The People · Page 17
The artisans of taste.
Executive Chef, Shoukouwa & Ginza Sushi Ichi
Masakazu Ishibashi
Tokyo, Japan
Masakazu Ishibashi is a Japanese sushi chef who began training at age 10 in his family's restaurant in Tochigi Prefecture, later graduating from San Diego State University and…
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Chef
Masaki Saito
Toronto, Canada
Masaki Saito’s work at Sushi Masaki Saito in Toronto is built around the premise that the restaurant name should match the discipline of the room. Raised in Hokkaido, he brings…
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Winemaker
Alessandro Ceretto
Alba, Italy
His work is anchored in Barolo and Barbaresco, and he names them plainly: “Our top wines are Barolo and Barbaresco, which are both based on the Nebbiolo grape.” That sentence sets…
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Chef
Joey Fecci
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
At Yolan in Nashville, former chef de cuisine Joey Fecci worked from a kitchen logic that prized measurement as much as interpretation. The line he gives — “I was never like a…
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Chef
Lukas Nagl
Traunkirchen, Austria
A native of Upper Austria, Lukas Nagl works with a line that reads almost architectural: fish, seasonal ingredients, and a minimalist register built to keep purity intact. The…
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Chef
Tony Mantuano
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
## The Climb At Spiaggia in Chicago, Illinois, Tony Mantuano set the standard for a closely watched Italian dining room, serving as chef until 2020. The work earned its reputation…
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Chef
Andy Beynon
London, United Kingdom
At Behind in London, the open kitchen is not a viewing device added to service; it is the service model. Chef-owner Andy Beynon has built the restaurant so the making, finishing…
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Hiroyuki Saito
Tokyo, Japan
## The Path Hiroyuki Saito built his standing in stages: first in Hong Kong, then back in Japan, where he opened his own establishment and later established a Tokyo base at…
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Chef
Kristen D. Murray
Amity, Oregon, United States
Kristen D. Murray’s work at Antica Terra in Amity, Oregon sits in the register of direct service: the food, the room, and the pace of the meal all read as part of the same system.…
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Winemaker
Maggie Harrison
Amity, Oregon, United States
## The Path The early training reads clearly in the method: Maggie Harrison worked as first assistant winemaker at Sine Qua Non until 2004, a period that helped set the…
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Chef
Mina Gűçlũer
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
## Career At Belon in Hong Kong, Mina Gűçlũer leads a kitchen working in sincere, modern French cuisine. The register is controlled rather than showy: clear flavors, measured…
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Winemaker
Rafael Vivanco
Valle de Mena, Spain
Rafael Vivanco is the winemaker at Bodegas Vivanco in Briones, La Rioja, Spain, a role that places him inside one of Rioja’s most closely watched family estates. ## The Climb…
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Head Chef & Co-Founder, Oba-
Javier Sanz
Madrid, Spain
Javier Sanz is a Spanish chef and co-founder of Oba-, a one-Michelin-starred restaurant in Casas-Ibáñez, Albacete, which he opened in January 2022 with childhood friend Juan…
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Chef
Jon Shook
Los Angeles, California, United States
Jon Shook’s kitchen path runs through a sequence of rooms that reward speed, repetition, and range. He trained at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, then moved from Florida to…
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Chef, Cañitas Maite Gastro, Oba-, CEBO
Juan Sahuquillo
Casas-Ibáñez, Spain
Juan Sahuquillo, alongside lifelong friend Javier Sanz, both from Casas-Ibáñez in Albacete, Spain, transformed their family business into Grupo Cañitas, directing the gastronomic…
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Chef
Ludo Lefebvre
Los Angeles, California, United States
## Coming Up The foundation here is French technique, built through kitchens that demand control, pace, and consistency. Ludo Lefebvre trained at L'Arpège, and that training shows…
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Chef
Marijo Curić
Dubrovnik, Croatia
## The Climb Formal training and one fixed kitchen define the shape of Marijo Curić’s career more clearly than a long list of postings would. Culinary school comes first;…
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Winemaker
