2023 Meet the Experts |

Andrew Adams

Wine Analytics Report

Editor

Andrew Adams has been a wine industry journalist for more than a decade. He grew up in the city of Sonoma, CA, and graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in journalism. While a reporter and editor for daily newspapers in Oregon and California for nearly a decade, Adams won awards for investigative and business reporting. In 2009, Adams left the newspaper industry for a harvest internship at a winery in Napa Valley. That internship led to a full-time position in the cellar and laboratory where Adams worked for three harvests before joining the staff at Wines & Vines magazine, which later merged with Wine Business Monthly in 2019. The Wine Analytics Report is a monthly, digital report on the U.S. wine industry featuring original reporting and information from the proprietary databases of Wines Vines Analytics and data supplied by partner research firms. In addition to overseeing all editorial content and data visualization for the analytics report, Adams is a regular contributor to Wine Business Monthly.

Eric Aellen

Linganore Winecellars

Owner & Vineyard Manager

Eric is a second generation owner/vineyard manager at Linganore Winecellars. The Aellen family started growing grapes in 1972 after purchasing a dairy farm in the rolling hills of Mount Airy, MD. After finishing college, he came back to the farm to take over the vineyards. Over the last 28 years the vineyard has expanded to over 75 acres with a diverse mix of hybrids and viniferas. Eric is actively involved with the Maryland Wine Association and Maryland Farm Bureau. His grapes have been used to produce award winning wines in the state, including Alberino, Cab Franc, Chambourcin, Traminette and Saperavi to name a few.

Martin Bucknavage

Penn State University Department of Food Science

Senior Food Safety Extension Associate

Martin is Penn State’s Senior Food Safety Extension Associate and Program Team Leader for the Industrial Food Safety and Quality Team. In his role he provides training and technical support to food manufacturing and foodservice companies, as well as consumer groups in the areas of food safety, food processing, and quality management. Prior to coming to Penn State, Martin worked for over 15 years in the food industry in various technical management roles. He is an approved instructor by the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA) for FSMA Preventive Controls and FSVP, International HACCP Alliance, and the National Restaurant Association. He serves on the Executive Advisory Board of the FSPCA and is currently the program lead for the Preventive Controls Human Foods Update Committee. He is a 2010 College of Agriculture State Laureate Award winner. He holds a BS degree in Microbiology and an MBA from Penn State, and an MS in Food Science from Virginia Tech.

J. Stephen Casscles, Esq

Winemaker, Dear Native Grapes Winery; Owner, Cedar Cliff Vineyards

Stephen comes from an old Hudson River Valley fruit growing family and worked at Benmarl Vineyards in Marlboro, NY from 1973 to 1986 where he worked with French-American grape varieties. Stephen has had a long career as an attorney for the NY State Senate and the NY State Department of Health. Stephen wrote 27 laws related to the production, distribution, and sale of wine, spirits, beer, and cider, in addition to laws related to his legal specialty of insurance, health care financing, municipal finance, and racing law.
In 1990, Stephen established Cedar Cliff Vineyards and Nursery in Athens NY where he evaluates 19th century Hudson Valley and Boston’s North Shore heritage grape varieties and other cool climate grapes. Stephen was a winemaker at Hudson-Chatham Winery in Ghent, New York, from 2007 to 2020, where he made wines from French-American & heritage hybrid grape varieties. From 2021 to 2023, he was appointed director/winemaker of Milea Estate Vineyard’s Hudson Valley Heritage Grape Project. He now works at Dear Native Grapes Winery, in Walton, NY.
In 2015, Casscles wrote Grapes of the Hudson Valley and Other Cool Climate Regions of the US and Canada, which is now in its 2nd Edition (2023) with 2 new chapters on grapes bred in New England. He is associated with 3 small nurseries that propagate rare nineteenth-century heritage and other cool climate grape varieties. He is an award-winning winemaker who has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Post, Wine Enthusiast, Forbes Magazine, Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book (2021), the Albany Times-Union, and the Hartford Courant.
Stephen lecturers on wine, grape cultivation, and nineteenth-century American horticulture throughout the East Coast. In addition to his full-length works on grape varieties, grape cultivation, and 19th-century horticulture, he is a contributor to academic and trade journals for UMass Amherst, the New Jersey Horticultural Society, and Arnold Arboretum (Harvard). He also advises and lectures at the Fermentation Sciences Program at SUNY at Cobleskill and has a working relationship with many in the Korean wine industry. His new book, The Grapes of Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea, should be in print by early 2024.

