2024 Meet the Experts |

Vinny Aliperti

Billsboro Winery

Owner & Winemaker

Vinny was hooked on winemaking as a teenager in his grandfather’s cellar in Queens NY, where he was first introduced to his family’s annual tradition. Vinny’s winemaking style is often described as energetic and fruit-driven, focusing on creating textural, contemplative wines. For over 25 years, his dynamic approach has earned him praise both locally and nationally, including several write-ups in Decanter, VinePair, Wine Spectator, the Washington Post, Wine and Spirits, Wine Enthusiast, and the New York Cork Report.

Maureen Ballatori

29 Design Studio

Founder and CEO

Agency 29 is a creative agency for food, beverage, and agriculture brands. Maureen’s experience in brand strategy helps companies scale business growth, define their unique marketing message, and attract their ideal audiences. She grew up on a farm in upstate NY and Maureen’s rural roots are the source of her passion for food and agriculture. (Agency 29 is formerly known as 29 Design Studio)

Peter Bell

Winery Consultant

Peter, a Canadian native, was the winemaker at Fox Run Vineyards from 1995-2022. He holds degrees in Enology from Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, Australia and in Anthropology from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. He worked as a winemaker in Australia and New Zealand before landing in the Finger Lakes region of New York in 1990 to be head winemaker at Dr. Frank’s. He was also an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University and lectured to wine industry professionals throughout the world.

Peter is also a member of the EWE Program Advisory Board. He retired from full-time winemaking in 2022 and is active as a consultant to wineries in the eastern U.S.

Howard Bursen

Wineryplan.com

Consultant and Principal

A winery designer, winemaker and grapegrower for over 30 years, Howard’s wines have received more than 500 medals in national and international competitions. He has contributed to winery designs on three continents. His last two design projects were in New Hampshire and Mexico. Past President of the New England Wine Council, former member of the USDA Advisory Council for the Northern Grapes Project, cooperating winemaker with Cornell University’s Enology program, and serving member of the ASEV Scholarship Committee, he can be reached at his consulting website www.wineryplan.com.

Nova Cadamatre MW

Trestle 31

Consulting Winemaker & Owner

Over the course of almost two decades, Nova has become one of the most versatile and experienced winemakers in the industry. She holds a Bachelors from Cornell University in Viticulture. In 2017 she achieved the title of Master of Wine, the first female winemaker in the U.S. to do so. She has worked with some of the best vineyards in the world, including significant time at the iconic To Kalon vineyard while working as the senior director of winemaking for Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville, CA. While there she crafted the #6 wine of 2022 for Wine Spectator’s top 100 list. She has been named to Wine Enthusiast’s Top 40 under 40 and has numerous 90+ scoring wines from both coasts to her credit.

Nova owns three brands of her own; Trestle Thirty One and Snowshell Vineyards from the Finger Lakes and Fiadh Ruadh (Fay-ah Roo-ah) in Napa, CA. As a true “flying winemaker” she travels between Napa and the Finger Lakes to manage both her projects and several consulting clients.

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.

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

Kelly Downs

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

Technical Advisor

Kelly Downs is a Technical Advisor in the Application Services Division of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). Kelly began her Treasury career in 2008 with the Internal Revenue Service as a Business Contact Representative. In 2018, Kelly joined TTB as a Call Center Specialist providing guidance and explanation to specific inquiries including permit applications and maintaining compliance including reporting requirements and federal excise taxes.

In her current role as a Technical Advisor, she is responsible for providing training to Application Specialists/Technicians as well as providing guidance, responding to complex inquiries from industry members and TTB Specialists involving Wholesaler/Importer, Winery, Brewery, and Distilled Spirits Plant applications and related operations.

Brian Eshenaur

Cornell University

Senior Extension Associate

Brian is the Senior Extension Associate at Cornell University’s Integrated Pest Management program. With an emphasis in plant diagnostics, his work focuses on insect & plant problem identification and sustainable pest management. Brian’s current efforts emphasize the detection and control of new invasive pests. In this role he is providing leadership for outreach of the invasive spotted lanternfly in NYS.

