Doug French
Doug French • 51 • Mezcalero, Scorpion Mezcal & Marketer, Caballeros Inc. • Oaxaca, Mexico PROFILE Born in Bronxville, NY, mezcalero Doug French grew up in Beaumont, TX, Guadalajara, Mexico, and Europe. His double major in business administration/Latin-American studies from U. Pacific helped him import hand-woven textiles and run his... Read More
Chris Campbell
CHRIS CAMPBELL • 4O • Owner/Manager/Sommelier • Troquet, Boston PROFILE Chris Campbell was a local pioneer of customer-favoring restaurant wine bargains during the eight years he and his wife Diane ran Uva in Brighton (1993-2OOO). Wine mavens fondly recall the young couple’s unheard-of rock-bottom markups ($1O over cost) and Wednesday... Read More
Tasting Barolo
Yet styles have evolved demonstrably in both regions over the last generation, due to economic constraints as well as contemporary taste evolution. Since the wine industry’s watershed 199Os, certain vintners are sidestepping traditional austerity seeking for an easier complaisance. Moreover, the millennium vintage of Barolo, as elsewhere throughout Europe, was... Read More
Julio & Juliot Viola
JULIO & JULITO VIOLA • 51 & 25 • Winery Impresarios • Bodegas del Fin del Mundo • Patagonia, Argentina Founders of a handsome, high-tech, space age winery, and developers of two (and counting) turnkey satellite wineries for investors, the Violas are riding the gold rush wine wave in Southern... Read More
Reviving Greece
Jupiter created the Earth and, in an afterthought, He threw the leftover handful of pebbles over His shoulder into the sea – thus forming Greece and its 15OO-island archipelagos. ‘Was last least?’ some Greeks grumbled. It’s been a rocky ride historically for the Greek people – devastation, subjugation, holocaust, rapacious... Read More
Profile: Mohamad El Zein
MOHAMAD EL ZEIN • 28 • General Manager/Beverage Director • Masa, Boston Tequila is hot. And Masa is a hot spot. Many of the South End Southwestern restaurant’s 7O+ premium tequilas, says Masa bartender Greg Neises, are requested by name. Diners in the know, and regulars are plentiful, bypass Sauza... Read More
Profile: Bob McGinn
BOB McGINN • 58 • New York and New England Sales Manager • Ferrari-Carano Winery, Napa Loyalty, familiarity, experienced, known quantity . . . 2O years with one team like Carl Yastrzemski. Solid citizen, loyal soldier. McGinn has been professionally linked, one on one, with the prestigious Ferrari-Carano label, being... Read More
On Organic Wine
It should surprise nobody in the trade that Cambridge be the quietly self-designated hotbed of a pop in the still small niche explosion of biodynamic wines. Where but in that socio-political cauldron of Cantabrigia could such extremism grip sommeliers’ and diners’ imaginations? Violette Imports’ eclectic and discerning portfolio has played... Read More
Profile: Kim Stare Wallace
KIM STARE WALLACE Vice-President & Director of Marketing • Dry Creek Vineyards, Sonoma, CA Thirty five years seems a long time to own a California vineyard. Kim Stare was just 8 when her family packed everything into a station wagon and headed from Wellesley, Massachusetts to Davis, California. Dad was... Read More
team Argentina
NICOLAS and LAURA CATENA • 7O/38 • Owner/Export Manager • Catena Zapata Winery, Mendoza, Argentina Father and daughter teams are old hat in American wineries (think Mike and Violet Grgich, David and Kim Stare, even grandpa Julio and Gina Gallo) but they are something rare and wonderful in Argentina. Nicolas... Read More