Out of the gates of Louisville, Vanessa Price got her first taste of wine at a local winery. She made her way to New York to study acting, music and film, then ultimately to follow her passion for wine and hospitality. Vanessa worked at various restaurants, helped open a wine bar, and worked in wine import, sales, and education.

She dedicated herself to becoming both a student and teacher of wine, receiving her diploma from the WSET. Vanessa Price wrote a column for NY Magazine, is the Creative Director and Founder of the Vinum Collective, is trying to open a restaurant in Montauk and just wrote a new book “Big Macs and Burgundy: Wine Pairings for the Real World”

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Joel Gott grew up around wine in California, he is a fifth-generation winemaker producing his wildly popular eponymous Joel Gott wines with from California, Oregon, and Washington with his wife Sarah. Joel, along with his brother Duncan also run Gott’s Roadside Stand, a legendary food stop in Northern California. Joel is a busy guy these days expanding his wine and restaurant holdings along with an eye towards giving a little back.

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Quebecois David McMillan is considered one of the most innovative, successful and interesting restauranteurs in Canada. He along with his partner Fred Morin are Proprietors of multiple Montreal restaurants including Joe Beef and wine bar Le Vin Papillon. Legendary for his bigger than life eating and drinking, David now is more inward appreciating life with his daughters on his farm. David McMillan has been an early evangelist of natural wines…even though he spits now and has published two radical cook books.

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New York City’s own Ariel Arce is the proprietor of Niche Niche, Airs Champagne Parlor, Tokyo Record Bar, and Special Club. Ariel is a thought leader, tastemaker, influencer and has been tagged as “The New Guard of New York Dining”. She has created a convivial, laid back and affordable neighborhood hang with a focus on wine, Champagne, education, music, and creative food. Ariel Arce has been referred to as the Champagne Queen or Empress and has a new book “Better with Bubbles”. We’ll talk about the new book and life during the pandemic.  

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You can’t talk about natural wine in the US without Zev Rovine being in the conversation. Waiter turned wine distributor, Zev starting importing wines back in 2008 from small estates that are terroir driven, practicing low intervention and organics. He is the proprietor of Zev Rovine Selections, importing wine from over a dozen countries and 140+ wineries. In light of the pandemic and racial inequality the industry continues to change, Zev has proposed a “Working Contract” or code of conduct to address sexism, racism, labor rights and the stewardship of land in the wine biz.

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Rupert Symington is a fourth-generation port maker from a family of British and Portuguese origin dating back to the late 1800’s. Rupert was educated in England and worked in finance there, making his way to San Francisco before returning to the family business in Porto and the Douro in Portugal. Rupert is the CEO of Symington Family Estates, overseeing four of the leading Port houses including Grahams and Dow along with 26 Quintas or vineyards also making non ports in the Douro and Alentejo.

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Bi-Coastal Patrick Cappiello has been in the wine biz for almost thirty years, and he ain’t an old guy! He has been an award-winning sommelier, restaurant owner, wine importer/distributor and now the owner/winemaker of his own wine label in Sonoma County, Monte Rio Cellars with partner Pax Mahle. Patrick crafts wine from grapes in the spirit of old California, a style lacking of oak and high alcohol with pure fruit and high acid.

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Victoria James is an award-winning Sommelier and Beverage Director at Michelin starred Cote Korean Steakhouse in NYC. Victoria’s road to success was not an easy one as documented in her new memoir “Wine Girl” The Obstacles, Humiliations, and Triumphs of America’s Youngest Sommelier”. It is an intense story of a childhood plagued by poverty, neglect, and abuse, and ultimately her ascension into the wine world as a woman. Victoria’s life was shaped by guys like Antonio, Cisco, Frankie, Enzo and Reynard, and women that were Countess’s and Cotton Pickers.  Buckle up for a wild ride.

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Delia Viader was born in Argentina and made education a priority. She spent her formative years in Europe bringing her PHD from the Sorbonne to the US to further pursue business and wine studies at MIT, Univ. of Calif. Berkley and Davis. Delia got into the wine business in Napa, Calif. In the early 1980’s and was one of the first women winemakers in the Valley. She is Proprietor of the now multi-generational Viader Vineyards and Winery on Howell Mtn. in the Napa Valley.

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Houston born Zwann Grays headed north to work for People magazine in NYC and Miami eventually morphing to a career in wine getting her chops at the retail level and at a wine importer in New York.  She followed her love for wine into the restaurant biz and worked at Anfora, Bouley, Terroir, and Estela to name a few. Zwann Grays is now the Wine Director at Olmsted in Brooklyn and is a big proponent of the live vibrancy of natural wines.

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