Fred Bouchard

GIO’SGOING LIKE EIGHTY ON THE VINEYARD A traditional Italo-American restaurant taps its fifth generation.Wine and food rites go back 3OOO years – even longer – around the Mediterranean. When Italians and Greeks came to the new world, traditions of vine and table remained a binding force, and a source of... Read More

AARON FRANCISCO 48, General Manager, 111 Chop House, Worcester, MA Rangy, keen-eyed, impulsive, Francisco is senior beverage buyer for multiple award-winning Worcester Restaurant Group’s three destination restaurants.  These brainchildren of owners Robb and Madeleine Ahlquist are: The Sole Proprietor (since 1979), 111 Chop House (1999, where Francisco is also GM),... Read More

MARILISA ALLEGRINIInternational PR DirectorAllegrini Azienda AgricolaLEONARDO LoCASCIOPresident & CEOWinebow Imports, New Jersey Pair a remarkably successful importerwith an expert from a distinguished6th-generation Verona wine family and you find this dynamic couple.  Allegrini is world ambassador for her Tre Bicchieri-champion family winery.  LoCascio was awarded Importer of the Year for 2OO9... Read More

CHRIS PEDERSEN – 49 Charles Street Liquors – Beacon Hill, Boston, MA Candid and casual, Texas-born Chris Pedersen arrived in Boston as a computer specialist, and turned a love for wine into his life’s work when he became manager at this venerable Beacon Hill shop.  He turned a faded business... Read More

Tucked away between coastal hills of Catalonia, southwest of Barcelona, is the Penedes wine region. Like Rioja’s reds, Penedes’ white wines are widely regarded in Spain and abroad. While the region’s oak-aged reds (think Priorat) and still white wines (Torres) are fine, Penedes is best known for Cava, the sparkling... Read More

We drive the Pike to Route 2O to Route 1O2 to Route 7, then head up again into the scrag southern end of the Berkshires. We see Connecticut off in the haze; then we get lost. No roadside building marks the spot, nor roadside stand; one small sign gives a... Read More

DOUG & JENNIFER RAMLER  BOTH 38Chef & Manager/OwnersCape Sea Grille Harwich Port MA When Jennifer and Doug Ramler bought the Cape Sea Grille in 2OO2, the outgoing owners had run it since 1994; before that it’d been Café Elizabeth, The Smith House and The Talbot House, going back to 194O. ... Read More

DANIEL BRUCE 49Executive Chef Boston Harbor HotelDirector of the Boston Wine Festival Few dispute that the Bay State’s gold standard for wine dinners is Boston Harbor Hotel’s Boston Wine Festival.  Now planning its 21st season the man at the helm is the same tirelessly creative guy who co-founded and still... Read More

WINE MARKETING IN PINCH TIME SILENT SELLOFFS Latitude Beverage Company has scored nicely with Ku Dé Ta.Now Kevin Mehra is quietly talking up Ninety Plus Cellars. First the plains then the moat now Kevin Mehra is ready to scale the walls of the wine castle. Sipping Starbucks on the Needham... Read More

DAN AYKROYD • 56 • Actor Musician, Importer, Investor / Diamond Estates Winery & Spirits, Ltd. This upstanding son of Canada has long stood tall as a stalwart champion of bold and worthy causes.  First was humor, as Saturday Night Live’s Purvis Buckle and Ghostbusters’ Ray Stantz; then there was... Read More