Alexandre Thienpont
Pomerol, France
Alexandre Thienpont has been the winemaker of Vieux Château Certan in Pomerol, France, from 1985 to the present, a position that puts the work of making Vieux-Château-Certan at…
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Winemaker
Alfred Tesseron
Napa, California, United States
Alfred Tesseron owns Château Pontet-Canet in Pauillac, Bordeaux, an estate whose reputation is built on Médoc discipline and the steady cadence of vineyard work. His link to the…
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Winemaker
Alice Paillard
Reims, France
## The Climb Champagne houses are built on continuity as much as output, and Bruno Paillard in Reims is no exception. Since 2007, Alice Paillard has worked inside that framework…
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Winemaker
Anne Gros
Aigues Vives, France
Her work is defined by skepticism toward easy certainty and a deliberate defense of independence. In the glass and in her own speaking, that shows up as precision, restraint, and…
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Winemaker
Aymeric de Gironde
Saint-Laurent-des-Combes, France
## Coming Up The early training is split between Bordeaux and Spain, and that pairing set the base for Aymeric de Gironde’s work in wine: one side anchored in Bordeaux’s…
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Winemaker
Bérénice Lurton
Barsac, France
## Coming Up Bérénice Lurton trained at Political Science Institute before entering wine, where she would go on to shape a long chapter at Château Climens in Barsac, Bordeaux.…
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Winemaker
Bruno Paillard
Reims, France
Based in Reims, France, the champagne style attached to Bruno Paillard is defined by precision, energy, and an Extra Brut production focus. In Champagne, where many houses lean on…
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Winemaker
Charles Chevallier
Fargues, France
Technical direction in Bordeaux wine depends on continuity, site knowledge, and the ability to hold an estate’s standards across seasons. Charles Chevallier’s work sat in that…
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Winemaker
Christian Moueix
Libourne Cedex, France
From agronomy, viticulture, and oenology studies in France and California to the presidency of Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix in Libourne, Christian Moueix built a career at…
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Winemaker
Christine Valette
Saint-Laurent-des-Combes, France
## Coming Up At Château Troplong Mondot in Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux, France, the work was shaped over time rather than reset from post to post. Christine Valette held the role of…
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Winemaker
Damien Barton-Sartorius
Saint-Julien-Beychevelle, France
Damien Barton-Sartorius sits at the operational center of Barton Family Wines, where ownership and general management are bound to continuity, stewardship, and the day-to-day…
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Winemaker
Edouard Moueix
Pomerol, France
Edouard Moueix is the French winemaker of Château La Fleur-Pétrus in Pomerol. The work sits inside a family name long associated with Bordeaux’s right bank, where reputation is…
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Owner
Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix
Pomerol, France
Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix occupies a quiet but central place in Bordeaux, and at Château La Fleur-Pétrus in Pomerol the style is measured rather than showy. Recorded as…
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Winemaker
Frédéric Faye
Saint-Émilion, France
The line is modest, but it also states the operating principle behind the work: the estate comes first, then the person directing it. At Château Figeac, that means patience,…
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Owner
Gerard Perse
Saint-Émilion, France
Gerard Perse, the French owner of Château Pavie in Saint-Émilion, France, from 1998 to 2025, built a Bordeaux profile through acquisition, restoration, and classification. The…
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Co-Owner, Château Le Gay
Henri Parent
Pomerol, France
Henri Parent is the co-owner of Château Le Gay in Pomerol, working at the estate since 2013. He manages the bottom-up strategy, giving direction to the company and collaborators…
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Winemaker
Hubert de Boüard de Laforest
Neac, France
He grew up at Angelus with vineyard and cellar work as the daily curriculum. Soil, damp stone, pruning, fermentation, and waiting were part of the same system, and Hubert de…