Dr. Lawrence R. Coia

Co-Owner, Bellview Winery

Owner & Manager, Coia Vineyards

Larry has more than 45 years of experience in grape growing. Coia Vineyards is planted to 14 acres of over a dozen wine grape varieties. He helped establish the Outer Coastal Plain American Viticultural Area and is a co-founder and inaugural president of the Outer Coastal Plain Vineyard Association (OCPVA). He established an ongoing relationship with grape growers and researchers at the Foundation Edmund Mach in the Trento region of northeastern Italy and is responsible for the importation of the San Marco grape variety into the U.S. by the OCPVA. His work and publications in viticulture and enology address topics such as climate change, grape growing efficiency, and the introduction of new grape varieties and new wine blends. He is co-author of the book Wine Grape Varieties for New Jersey. He serves on the board of the Wine Industry Council of New Jersey and is a member of the American Association of Wine Economists. He recently became co-owner of Bellview Winery in Landisville NJ, in partnership with its founder Jim Quarella.

Robert Crandell

TTF Group, Inc.

Program Director

With 21 international cooperages under its umbrella, Tonnellerie Francois Freres (TTF) is the largest barrel cooperage company in the world. As a TTF program director Rob travels the U.S. and the Caribbean consulting with wine makers and craft distillers, guiding them through the nuances of oak maturation to match varietals, terroir and flavor profiles. He trains regularly with the Research & Development teams in France, Spain and California. Rob also oversees Speyside Specialty Casks – his pet project – where he imports specialty casks from France, Spain, Portugal, Madeira and Italy for cask finishing wine and spirits.

Steve DiFrancesco

Winemaking Consultant

Steve became fascinated with wine while working in a restaurant during college and became the wine specialist there. He graduated with a BS in Plant Science from Stetson University, entered the wine business in the Finger Lakes of New York, and has since enjoyed 42 harvests there (plus one in Chile).

Steve worked with Guy DeVaux and Charles Fournier at Gold Seal Vineyards (owned by Seagram’s), with their excellent sparkling wines, from the late ‘70’s to the mid ‘80’s. He then worked with high quality red hybrids at Bully Hill Vineyards, and became an assistant winemaker at Glenora Wine Cellars in the late ‘80’s. He became winemaker at Lucas Vineyards in the early ‘90’s and helped expand production in high quality sparkling and still wines.

Steve returned to Glenora in 1995 and has helped expand its reputation and production. In 2000, the owners of Glenora purchased Knapp Winery, and Steve was responsible for production at both wineries. Riesling is at the forefront of a broad production line, including sparkling wines, red and white viniferas, as well as hybrids and natives.

During Steve’s career he has been involved in scale-ups, scale-backs, acquisitions, start-ups, and shutdowns. His wines have won over 450 gold medals in regional, national, and international competitions. He has made over 40 professional presentations in the Northeast and Midwest.

He has judged in wine competitions from California to New York to Virginia. In 2022, Steve was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Eastern Winery Exposition. He is also a board member for the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association. Steve retired during the summer of 2021, and is now available as a winemaking consultant.

Contact: steve.difrancesco@gmail.com | P: 315-719-2113

Anne Flesch

Fermentis

Technical Sales Support Manager & Regional Sales Manager

Anne is an oenologist and biosystems engineer, and has a Master’s in food science. She has been working as Technical Sales Support Manager and Regional Sales Manager for Fermentis in the USA since early 2017. Anne previously worked in Washington State on the Red Mountain AVA and in Sancerre, Loire valley, France. She studied in the South of France, Montpellier and moved to the USA in 2013.

