Eduardo “Lalo” González hails from Guadalajara in Jalisco, the heart of tequila production in México. His family has been in the tequila business for generations, originating with his grandfather, the father of premium tequila, Don Julio González. As a young man, Lalo witnessed firsthand how his father built a brand like Don Julio with an uncompromising focus on quality. He developed a lifelong passion for the agave plant, particularly blanco tequila.
While working at the family distillery as a teenager, Lalo knew that his ultimate goal would be to continue his family legacy. This dream came true when Lalo and his business partner, David R. Carballido, started LALO by making small batches of pure blanco tequila for friends and family in Mexico, and through its popularity, took it to Texas to launch in the United States.
Whiskey Maker – J. Henry & Sons
Joe Henry Jr. is the second-generation whiskey maker for J. Henry & Sons spirits and third-generation farmer for Henry Farms. Joe grew up working on the family seed farm from a young age, instilling the importance of high-quality grains which has carried over into his whiskey making. Now Joe is the master blender for J. Henry and oversees all quality control of spirits, rickhouse management, and new product development.
Owner and Managing Director – Legras & Haas
Jérôme Legras joined Legras & Haas in 2006 after a brief experience outside the family winery in Germany and in the United Kingdom. As the managing director of Legras & Haas, he wears many hats, overseeing both national and international sales while also overseeing winemaking. With a background in business administration, agriculture, and winemaking, Jérôme is dedicated to bringing passion, innovation, and excellence to every facet of his work. Legras & Haas aesthetic proposition is rooted in the terroir. They are committed to producing affordable, long-lasting, and highly complex wines that embody the essence of the land. Jérôme’s role is to protect these principles and to contribute to the promotion and the understanding of the result. One of his proudest achievements is the creation of their single-vineyard cuvée, Les Sillons. Over the past ten years, the experience gathered in crafting this remarkable wine profoundly influenced their work. Beyond his current responsibilities, Jérôme longs to bring more young talent to their house. He believes in the power of fresh perspectives and advocates in the house and outside as a custodian rather than an owner mindset.
Vintner – SCRIBE
SCRIBE Winery in Sonoma, California, produces vibrant, terroir-driven wines. The winery–founded in 2007 on a property that pioneered pre-prohibition Sonoma Valley winemaking–is managed by fourth-generation California farmers and brothers Andrew and Adam Mariani. Andrew and Adam believe that the best wines are a result of a healthy relationship between man and nature, and that a vineyard managed in harmony with the greater ecosystem results in more site-specific wines that represent a sense of time and place. When vinified with noninterventionist methods, the result is a distinct wine that faithfully reflects what the vineyard naturally expresses.
Culinary Director – SCRIBE
Kelly Mariani studied cooking and farming at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland before pursuing a master's at the Slow Food University in Pollenzo, Italy. She went on to cook at the progressive American Academy in Rome before returning to California to Alice Water's legendary restaurant Chez Panisse, where she spent four years. Overseeing the kitchen at SCRIBE, Kelly uses the farm's garden to celebrate California's extraordinary and distinctive bounty, cultivated through its rich sun and soils.
Winemaker – Domaine Carneros
Zak Miller is a seasoned winemaker who joined Domaine Carneros in 2008. Originally passionate about pinot noir, Zak was introduced to a new realm of winemaking possibility while working alongside founding winemaker Eileen Crane—sparkling wines—and he hasn’t looked back since. Through Crane and the Domaine Carneros team, he developed a deep appreciation for the versatility of both pinot noir and chardonnay in sparkling winemaking and the great skill required to craft beautifully balanced, elegant yet complex wines. And through his work as a sparkling winemaker, he grew to love a variety he admittedly didn’t gravitate toward originally—chardonnay—which provides the base for what he feels is its finest expression (and a personal favorite)—blanc de blancs.
Zak holds a B.S. in forestry from Virginia Tech University and spent years working as a forestry scientist before being drawn into winemaking when he moved with his wife to Napa Valley. His early winemaking career included work at Saintsbury Vineyards as well as time in New Zealand and Chile.
National Sales Director – Domaine Laroche
Clément Renaud, hailing from Lorraine in northeastern France, has embarked on a professional journey full of twists and turns since his arrival in the United States over twelve years ago. Coming from a background in banking in France, Clément has always harbored a deep passion for wine, a passion he decided to turn into a profession when he landed in the United States in 2012.
Passionate about wines from around the world, particularly those from his homeland of France, Clément quickly gravitated towards the wine industry, working in retail, wholesale, and now for wineries.
In 2018 he joined Advini/Domaine Laroche, a renowned family-owned company in the wine domain. Starting off as a regional sales manager, Clément swiftly climbed the ranks to attain the position of national sales director.
As a passionate advocate for sustainability and environmental stewardship within the wine industry, Clément endeavors to promote and encourage the practice of responsible viticulture.
With an enduring love for wines from his native France, Clément's palate is forever captivated by the nuanced expressions of terroir, particularly the elegant wines of Chablis, nestled within the iconic vineyards of Burgundy.
Founder and Winemaker – Frog’s Leap
John T. Williams grew up on his family’s farm in rural western New York and attended Cornell University to study agriculture. A fortuitous work study program at the Taylor Wine Company shifted his focus from veterinary science to vines. His early exposure to mentors including Dr. Konstantin Frank and Hermann Wiemer opened his eyes to a world of wine that extended far beyond the Finger Lakes region, and in the spring of 1975, he boarded a Greyhound bus and made his way to the Napa Valley.
Upon arriving in California, John enrolled at UC Davis, where classmates included Cathy Corison, John Kongsgaard, Dan Lee, Steve Kistler, and Lee Hudson. While completing his master’s, John took a job with a small family winery called Stags’ Leap Wine Cellars, where the Winiarski family and consulting winemaker André Tchelistcheff contributed greatly to John’s continuing education around wine and life.
It was a heady time to be a part of new-world winemaking, and these formative experiences laid the groundwork for a life’s work pursuing excellence in the vineyard as the true path to excellence in the cellar.
Winemaker and Vice President of Vineyards and Production – Grgich Hills Estate Napa Valley
As the winemaker and vice president of vineyards and production at this iconic Napa Valley winery, Ivo Jeramaz has the awesome task of caring for the health of 366 acres of vineyards located throughout Napa Valley. Vineyard health for Ivo incorporates both aboveground and belowground environments. What you see—the leaves, vines, cordons, ground cover—and what you don't see—the complex microbial world beneath the soil—are of equal importance to him. Grgich Hills Estate has been farming organically since 2000, becoming Certified Organic in 2006 and Certified Regenerative Organic since 2023. He is a spokesperson, advocate, and practitioner of regenerative viticulture, focusing on soil health, microbial biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and improvements in the broader environmental ecosystem.