Craig Hosbach

Fox Run Vineyards

Head Winemaker

Born and raised in New Jersey, Craig Hosbach’s winemaking journey began in 2004, close to home before finding his calling in the Finger Lakes of New York. After his time in New Jersey he continued his professional path, accumulating over a decade of experience across multiple wineries within the northern New York winemaking region before assuming the role of head winemaker at Hunt Country Vineyards in 2017. From there, Hosbach honed his craft and shared his boundless enthusiasm for winemaking. Hosbach joined Fox Run Vineyards as head winemaker in August of 2022, infusing his expertise and passion into every bottle. During his tenure, Hosbach’s presence at Fox Run has been apparent. From his first vintage through his current releases, he has received consistent high praise from some of the most well-respected names in the wine industry.

Adam Howell

NY FarmNet

Outreach Director

Adam is a strategic communications professional with over 15 years of experience in outreach, marketing, and legislative affairs. As outreach director for NY FarmNet, Adam travels throughout New York State helping to bring the services offered by NY FarmNet to any farmer in need of assistance.

Adam also serves on the board of the Finger Lakes Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Prior to joining NY FarmNet, Adam served as the marketing and communications manager for the Cornell Local Roads Program from 2017-2022 and as director of external affairs for the national non-profit, Partners for Automated Vehicle Education from 2022-2023. Before working at Cornell University, Adam served as a legislative liaison for the Illinois Department of Revenue, the Illinois Department of Transportation, and the Illinois Governor’s Office. Adam currently lives in Lansing NY, with his wife and children.

Michael Kaiser

WineAmerica

Executive VP & Director of Government Affairs

Michael is the main voice of WineAmerica on Capitol Hill, taking WineAmerica’s message to Members of Congress and their staff.

Michael is also the main point of contact between the organization and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) and handles general regulatory concerns for WineAmerica members. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Free the Grapes. Michael is a regular fixture at industry trade shows and conferences throughout the country. He has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, USA Today, Wine Business, and Wine Spectator.

Prior to joining WineAmerica, Michael provided research and logistical support to two DC-based lobbying firms. He also handled compliance issues with a major political party. Michael earned his BA in American Studies and Political Science from Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ, and MA in Political Science from American University in Washington, DC.

Chris King

Sawtooth Vineyard Management and Consulting

Owner and Principal Consultant

Chris has over 25 years of experience working with dozens of vineyards primarily in the Finger Lakes region of New York. In addition, he is an auditor for the Vine Balance sustainability program and president of the New York State Wine Grape Growers. He specializes in optimizing production and achieving both yield and quality goals. Chris lives with his wife and two boys off the grid surrounded by the Finger Lakes National Forest.

John Irving Levenberg

The Wine Collective & Nueva Vista Consulting

Winemaker & Managing Partner

John’s interest in wine started while pursuing a degree in Neurophysiology at UC Davis. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he decided to reject all the advice he’d been given and pursue a Master’s degree in the UC Davis Viticulture and Enology program. After completing his coursework, John spent the first decade of his career working in Napa, France and New Zealand. He has experience at all levels of production but as winemaker has been responsible for award-winning wines on three continents.

John has been making wine on the East Coast since 2005 and has designed over 20 wineries. He has worked closely with start-ups and industry leaders. Although John’s higher education in enology occurred in California and France, his practical education began as a winemaker on the East Coast. Crafting nuanced wines in a challenging growing region broadened John’s horizons to appreciate the full breadth of what quality winemaking can achieve. He is driven by the pursuit of that brilliant moment that winemaking provides, when the exceptional qualities of ripe fruit can be captured in a bottle and shared with loved ones.

Tom Payette

Winemaker & Winemaking Consultant

Tom is a hands-on, analytical, East Coast pioneering, winemaking professional with a Food Science Degree. His extended expertise focuses on winemaking, winery and vineyard start-ups and expansions, still and sparkling wine and general winery issues. Tom has over three decades of well-rounded experience in still and sparkling wine production in Virginia along with nine years in ultra-premium Bordeaux varietal wine production in Napa, CA. Tom studied under famed Bordeaux enologist Jacques Boissenot. He was awarded Winemaker of the Year in 1999 by Vineyard & Winery Management and most recently named a “Wine Industry Leader of the Year” by Wine Business Monthly. Visit winemakingconsultant.com to learn more about Tom.

Chris Puppione

Coravin

Regional Key Account Manager

After a 15-year career in teaching and coaching, Chris transitioned to a life of wine in 2012, taking a position in hospitality with Robert Mondavi Winery. In the years since, he has diversified his experiences within the industry by way of education and working in the vineyard, cellar, visitor’s center, marketplace, and boardroom. He was honored to serve as marketing manager with world-renowned importer Martine’s Wines, sharing the stories of over 50+ brands from France, Italy, and Portugal, as well as a few domestic wineries. In recent years, Chris led the team at Passalacqua Winery in the Dry Creek Valley as director of sales, where his team distinguished itself as an industry leader in virtual experiences and high-touch hospitality programs.

