of wine and excited about this venture, which will be a learn-as-you-go endeavor. As we experience both old and new world wines and learn about everything from growing, to harvest, to wine making, to great buys, and the great wines of the world, you’ll learn too! Plus, we will share our travels and recommend lodging and restaurants, as well as great wine adventures both in the United States (including our home state of Pennsylvania — a region to watch, as stated in the Wine Bible) and abroad.

We also share great resources that we’ve come across to assist you in your quest to enjoy the vino and become more savvy (not to be confused with snooty!). We have links and host our own tasting blog.

Each month we feature outstanding industry pros (winemakers, chefs, B&Bs) who are rising stars in the winemaking world. And we are slowly but surely updating our ever-changing glossary of wine terms. So visit the site early and often because we update content regularly to provide consumers with some of the best wine education and appreciation resources available on the web!

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Charles Barai

Wine tasting tours in Provence including Chateauneuf du Pape.

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Marnie Old
Marnie Old has a dream job – she is a world class sommelier and wine educator whose work takes her around the world. She is the Director of Wine Studies for Manhattan’s respected French Culinary Institute. Her first book, titled He Said Beer, She Said Wine, is a collaboration with acclaimed brew-master Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. A good-natured debate on the topic of food pairing, it will be published in April 2008 by DK Publishing. Her second book, a collection of wine advice from leading experts and winemakers, will be available for the 2008 holiday season.

Marnie has sparked a women’s wine revolution in Philadelphia, where her female protegés liven up the wine landscape. Her column in Philadelphia Magazine and high-energy personal appearances make Marnie the region’s highest profile beverage expert.

Marnie is a sought-after speaker for corporate events and fundraisers, thanks to her intoxicating enthusiasm and refreshing lack of pretense. Her tastings and dinners are a delight for novices and aficionados alike. She offers a range of sommelier services, from cellar assessments to menu advice.

Launched in 2001, Marnie’s company Old Wines LLC provides expert restaurant consulting, specializing in creative beverage programs. Featuring Marnie’s signature ‘guest-oriented’ thinking, her projects have been recognized for their uncommon approach to menu design, service and training. A leading advocate for craft beer and mentorship within the hospitality industry, Marnie is also a contributing editor for the influential trade journal Santé Magazine.

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Katheen Lisson is a Certified Specialist of Wine and a member of the Society of Wine Educators. She teaches a wine class at the Honest Weight Food Coop in Albany, NY and host a wine and food pairing blog at kathleenlisson.blogspot.com.
She wants to help you learn more about wine by sharing her wine and food pairing experiences and her reviews of wine books and DVDs.