Wayne Belding, MS is a geologist turned oenophile. He has written about wine for over 35 years for local and national publications. In 1990, he became the 13th American to pass the Master Sommelier Diploma examination, passing all three parts of the exam on his first attempt. Since that time, he has been active in teaching and examining at all levels of the Master Sommelier program. He has served as Education Director and Chairman of the Court of Master Sommeliers – Americas.
Over the years, he has taught thousands of sommeliers and industry professionals, many of whom have risen to significant positions in the trade. After decades as a successful retail owner, he now teaches consumer and professional wine classes. He is a frequent wine reviewer, competition judge and speaker at wine events. He is a partner at Preferabli, the leading AI-driven, personalization software for the wine and spirits industry – changing the way people discover, evaluate, buy and share wine. He is also the author of “Diving Into Wine”, a guide for wine consumers.
Jeffrey Bencus began his wine career in college, starting in retail and later becoming General Manager of Whitehouse Wine & Liquor in Rochester, NY. In 2007, he transitioned to the restaurant industry as a sommelier for Chef David Burke in Las Vegas. He subsequently worked with Chef Michael Mina at American Fish, and later managed the wine programs for Julian Serrano Tapas and LAGO at Bellagio.
In 2021, Jeffrey became Wine Director at Picasso, a two-star Michelin restaurant and 20-time Wine Spectator Grand Award recipient. He holds the Advanced Sommelier certification and has passed all portions of the Master Sommelier Exam.
Jeffrey is currently opening Zero Bond, a members-only club at Wynn Resort. Zero Bond is based on the original New York concept, the brainchild of founder Scott Sartiano, and features multiple venues within the club, as well as $40 million in rotating art pieces, all available for purchase.
Yannick Benjamin is an award-winning sommelier, wine educator, and hospitality leader based in New York City. In 2023, he was named Sommelier of the Year by the Michelin Guide New York, following his recognition as Wine Enthusiast’s 2021 Sommelier/Wine Director of the Year.
With more than three decades in hospitality, Yannick has held leadership positions at some of New York’s most celebrated dining institutions, including Le Cirque, Jean-Georges, Felidia, and the University Club of New York, where he serves as Director of Wine. He is also the owner of Beaupierre Wines & Spirits, an independent wine shop in Hell’s Kitchen dedicated to exceptional wines and education.
Yannick co-founded the acclaimed restaurant Contento, recognized nationally for its outstanding wine program and welcoming hospitality, and is the founder of Wine on Wheels, a nonprofit that brings the wine community together to support people with disabilities through education and philanthropy.
A sought-after speaker, educator, and international wine judge, Yannick has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Wine Spectator, Forbes, Saveur, and on ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and Bloomberg. His passion for wine, service, and hospitality continues to inspire professionals and wine lovers around the world.
Alisha Blackwell-Calvert is an Advanced Sommelier and Beverage Director of Madrina Restaurant in St. Louis, Missouri. Formerly of Cinder House at the Four Seasons Hotel STL, she has received recognitions from the James Beard Foundation Awards “Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service” Semifinalist 2025, Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s 2021 “Sommelier of the Year” Wine Star Award nominee & 2018 “40 Under 40 Tastemaker”, and the 2023 Iconoclast Wine Honoree. Blackwell-Calvert has served as a mentor in the Bâtonnage Forum program and member of Les Dames d’Escoffier International. Other professional interests include wine writing, judging, educating, mead consulting, and sitting as a founding board member of the SCC Viticulture and Enology program.
Jim Clarke is the U.S. Country Manager for Wines of South Africa. Prior to joining WOSA in 2013 Jim was the wine director at Armani Ristorante and Megu, both in New York City.
Jim has also been writing about wine for twenty years and has contributed to a wide range of trade and consumer publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, Fortune, World of Fine Wine and Club Oenologique.
In 2020 Jim received the International Louis Roederer Wine Writer Award for Feature Writing and in August of that year Wine Business Monthly named Jim as a Wine Industry Leader of the Year for his work supporting South African wine during the Covid pandemic.
Jim is the author of The Wines of South Africa, published by Infinite Ideas as part of the Classic Wine Library in July 2020.
Born in London, raised in Sydney Mark has over 40 years of experience in the hotel, restaurant, and wine business, fifteen of those as a Sommelier.
In 2001 he was named Sommelier of the Year at the Vancouver Wine Festival- also won the Spirited Industry Professional award in 2014. Mark is an annual judge at Texsom Awards and has judged many other competitions in both Canada and the US. He is the author of Wines of Australia (2023) which is part of the Classic Wine Library series through the Académie du Vin.
Mark is currently Head of Education Development for Wine Australia in North America.
Jessica Dupuy is a journalist, author, and communications strategist from Austin, Texas. She began her wine writing career covering Texas wine for Texas Monthly and has since expanded her work to include global wine regions—from South Africa, Argentina, and New Zealand to Italy, France, Austria, and beyond. Her journalism portfolio includes bylines in Decanter, Food & Wine, Wine Enthusiast, Imbibe, Forbes, SevenFifty Daily, and GuildSomm.