Currently, Chris serves wineries as the regional key account manager for Coravin. He also writes for K&L Wine Merchants, teaches WSET courses at Napa Valley Wine Academy, and coaches for WISE Academy. He has been a featured speaker at wine industry events, such as the DTC Wine Symposium, Wine Business Monthly’s Innovation + Quality, and the Idaho Wine Commission’s annual meeting. In his “spare time,” Chris and his wife Dolores own and operate Puppione Family Wines–a small winery brand they started to celebrate the birth of their family and honor their traditions.

Believing that every person is an experiment of one, Chris aspires to be a designer of moments who engages and transforms each guest and business partner. Chris currently resides in the Russian River Valley with his wife and two young children.

Bill Redelmeier

Southbrook Vineyards

Owner

In 1991 as a third-generation dairy farmer, Bill traded milk for wine, opening Southbrook Winery in Richmond Hill, Ontario, with his wife Marylin. In 2005, Bill moved the winery to Niagara to fulfill his dream of converting to organics and biodynamics. To this day, Bill is a leader in sustainable and regenerative viticulture, never wavering in his dream to make great wine by focusing on soil optimization, natural solutions to managing vineyard challenges, and seeking balance in the vineyard and the cellar, and, of course, in your glass.

Karen Thornton

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

American Viticultural Area (AVA) Program Manager

Karen has worked on AVA issues since 2012. As the AVA program manager, she reviews all AVA petitions submitted to TTB and determines whether they meet the requirements for proceeding to rulemaking. She also drafts the related rulemaking documents for approved petitions and provides guidance to anyone wanting to submit an AVA petition.

Karen started her federal career at the Office of the Federal Register. She later gained regulations writing experience at the Federal Aviation Administration. She holds a BA in International Relations from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, TX, and a MA in Communications Studies from Texas Tech in Lubbock.

Donniella Winchell

Ohio Wine Producers Association

Executive Director

Donniella is the Executive Director of the Ohio Wine Producers Association, chair of their Vintage Ohio wine festival, and coordinator of the License to Steal national wine marketing conference.

She is past chair of the WineAmerica State Advisory Committee and is active in Winegrape Growers of America, the Ohio Travel Association, and serves on several other state and national committees. She is a member of the Ohio Agriculture and Ohio Wines Halls of Fame, a Rotary Harris Fellow, a member of the Knights of the Vine, and the recipient of the Monteith Wine Award. In 2020, she was named an industry influential by Wine Business Magazine, and in 2021 was awarded the Rich Smith Award of Excellence in American Wine. In 2022 the Wine Industry Network named her one of the industry’s ten most inspiring people. She has contributed to several national wine publications, writes weekly wine columns for a dozen Ohio print and online publications, authors a marketing e-letter, Tuesday Tidbits, and speaks at numerous wine and tourism conferences. She is an adjunct professor at Kent Ashtabula teaching occasional wine-related courses. Donnie is a graduate of Allegheny College with a BA in history and taught in Ohio public schools before retiring to raise a family and take the Ohio wines position. She has been executive director of Ohio Wines for over 40 years.

The Largest Production Wine and Grape Trade Show and Conference in the East Returns to Syracuse NY

2024 Meet the Experts

2024 Meet the Experts

TUESDAY, MARCH 12

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13

THURSDAY, MARCH 14

Vinny Aliperti

Billsboro Winery

Maureen Ballatori

29 Design Studio

Peter Bell

Howard Bursen

Wineryplan.com

Nova Cadamatre MW

Trestle 31

J. Stephen Casscles, Esq

Steve DiFrancesco

Kelly Downs

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

Brian Eshenaur

Cornell University

Craig Hosbach

Fox Run Vineyards

Adam Howell

NY FarmNet

Michael Kaiser

WineAmerica

Chris King

Sawtooth Vineyard Management and Consulting

John Irving Levenberg

The Wine Collective & Nueva Vista Consulting

Tom Payette

Chris Puppione

Coravin

Bill Redelmeier

Southbrook Vineyards

Karen Thornton

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

Donniella Winchell

Ohio Wine Producers Association