Conference Manager

Richard Leahy has been the Conference Manager of the Eastern Winery Exposition since 2012. Prior to co-founding EWE in 2012, he was Conference Manager of Wineries Unlimited and East Coast Editor of Vineyard & Winery Management. 

Richard has been writing about wines of Virginia and the East since 1986. In 2007 he organized the Virginia Wine Experience in London which brought the top 64 Virginia wines there for leading British wine media and trade to taste. He was a regional editor for Kevin Zraly’s American Wine Guide, and was Mid-Atlantic and Southern Editor for the Oxford Companion to the Wines of North America. He is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers. Richard’s book on Virginia wine, Beyond Jefferson’s Vines, the Evolution of Quality Wine in Virginia, now in a third edition, was first published in 2012 by Sterling Epicure. 

In 2022, he was given the Birchenall Award by the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association for his promotion of the Eastern wine industry over the years. He also has a website and blog focused on wines of the East at www.richardleahy.com. He is working on the fourth edition of Beyond Jefferson’s Vines; the third edition may be found online at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578701146.