Vineyard & Winery Management Magazine

Bio: Richard Keith Striegler has been Director and Viticulture Program Leader at the Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology at the University of Missouri in Columbia since 2006. Dr. Striegler received a doctorate in Horticulture from Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI in 1990; a MS in Horticultural Food Science (1982) at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR; and a BS of Agriculture in Horticultural Food Science (1979), University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR. His professional positions in the last decade have included: assistant director and director of the Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center, Missouri State University (2003-2006), Extension Fruit Specialist, Department of Horticulture, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR (1998-2003); and Julio R. Gallo Director's Chair, Viticulture and Enology Research Center, School of Agricultural Sciences and Technology. California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA (1997-98). His principal areas of research include: cultivar and roostock evaluation, vineyard mechanization,sustainable viticulture production systems, and influence of cultural practices on grape and wine composition. Dr. Striegler is currently Chair of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture, Eastern Section, and also serves on the National Clean Plant Network, the National Grape and Wine Initiative, and the Viticulture Consortium-East. His most recent professional award was the Nesbitt Award, SERA 014 (presented for significant research and /or extension contributions to the grape industry in the Southern Region), 2005.

Bio: Bruce Zoecklein is a Professor and Enology Specialist, Department of Food Science and Technology at Virginia Tech working in a research, extension and teaching capacity. He holds a BS degree in Microbiology and Biochemistry, a MS in Horticulture and a PhD in Food Science.

He is a member of the Board of Editors of the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, the Journal of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture and a contributing editor for Practical Winery and Vineyard. Bruce is also the regional coordinator for AVERN (American Viticulture and Enology Research Network) and a coauthor of two books on wine chemistry and analysis. (Zoecklein, B.W., K.C. Fugelsand, and B.H. Gump. 1995. Wine Analysis and Production. Chapman & Hall, New York, NY. 570 pp. Zoecklein, B.W., K.C. Fugelsand, B.H. Gump, and S.F. Nury. 1990. Production Wine Analysis. Van Nostrand and Reinhold, New York, NY. 445 pp.) His research efforts involve the effects of vineyard management and processing on grape aroma and flavor precursors. He is a director of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture-Eastern Section where he has served as a regional meeting, publicity and nominations chairman. Email: bzoeckle@vt.edu

Bio: Creative... articulate... convincing. Paul has conceived and managed public relations programs for some of the most critical audiences in the world.

And he's won international awards for them.

As the agency owner, Paul is the drive behind BALZAC's uncompromising approach to marketing communications.

"This business combines the intellectual challenges of chess with the reaction speeds of white water rafting," he says. "There are a phenomenal number of possibilities at every step. Our job is to make the right decisions and make those decisions work. We not only have to win the race, we have to look good doing it."

Tasting Room Profitability and Wine Club Summit Workshop Moderator
Elizabeth Slater
Founder of In Short Direct Marketing

Windsor, CA

Bio: In 1994 Elizabeth Slater founded In Short Direct Marketing to steer wineries and winery associations into, what was then, a much-overlooked avenue for successful promotion and sales: marketing products directly to the end user.

In Short Direct Marketing is now recognized throughout North America as an authority on marketing wines, wineries and wine regions to consumers. The company, still led by Elizabeth Slater (or "E" as she is widely known), has grown into a loosely formed alliance of marketers, public relations and design professionals that tackle all different types of marketing (with the emphasis on direct marketing), public relations and design projects for a number of clients.

Elizabeth focuses most of her efforts on seminars and workshops, which are presented on a variety of marketing and sales subjects to wineries and winery associations throughout North America.

In addition to presentations, the company works with individual clients (wineries and associations large and small) on a range of marketing and public relations projects including creating marketing plans, formulating image and market position, goal setting, strategic planning, developing infrastructure and construction of events.

Jim is also widely recognized for his leadership in the American wine industry, having received three national awards for his many contributions: the Wine Integrity Award in 2006 from the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission; the first-ever "Distinguished Service Award" in 2001 from the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (Eastern Section); and the Perpetual Monteith Trophy (Thomas Jefferson Cup) in 1995 from the Vinifera Winegrowers Association. He was also named by "Wines & Vines" magazine as one of the top 50 "movers and shakers" in the United States wine industry.

Jim is actively involved with several national and international organizations focusing on key issues affecting the grape and wine industry worldwide. He is President of the International Riesling Foundation, a coalition of top Riesling producers from around the world seeking to promote Riesling and educate consumers. He serves on the Presidential Council and as Director of Communications of FIVS (formerly Fédération Internationale des Vins et Spiritueux -- International Federation of Wines and Spirits) based in Paris. He also serves on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of WineAmerica, the national organization of American wineries; as a Board member of the National Grape and Wine Initiative; as a Board member of the Wine Market Council; was a co-founder of the American Wine Alliance for Research and Education, and has been active in many other organizations including the International Organization of Vines and Wines in Paris.. He is a frequent speaker on major issues at conferences throughout the United States, as well as a professional wine judge at several international competitions, and the author of articles which have appeared in The New York Times and other media.

Prior to his appointment as the Foundation's President, Jim had been involved with the New York grape and wine industry for three years, first as Executive Director of the New York State Wine Grape Growers, and then as President of the New York Wine Council representing both growers and vintners. His career includes more than 30 years of communications consulting, public relations, advertising, public policy, and strategic planning. He holds a masters degree in International Communications from American University in Washington, DC, and a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Allegheny College.

A native New Yorker from Rochester, Jim lived in France for three years prior to his involvement with the New York grape and wine industry. He now lives in the Finger Lakes wine region.

Andy Beckstoffer is President of Beckstoffer Vineyards, one of the most highly regarded independent winegrape growers in California's North Coast. A native of Richmond, Virginia, Andy attended Virginia Tech on a football scholarship and earned a degree in engineering. At the age of 33, he devised a leveraged buyout in which Heublein sold him its vineyard company along with 1,200 acres he had acquired for them in Napa and Mendocino. Compelled to address the economic, social and political concerns of grapegrowers in a more significant way, Beckstoffer became a founding director of the Napa Valley Grape Growers Association (NVGGA) in 1975. A year later, as the Association's president, he brought forth the revolutionary idea of basing the price of a ton of grapes on the future price of a bottle of wine. If a winery planned to price a bottle of cabernet sauvignon at $10, and the standard multiple of that grape was 100, the price of the grape would be $1,000 a ton. Mondavi and Christian Brothers, two of the most influential wineries of the time, quickly adopted the formula, and wine grapes were elevated from a commodity to a specialty item.

Beckstoffer and his namesake Vineyards continue to influence California viticulture. As a leader in the wine and grape industry, his latest endeavor is to bring the technology, business acumen and agricultural sensitivity he honed for 30 years in the Napa Valley to Mendocino and Lake Counties.
In May of 2006, the Napa Grapegrowers Association awarded its first Grower of the Year Award to Andy. In 2007 the Napa County Farm Bureau acknowledged Andy as Agriculturist of the Year, and that same year he also received the first ever U.S. Congressional Wine Caucus Commendation. See Andy's complete biography here.