Jessica has written six cookbooks with celebrated chefs, including Uchi: The Cookbook with James Beard Award-winning chef Tyson Cole and Tex-Mex with James Beard Award-nominated chef Ford Fry. She has also authored two culinary travel books in partnership with Southern Living on the foodways of the American South and Texas. Her book, The Wines of Southwest U.S.A. is part of the Classic Wine Library of Académie du Vin. Her latest book, Italianity: The Culture of Italian Wine explores the stories, people, and soul behind behind Italian wine with co-author, Andrea Lonardi MW.
An accomplished educator and speaker, Jessica is a regular presenter at both trade and consumer events and co-hosts the Another Bottle Down podcast with Mark Rashap of Broadbent Selections, offering engaging conversations about the world of wine and spirits.
She is currently a Master of Wine candidate and holds the Diploma from the Wine and Spirits Educational Trust. She is also a Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers, and a Certified Specialist of Wine and Spirits through the Society of Wine Educators.
Jessica holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from Trinity University and a Master’s in Journalism and Magazine Publishing from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier and is passionate about education, mentorship, and elevating the next generation of professionals in wine and hospitality.
Follow her on Instagram at @jessicandupuy.
Based on New York, Christy Frank is a freelance writer and a leader of the independent wine retail scene. With 25 years’ experience in the wine and spirits industry, she has held positions in all tiers of the US wine trade from large, global drinks firms such as Moët Hennessy USA, to small, boutique distributors to on- and off-trade retail. Her freelance writing focuses on the commercial aspects of selling wine within this convoluted system. A 2024 Fellow for the Wine Writers’ Symposium in Napa Valley, her writing has appeared on Sevenfifty Daily, Wine Review Online, JancisRobinson.com, and her blog, Bending Elbows. She holds a WSET Diploma, is an educator, blind tasting competition coach, provides subject matter expert review for genre fiction writers, and is the founder of Copake Wine Works, a wine shop in the Hudson Valley/Berkshires and Hamlet Hound canned cocktails.
Michael Franz, Ph.D., is a wine writer, editor, educator, and restaurant consultant. He is editor of Wine Review Online and a regular columnist and reviewer for that website, which now attracts 1.4 million viewers annually and is among the world’s most widely visited destinations for wine reviews and commentary.
Franz’s work in wine began as regular wine columnist for The Washington Post from 1994 to 2005, and over that span he wrote nearly 300 articles before leaving to help found Wine Review Online as editor. He is also a wine consultant for 12 restaurants in the National Capital area with combined annual wine sales of more than $14 million, and teaches wine classes regularly at Capital Wine School in D.C.
He has conducted more than 1,600 site visits and tastings at wineries across Western and Eastern Europe, South America, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Franz tastes more than 9,000 wines each year, judges wine competitions regularly around the world, and has acted as Chief Judge for international competitions in San Diego, Washington, D.C., New Zealand and China. He has appeared on numerous television shows, has served as an expert witness in several cases regarding the wine trade in Federal District Court, and is interviewed often on public radio.
In 1991 Peter Granoff was the 15th American to earn the coveted title Master Sommelier, and is one of the 19 Americans to date that have earned the Krug Champagne Cup by passing all three parts of the exam on the first attempt. He is active today as an examiner and lecturer for the Court of Master Sommeliers Introductory, Advanced and Masters level programs. In 1991 Peter also received the James Beard Foundation Sommelier of the year Award.
In January of 1995 Peter and Robert Olson, a software engineer, launched Virtual Vineyards, an ecommerce pioneer and the first US entity to sell wine on the Internet. Virtual Vineyards was the subject of a Harvard Business School Case Study, and was cited in numerous business and e-commerce marketing journals & texts as a pioneer during that heady (headless?) era.
Prior to Virtual Vineyards Peter spent 25 years in the hospitality industry in the US, France & Switzerland. He is active as a speaker, panelist, judge, and educator in numerous wine consumer and wine industry settings, and has presented at professional wine and e-commerce conferences at Harvard, Wharton, Rhodes, and UC Berkeley, and as far away as Switzerland, France, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Today Peter is co-proprietor of Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant in San Francisco and Oxbow Cheese & Wine Merchant in Napa, California.
www.petergranoff.com
Eugenio Jardim is the Wines of Portugal USA Ambassador, the Brand Ambassador for Ernest Vineyards in West Sonoma Coast, and the co-founder of WiFi-WineTime, a virtual events company.
He was the Director of Wine Studies for the San Francisco Cooking School and an Adjunct Professor at the Culinary Institute of America Greystone, Napa Valley. He currently conducts very high-profile, private, and corporate, wine seminars and tastings in the US and South America under My Private Somm, his personal venture focused on finely curated wine events.
He was the Wine Director of Jardinière, Chef Traci des Jardins’ flagship Restaurant in San Francisco, from 2001 to 2013 and he was named Sunset Magazine’s 2010 Sommelier of the Year! He also consulted on the wine programs of many award-winning restaurants in California.