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Winemaker
Jacques Boissenot
Pauillac, France
opened/founded a lab in Lamarque, France ## Coming Up The work started in study and analysis: at Institut d'Oenologie, Bordeaux University in Bordeaux, Jacques Boissenot trained…
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Chef
Javier Rivero Yarza
Tolosa, Spain
Javier Rivero Yarza works in Basque hospitality with the kind of focus that treats a restaurant as an operating system, not a dining room. At AMA Taberna in Tolosa, Spain, the…
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Winemaker
Jean-Charles Cazes
Pauillac, France
## Today At Château Lynch-Bages in Pauillac, France, the house style is carried through with high extraction, dense structure, richness, and strong aging ability. Under…
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Owner, Paul Jaboulet Aîné
Jean-Jacques Frey
Tain-l'Hermitage, France
Jean-Jacques Frey is a French businessman and wine industry leader who acquired Paul Jaboulet Aîné, the historic Rhône Valley négociant founded in 1834, in January 2006 through…
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Winemaker
Jean-Michel Comme
Pauillac, France
## The Path At Château Pontet-Canet, the Estate Director — the régisseur — holds the daily mechanics and the long view at once, and Jean-Michel Comme occupied that role until May…
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Winemaker
Juan José Díez González
Oyón, Spain
Juan José Díez González is the winemaker at Bodegas Faustino in Oyón, Spain, and Chief Oenologist at Familia Martinez Zabala. The work reads as a sequence of technical steps:…
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Winemaker
Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau
Saint-Andelain, France
Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau is the winemaker at Domaine Didier Dagueneau in Saint-Andelain, France, where precision and intuition meet in the glass. The cellar education came early:…
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Winemaker
Marie-France Manoncourt
Saint-Émilion, France
She joined her husband Thierry Manoncourt at the estate in 1956, and from that moment her life became the rhythms of the vineyard, the cellar, and the long patience required to…
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Directeur Général, Vignobles Chanel (Château Canon, Château Rauzan-Ségla, Château Berliquet)
Nicolas Audebert
Margaux, France
Nicolas Audebert is the Directeur Général des Vignobles Chanel, overseeing Château Canon and Château Berliquet in Saint-Émilion, Château Rauzan-Ségla in Margaux, and Domaine de…
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Winemaker
Nicolas Glumineau
Pauillac, France
## The Path Bordeaux University gave Nicolas Glumineau the technical grounding for work inside one of France’s most exacting wine regions. The line from there is steady rather…
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Winemaker
Nicolas Labenne
Pauillac, France
## Coming Up At Château Lynch-Bages and Château Ormes de Pez, Nicolas Labenne serves as Technical Director, and the work is measured in timing, observation and restraint rather…
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Chef
Nokx Majozi
London, United Kingdom
It's like a gift, it's a gift that I can give to anyone. In pastry, that idea lands in the work itself: something built by hand, carried from kitchen to guest, and finished with…
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Winemaker
Pascal Agrapart
Avize, France
Pascal Agrapart is the vigneron and winemaker of Agrapart & Fils in Avize since 1990. The work sits inside the place: chalk underfoot, vines in season, and a family name carried…
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Pierre Larmandier
Vertus, France
Pierre Larmandier has farmed Larmandier-Bernier with his wife Sophie since 1988. Raised among the vineyards and cellars of Vertus, he studied at Audencia before returning to the…
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CEO and Chief Enologist, Marchesi Antinori
Renzo Cotarella
San Casciano, Italy
Renzo Cotarella is the CEO and chief enologist of Marchesi Antinori, overseeing winemaking across estates including Tenuta Tignanello in Tuscany, Tenuta Guado al Tasso in…
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Chef
Ricardo González Sotres
Llanes, Spain
Training in Llanes hospitality classrooms, followed by service in established Spanish kitchens, set the working base for Ricardo González Sotres before his return to Pancar. At El…
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Winemaker
Rodolphe Péters
Buellton, California, United States
