Meet our 2013 Judges
John
Buechsenstein
John Buechsenstein has been a winemaker and wine educator in California
for many years. Most recently the COO of Sauvignon Republic Cellars,
specializing in Sauvignon Blancs from around the world, he has also made
award-winning wines at Fife Vineyards and McDowell Valley Vineyards.
John is a noted educator, serving as Adjunct Wine Faculty at The
Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and UC Davis Extension where
he has lectured on wine sensory evaluation for over 30 years. He is a
past-president of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture, a
charter member of the Society of Wine Educators, and judges wines
throughout North America. Among his many publications, he co-authored
the Standardized System of Wine Aroma Terminology, known as the Wine
Aroma Wheel.
Martha Dunne
Martha Dunne is a seasoned participant in the appreciation and
estimation of
wine. From nightly dinners with wine to commercial wine judgings, her
palate is ready and anticipatory. She is administrator of
WineGigs.com, a Sacramento tour, tasting and consultation business. In
addition to wine culture, Martha is professionally interested in the two
interior designs - home decoration and
neurological variation, as in autism. Her book "'Wait, What Do You
Mean?'
Asperger's Tell and Show" was published recently.
Mike
Dunne
Mike Dunne is a Sacramento-based freelance writer, concentrating on wine
and
travel. He contributes a weekly wine column to The Sacramento Bee,
where for much of three decades he was the paper's restaurant critic,
wine
columnist and food edtior. He also maintains the blog A Year In Wine
(www.ayearinwine.com).
Deborah
Parker Wong
Deborah Parker Wong, AIWS is Northern California editor for The Tasting Panel magazine where she reports on the global wine and spirits industries. In addition, she contributes frequently to industry publications including Sommelier Journal, Vineyard & Winery Management and Cheers magazines and writes a lively consumer drinks column for www.Examiner.com. Deborah holds the Wine and Spirits Education Trust Diploma and is a member of both the London-based Circle of Wine Writers and the Wine Media Guild of New York
Biographical information on the remaining judges for the 2013 Lake County Wine Awards Competition is forthcoming.
Ray Johnson
Director of the Professional Judging
2011 Lake County Wine Awards Competition
Ray Johnson is the Director of Sonoma State’s Wine Business Institute,
one of only three universities in the world to offer a master’s degree
in wine business.
He continues to serve as the Assistant Director of the San Francisco
Chronicle Wine Competition, the largest professional judging of American
wine in the world.
His company TasteWine has consulted and created events and seminars for
a Who’s Who of organizations, including Four Season’s Hotels, GE
Capital, LexisNexis, Siemens, Visa and Wells Fargo.
Johnson earned his Master’s in Wine Business from the University of
Adelaide in South Australia. His publications have spanned three
platforms: academia, with papers published in the Journal of Consumer
Marketing, the Journal of Wine Research, and the International Journal
of Wine Business Research; the industry’s trade journals with articles
in Practical Winery & Vineyard and Vineyard & Winery Management;
publications for consumers with wine reviews on his blog TasteWine and
an introduction to tasting through this primer The Good Life Guide to
Enjoying Wine.
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Photos above depict our 2011 Judges to whom we are very grateful!