Tyler Franzen

Enartis USA

East Coast Technical Rep

A stint as a harvest intern in 2009 set Tyler on the path to becoming a winemaker. However, it was the pursuit of knowledge and working through trials that landed him at Enartis USA the last six years, covering a large portion of North America. It is here that he was exposed to a wide range of regions and industry leaders – each possessing their own unique philosophies. Each territory faces its own diverse challenges compounded by the vintage variances. Tyler recognizes the uniqueness of these challenges and avoids the ‘one size fits all’ approach to the variables that meet us every day. As the Enartis East Coast Technical Rep, his goal nowadays is to present information and techniques in a no nonsense, laid back, and easy to digest style.

Gary He

Thermo Scientific

Product Marketing Manager

Gary is responsible for leading the product and marketing programs for Thermo Scientific products such as the Gallery discrete industrial analyzers, to drive sustainable technology adoption for existing markets, such as wine, beer and water analysis, and for new adjacent markets, such as enzyme analysis for food & beverage, animal nutrition, grain processing, home care detergent, and biopharma.

Prior to joining Thermo Fisher Scientific, Gary spent three years in DuPont (IFF) Nutrition & Biosciences in strategic account management and new business development in the specialty chemicals, wood treatment, and in-vitro diagnostics markets. Previously he spent 5 years as the technical service manager and market segment leader of Healthcare & Specialty Nutrition for the Dow Chemical Company where he focused on new application and market developments of separation technologies in food & beverage and bioprocessing. Some interesting applications include polyphenol extractions from grape skin and seed, juice deashing and decharacterization, ethanol decharacterization for alcoholic beverages, citrus juice debittering, dairy whey protein concentrations and separations. Gary graduated Summa Cum Laude from New York University in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and minored in Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Cain Hickey, PhD

Penn State Extension

Assistant Teaching Professor of Viticulture

Cain has been engaged in viticulture research and extension since 2007. Cain has presented at state, regional, national, and international academic and industry conferences, and has developed and coordinated numerous extension workshops. He co-coordinates the Eastern Viticulture and Enology Forum webinar series with regional colleagues. Cain has authored peer-reviewed journal articles, extension publications, facts sheets, and trade publications. His research has an applied viticulture emphasis, and has recently been focused on pruning, training, and canopy management. Cain works with the grape and wine industry to solve vineyard management issues and optimize grape production.

Caitlin Horton

Horton Vineyards

Winemaker

Caitlin is Horton’s third generation winemaker. She spent her early years with her grandmother in the family’s vineyard, where she learned how grapes were grown from pruning to harvest. From there Caitlin transitioned from a short internship in the cellar to learn winemaking. Later she transitioned to tasting room staff and built her way up to general manager of the tasting room while still keeping her hands in the cellar. Now she is in the wine cellar permanently doing what she loves and experimenting with blends and different harvest techniques that she learned with her certificate in winemaking from Cornell University. Caitlin has produced an award-winning and publication-worthy line of wines, Gears and Lace.

Molly Kelly

Penn State University

Extension Enologist

Molly joined Penn State University as the enology extension educator in the Department of Food Science in February 2018. She has led workshops including winery sanitation, filtration, microscopy, wine analysis and berry sensory analysis. Her research has focused on the effect of nitrogen and sulfur applications on Petit Manseng wine aroma and flavor. Current research includes the impact of the spotted lanternfly on wine quality.

Prior to this, Molly was the enology extension specialist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg VA. She also held the position of enology instructor at Surry Community College in Dobson NC, where she developed the enology curriculum and managed all aspects of the college’s 1,000-case bonded winery. Under her direction, Surry produced numerous international award-winning wines. Prior to her position at Surry, she was a biodefense team microbiologist with the New York State Department of Health.

Greg La Follette

Marchelle Wines

Winemaker and Partner

Greg is a co-proprietor and co-winegrower, along with Kevin Lee, at GLF and Marchelle (a blend of their wives’ names, Mara & Michelle) Wines. Greg has traveled the world, establishing vineyards and wineries on all but two continents, and amassing a number of “best of” awards along the way. His is an extraordinary and storied career, beginning with mentorship by André Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu Vineyards, through successes in various forms with DeLoach, Flowers, Kendall Jackson, Steelhead and Tandem, to name just a few. He lives in Sonoma County and attributes his success to a blend of hard work, paying attention, and being intentional in his efforts. With six grown children, he is now helping to raise his and Mara’s two grandkids, as well as fielding family Sunday night dinners, which typically include more than a baker’s dozen of family and friends around the table. He humbly notes that the best use of his wine is at a similar table, where love through shared experience is the communion, oftentimes expressed in the wine shared by all.

