Shannon Borg writes about wine for Seattle magazine. She is the author of Chefs on the Farm: Recipes and Inspiration from Quillisascut Farm School of the Domestic Arts (Skipstone, 2008), and currently splits her time between Seattle and Orcas Island, where she manages the Doe Bay Cafe at Doe Bay Resort & Retreat.

W. Blake Gray is author of “California Winetopia,” a Japanese-language guide to California wines.  He was previously a staff wine writer/editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, and has contributed articles on wine and sake to The Los Angeles Times, Food & Wine, Wine & Spirits, and several in-flight magazines.  Gray is currently Chairman of the Electoral College of the Vintners Hall of Fame.

David J Minick was raised on a diversified farm in Yakima Valley.  After many years of raising juice grapes, cherries, and hops David’s family planted its first wine grapes in 1982.  After graduating from WSU in 1990 David moved back to Prosser to start his career in the wine business and founded Willow Crest Winery in 1995.  Focusing on Pinot Gris and Syrah Willow Crest has grown to 10,000 cases with a production facility that handles 1,200 ton annually.  In 2008 David partnered with Precept Brands to create Willow Crest Wine Estates, an estate winery that focuses on Pinot Gris, Riesling and Syrah, using the estate grapes of their Yakima Valley vineyard to produce crisp whites and fruity reds.  Today David manages 450 acres of wine grapes in two vineyards, a large white wine facility on the estate, and a premium red wine facility located at Alder Ridge Vineyard in Prosser.

Don’t miss the cooking stage at 5:30 pm. LDC Executive Chef Grover Ramsey will demonstrate the featured recipe with the help of a Washington Beef Producer.

Born and raised in Australia, Wendy left the Barossa Valley in October 2007 to join Chateau Ste. Michelle as its white winemaker, managing day-to-day operations at the winery’s white wine cellar in Woodinville, located outside of Seattle, Washington.

Prior to joining Chateau Ste. Michelle from “down under,” Wendy was considered one of Australia’s best white winemakers and worked with the Fosters Group based at the Wolf Blass Winery for 15 years. She was responsible for some of the company’s iconic white wines, most notably the highly regarded Wolf Blass Gold Label Riesling.
Wendy’s strong interest in Riesling is what initially attracted her to Chateau Ste. Michelle, the leading North American Riesling producer with a 40 year history of Riesling winemaking.

“Having worked with many different Riesling vineyards in Australia over the past 15 years, I was keen to work in another part of the world known for producing outstanding Riesling. At Chateau Ste. Michelle, I have the opportunity to make a range of different Riesling styles, some of which we weren’t able to produce in Australia, like ice wine.

The move to Chateau Ste. Michelle has been a great opportunity to broaden my professional experience by learning about and making wines from Washington.”

A native of Palm Beach, Florida, Jason first began cooking at age 15 and later worked at The Breakers Hotel. On the way to Hawaii, during a long layover in San Francisco, Jason took a job at Campton Place working for then-chef Laurent Manrique. He never finished the rest of the flight. A year later, Daniel Humm took over as executive chef, and quickly made Jason his executive sous chef. When Campton Place received four stars from The San Francisco Chronicle it attracted big-city restaurateur Danny Meyer, who lured Chef Humm to Eleven Madison Park in Manhattan. Charged with remaking Eleven Madison into a flagship restaurant, Humm insisted Mr. Meyer bring Jason as well.

Together they set to ushering in a new era of fine dining within Danny Meyer’s hospitality empire. After six years of working under Daniel Humm, Jason left the post of executive sous chef to become the executive chef of Seattle’s landmark Canlis Restaurant. Having helped transform Eleven Madison Park and placed it on the forefront of Manhattan’s dining scene, Franey set a new course: keep Canlis, 58 years young, at the forefront of fine dining in Seattle.

“My goal is to make Canlis feel even more like Canlis,” Franey said to press members curious of his intentions. “It’s Seattle’s showcase restaurant…we have room to grow, but I want to keep it the jewel a whole city will be proud of.”

Jason is Canlis Restaurant’s fifth-ever executive chef in 60 years.

Chris Gorman descended into the wine business after graduating from university in 1991, apparently too affected to climb out, he made the best of it. Cutting his teeth on world class Barolo and Barbaresco, he spent 3 years working for a small Italian Importer and never looked back. For the next decade, as a main stay in the Seattle wine trade, Chris was lucky to represent some of the finest wines in the world. He traveled extensively in the wine areas of Italy, Spain and Germany. His is a simple philosophy; to make wine, it is imperative to understand it. Those early years found him producing small batch wines, using “stolen fruit” from many of Washington's finest vineyards.

In 2002 Gorman Winery went commercial. Since 2002 the mission was very clear. Make delicious wines. Choose the finest grapes in Washington State, use the finest coopers and suppliers, don't settle and don't screw it up. We have no employees and better yet no Board of Directors. All decision making is very simple. We are currently a single employee winery, with the occasional use of volunteer help for bottling and partying. Producing approximately 1500 cases a year (2006), maintaining quality as our main focus is very manageable. And that focus has been primarily on Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. For our style, the muscular nature of this fruit is a perfect match. Our close relationship with some of the greatest fruit growers in Washington State has been a major factor in our success in producing top quality wines. In 2006 we added our first white wine, the Big Sissy Chardonnay. Open only a few times a year to the public and consumers, our parties have been very well received. With a mix of incredibly loud music, delicious foods and great energy, our openings have been “hot-ticket “events.

In 1996, at age 26, he became the youngest American ever to pass the Master Sommelier exam. At the time, he was working as wine director for Emeril Lagasse’s restaurants in New Orleans and Las Vegas, where he developed a wine program that earned Wine Spectator’s Grand Award—an honor bestowed on fewer than 100 restaurants in the United States.

Avoiding the pitfalls that beset many young talents (rehab programs, bar fights, romantic liaisons with Lindsay Lohan) Harrington progressed to other major roles. From his job with Emeril, he went on to serve as wine director for the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, managing beverage programs for Spago in Chicago, Las Vegas, Maui and Palo Alto, and others. More recently, he ran the beverage division for B.R. Guest’s 14 restaurants, including Blue Fin and Fiamma in New York, which feature two of the city’s most extensive and celebrated wine lists.

Over the past 12 years, he has won 21 Wine Spectator Awards of Excellence, and has been a regular speaker at prestigious wine festivals across the country, including the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Kapalua Wine and Food Festival and the Telluride Wine Festival. For all his lofty pedigree, Greg remains a down-home guy. He favors dive bars over fancy tasting rooms, and, with his career change, he has fulfilled one of his greatest ambitions: he almost never has to wear a suit.

He is a graduate of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and is a regular guest lecturer for undergraduate and graduate beverage management courses at Cornell. Greg has four times been the featured sommelier at the acclaimed James Beard House. Greg also serves on the Board of the Court of Master Sommeliers and is co-founder and board member for W2U, an annual wine trade weekend in Walla Walla.

He has also appeared as a wine expert on numerous radio and television shows, including Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Invariably, those who meet him are left with this impression: he’s a serious winemaker who doesn’t take himself too seriously.