Eugenio is a featured guest Sommelier and Speaker at national and international events and a judge at many National and International wine competitions.
Upon retiring from Dance in 2002, Marquita began working in and studying Wine. In 2004, she received her Viticulture/Vinification Certificate from the American Sommelier Association. She homeschools in Wine in preparation for the rigorous Master of Wine program. Her hopes are to teach and write!
Michael McClendon is the co-founder of Sage’s Vintage, a custom crush winery and consultancy in Nacogdoches. In addition to producing world class wines at Sage’s Vintage he has been named as a “Young Turk of Texas Wine ” by Dr. Russ Kane; featured in the Dallas Morning News; and on the cover of Wine and Spirits Magazine as part of their national collective of “Rising Black Voices” in the wine industry.
At Sage’s Vintage, Michael has produced over 300 labels for nearly 47 winery and brand owners. He is the 2024 Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association Louis F. Qualia Award Recipient recognizing a pioneering spirit in a Texas winemaker or grape grower and currently serves as a member of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association Board of Directors.
Sheri became a MW in 2003. A Duke University graduate, she’s worked in a variety of fields, including marketing research & wine education. She is a Managing Director at Preferabli, the leading B2B2C discovery and recommendation software for wine, spirits and food.
Francis Percival writes on food and wine for The World of Fine Wine. With Bronwen Percival, he is the coauthor of Reinventing the Wheel: Milk. Microbes, and the Fight for Real Cheese. He is also a judge for the World of Fine Wine’s World’s Best Wine List Awards.
Monica Samuels is the VP of Sake and Spirits for Kome Collective, the Japanese division of Vine Connections. She is based in New York City.
Monica’s 15+ years of experience in the sake industry include working as a restaurant beverage director, overseeing the category for one of the country’s largest wholesalers, and now directly importing sake and spirits from Japan and beyond. She has been recognized for her efforts in sales and education in Wine Spectator’s “Sake’s True Believers (2013),” Wine Enthusiast’s “40 Tastemakers Under 40 (2014),” received the title of “Sake Samurai” in 2017, and as part of the IWSC and WSET’s “Future 50 Awards (2019).” Monica’s education in sake includes studying under John Gauntner and his Sake Education Council, where she received both Certified and Advanced Sake Professional distinctions; she is also a WSET certified Educator for the L3 Award in Sake. She participates as a judge for many international competitions including TEXSOM, IWC, and the US National Sake Appraisal.
Monica was born in Los Angeles and spent summers in Tokyo at her grandparents’ house growing up. As a bilingual individual with a unique perspective on two very different cultures, she has been particularly successful in demystifying sake for the US audience. Her years in the hospitality business and ingrained passion for the restaurant industry have given her an exceptional understanding of pairing sake with food, particularly outside of the traditional Japanese setting.
Bree Stock is a Master of Wine, since 2016, she is Oregon’s first MW and the only female MW in the Pacific Northwest. Australian-born, her wine career began in the Canadian on-trade with Sommelier buying roles on both coasts before returning to Australia to pursue a career in wine importing, sales, and winemaking roles. Her curiosity and love for wine led her to travel extensively to pursue harvest roles in Austria, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and the US where she fell in love with Oregon’s Willamette Valley and her now partner, Chad Stock. Together they are committed to knowledge and idea sharing and to expanding the conversation around sustainable and innovative vineyard and wine production in the region. She is the co-winemaker in Limited Addition Wines, and Concinnitas Fermentations and winemaker for Artist Block wine, and Grace + Vine all based in Oregon and sourcing grapes and wine from the Pacific Northwest.
From Jersey to Vegas Kat has strived to share her passion for hospitality and humanity.
In 2020 Kat founded CORE Body | Mind, LLC, a consultancy and support network for the hospitality industry. Self-dubbed as the “Wine Goddess”, Kat is also a certified personal trainer, yoga guide, and cancer exercise specialist, striving to balance hospitality and life for herself and to inspire others. As the Wine Goddess she offers personalised tastings, mentorship for healing and intention, customised seminars for events, all while creating memorable experiences with her warm smile and helping hand.
Connect | Observe | Reflect | Empower
Hospitality Credentials
• Court of Master Sommeliers – Advanced Sommelier
• ICEX Spanish Wine Specialist & Educator
• Wine Scholar Guild – Spanish Educator
• El Camino del Albariño Ambassador
• Certified Specialist of Sherry
• Certified Specialist of Sake
• WSET Level 2 Wine & Spirits – Distinction
• Mentor at Bâtonnage Forum
Wellness Credentials
• CPT ISSA
• RYT 200hr
• CETI Certified
• IG – @winegoddesslv
• FB – Kathleen Lilly, CORE Body-Mind
Debbie Zachareas is the Proprietor and Managing Partner of Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, located in San Francisco’s iconic restored Ferry Building. A highly respected wine judge, lecturer, sommelier, and guest speaker, she is recognized nationally for her influence on American wine culture.