Lucie Morton

Morton Viticulture

Viticulturist

Lucie is an independent viticulturist based in Virginia. She is an internationally recognized author, ampelographer, lecturer, consultant, research collaborator, and most recently film producer. Her higher education in viticulture occurred in Europe, while her practical education began as vineyard manager on the family farm along the banks of the Potomac River, Virginia-side. Her focus on rootstocks led her to collaboration with geologists to show the need to revise potassium recommendations based on soil analyses. She believes that integrated pest management is an ever changing challenge which requires ongoing collaboration with plant pathologists worldwide.

Maria Peterson

Scott Laboratories

Filtration Specialist

Maria grew up in South Africa on the family wine farm where filtration of wine with a pressure leaf filter was one of many chores as a teenager. She graduated with a BSc. Agric. degree specializing in Enology and Viticulture from University of Stellenbosch, South Africa in 2000. Maria made wine and managed vineyards all over the globe–South Africa, Australia, France, USA–for 13 years.

She has been working for Scott Laboratories of California for the last eight years and is currently part of the newly minted Beverage Integrity and Filtration department within Scott Labs where the focus is on sustainable filtration and stabilization technologies with applications such as wine, cider, beer (including seltzer), distilled spirits, RTD cocktails and others.

Phil Plummer

Montezuma Winery

Winemaker

Phil has been making wine in New York’s Finger Lakes region for over a decade, spending the bulk of those years at Montezuma Winery, where he has served as head winemaker since 2013. In his time at Montezuma, Phil has taken a leading role in the development and production of a wide-ranging portfolio of wines made from grapes, fruit, and honey, and was instrumental in the launch of Montezuma’s sister winery, Idol Ridge.

James Roblee

ATP Group/Fermentis

Technical Specialist

Jim began his wine career in the Finger Lakes after graduating from Cornell University. He followed his passion for wine to the West where he held winemaking positions with some of Napa’s biggest and most luxurious brands for over 14 years. Now with the ATP group, he assists fellow winemakers to find innovative and customized solutions to processing obstacles. Jim lives in Napa and spends much of his free time sailing with his wife.

Aaron Roisen

Three Brothers Winery

Wine & Cidermaker

Aaron has worked as a winemaker in the Finger Lakes wine industry for over 20 years. He has experience using various methods to achieve cold stability, including with sparkling wines.

Charlotte Shelton

Albemarle CiderWorks

Owner

Charlotte and her family founded Vintage Virginia Apples in 2001 to capitalize on the collection of heirloom apples the family had been accumulating over the previous decade. After earning her PhD in American History at the University of Virginia, she taught at Virginia Tech before leaving education to go into the finance industry. Her interest in horticulture and pomology have informed her enthusiasm for promoting fine cider and sharing that passion with the growing cider market.

Chuck Shelton

Albemarle CiderWorks

Cidermaker

In 2009, Chuck turned his passion for apples and fermentation into Albemarle CiderWorks. He produces heritage dry ciders that pull inspiration from the numerous apple varieties grown on the family farm in North Garden, VA. His purist philosophy results in ciders that highlight the complexity of varietal character and showcase the quality of fruit being grown in Virginia.

Libby Spencer

Enartis USA

Sales Manager

While earning a BA in Communication from Lewis & Clark College, Libby began her wine career in 2002 at Cristom Vineyards. She and her husband owned and operated a small wine bar in Massachusetts where she was exposed to wines of the world. During her tenure at Willamette Valley Vineyards, she oversaw all sales channels including the wine club, tasting room, in-state sales and a robust distributor network. In 2012, she joined Enartis USA as the Area Manager for North American business outside of California. Meanwhile, she went back to school to study Enology at Washington State University. She was promoted to Sales Manager in 2017.

Libby lives in Oregon with her husband and two sons. She loves hiking, biking, gardening, and reading.

Chris Stamp

Lakewood Vineyards

Winemaker

Chris has spent much of his life in the grape and wine business. He grew up on his family’s grape farm in Watkins Glen, NY. His interest in winemaking was piqued by the newly burgeoning small wineries in the area. Summer jobs at Glenora and Taylor Wine Company augmented his education while he attained a BS in Food Science from Cornell University. He began his winemaking career as winemaker at a small winery in the Finger Lakes. This was followed by a four year stint as extension and research associate at Ohio State University (OARDC, Wooster, Ohio).

In 1989, Chris moved back to the Finger Lakes to help his family start Lakewood Vineyards. Over the years Lakewood has grown to an annual production of over 100,000 gallons, producing a wide range of wines from vinifera to mead. He is an occasional contributor to Wines & Vines magazine and has given dozens of winemaking presentations. Chris and his wife Elizabeth are also sole proprietors of Lakewood Cork, importing and selling high quality wine corks in the Eastern U.S. They have three children (Ben, Abby and Amelia), 1 dog (Piper) and three horses (Buddy, George and Remi). Interests include flying and enjoying wine with friends, but not at the same time.

W02d | Ruby Port Styles

Justin Taylor

Parker-Binns Vineyard

Winemaker

Justin earned his BBA from Georgia State University. In 2011, a visit to the Shelton- Badgett Center for Viticulture & Enology sparked the desire to apply for the AAS degree program for the fall of 2012. Working for Total Wine throughout his studies, Justin was promoted to Wine Sales Associate and completed five of the regional sections for the Total Wine Professional Program.

Upon completion of the viticulture and enology program at Surry Community College, he entered the western North Carolina wine industry, starting out as assistant winemaker to consulting winemaker Tom Payette at Burntshirt Vineyards in Hendersonville, NC. He worked the 2014-2016 vintages at this facility, working closely with vineyard manager Eric Case. In 2017, he took on a new venture of personal and professional significance with Bob and Karen at Parker-Binns Vineyard in Polk County, NC. As winemaker of Parker-Binns his primary focus ranges from all cellar and lab activities to final adjustments on wines prior to bottling to meet the desires of the customer base. Justin currently serves as a director at large for the NC Winegrower’s Association.

Joy Ting

Virginia Winemakers Research Exchange

Research Enologist and Extension Coordinator

Joy works with Virginia winemakers to plan, conduct and evaluate practical experiments in the winery and share results with the winemaking community. She also produces a small line of wines under her own name. Prior to her post at the VWRE, Joy was the enologist and winemaker at Michael Shaps Wineworks in Charlottesville, VA. Joy holds a PhD in Applied Biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology and has worked in the Virginia Wine industry since 2013.

E07 | Chaptalization Trials

Meet the Experts

TUESDAY, MARCH 14

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15

THURSDAY, MARCH 16

Andrew Adams

Wine Analytics Report

Eric Aellen

Linganore Winecellars

Martin Bucknavage

Penn State University Department of Food Science

J. Stephen Casscles, Esq

Dr. Lawrence R. Coia

Co-Owner, Bellview Winery

Robert Crandell

TTF Group, Inc.

Steve DiFrancesco

Anne Flesch

Fermentis

Tyler Franzen

Enartis USA

Gary He

Thermo Scientific

Cain Hickey, PhD

Penn State Extension

Caitlin Horton

Horton Vineyards

Molly Kelly

Penn State University

Greg La Follette

Marchelle Wines

Lucie Morton

Morton Viticulture

Maria Peterson

Scott Laboratories

Phil Plummer

Montezuma Winery

James Roblee

ATP Group/Fermentis

Aaron Roisen

Three Brothers Winery

Charlotte Shelton

Albemarle CiderWorks

Chuck Shelton

Albemarle CiderWorks

Libby Spencer

Enartis USA

Chris Stamp

Lakewood Vineyards

Justin Taylor

Parker-Binns Vineyard

Joy Ting

Virginia Winemakers Research Exchange