Rodolphe Péters works the role of winemaker at Pierre Péters in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, France, since 2007, inside a family house rather than an adopted one. In Champagne, that…
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Sophie Larmandier
Vertus, France
Sophie Larmandier has farmed Larmandier-Bernier with her husband Pierre since 1988. Originally from Avize, she graduated from École Centrale de Lyon and brought a strong…
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Winemaker
Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal
Saint-Émilion, France
## The Path Training at ESCP Business School gave Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal a business framework that fits the demands of a wine estate: structure, timing, and long-range…
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General Manager and CEO, Château Palmer
Thomas Duroux
Barsac, France
Thomas Duroux is the General Manager and CEO of Château Palmer in Margaux, Bordeaux, a position he has held since 2004. Born in Bordeaux in 1970 to a French father and Italian…
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Winemaker
Vincent Millet
Saint-Estèphe, France
Vincent Millet has been General Manager and Winemaker at Château Calon Ségur in Saint-Estèphe, France, since 2006. In a region where each vintage calls for patience, judgment and…
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Chef
Francesco Martucci
Caserta, Italy
Francesco Martucci is the chef of I Masanielli – Francesco Martucci in Caserta, Italy, where the work is built around pizza as a craft of timing, structure, and control. He puts…
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CEO & Head Winemaker, Ridge Vineyards
John Olney
Cupertino, California, United States
## The Climb California wine has a clear throughline in John Olney’s career: long apprenticeships, disciplined cellar work, and repeated returns to Ridge Vineyards. The sequence…
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Chef
Koldo Rodero
Pamplona, Spain
Koldo Rodero is chef and owner of Rodero in Pamplona, Spain. The cooking there has settled into a distinct reading of Modern Navarrese haute cuisine: local produce and vegetables…
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Chef
Liam Fitzpatrick
Cartmel, United Kingdom
## The Climb At L’Enclume (2014–2017), Liam Fitzpatrick built the habits that define disciplined service: precision, tempo, and calm under pressure. The Chef de Partie role there…
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Chef
Masamichi Amamoto
Tokyo, Japan
In Edomae sushi, procurement is part of the technique. “It’s all about relationships with brokers” is a practical operating principle at 東麻布 天本 - Amamoto, where Masamichi Amamoto…
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Winemaker
Patricio Celedon
Santa Cruz, Chile
Patricio Celedon's work is built around continuity: reading vineyard conditions, cellar conditions, and vintage variation closely, then making decisions that hold a house line…
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Former CEO & Winemaker, Ridge Vineyards
Paul Draper
Cupertino, California, United States
## The Trajectory American winemaking in the Santa Cruz Mountains took a long-form, site-led shape through Ridge Vineyards after Paul Draper became winemaker there in 1969.…
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Winemaker
Shauna Rosenblum
Healdsburg, California, United States
## Coming Up Winemaking for Shauna Rosenblum starts with trained attention to form. California College of Arts and Crafts and San Francisco Art Institute gave her a working base…
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Chef
Tatsuro Ume
Kanazawa, Japan
Owner-chef Tatsuro Ume brings an Ishikawa sensibility to a Kanazawa kitchen where Spanish technique meets the prefecture’s seasonal produce. The result is a style that reads as…
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Chef
Aret Sahakyan
Bodrum, Turkey
## Career The clearest line in the work runs through Maçakızı Restaurant in Bodrum, Turkey. Aret Sahakyan moved from chef to Executive Chef inside the same house, and that…
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Chef
Harald Irka
Sankt Andrä im Sausal, Austria
In Sankt Andrä im Sausal, the work begins with a sense of nearness: Austrian greens, Styrian habits, and the measured distance between field, kitchen, and plate. Since 2019,…
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Owner and Bartender, Bar High Five
Hidetsugu Ueno
Tokyo, Japan
Cocktail service built around restraint, sequence, and direct reading of the guest defines the work at Bar High Five in Tokyo, where Hidetsugu Ueno is owner and bartender. The…
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Kazuyuki Kitagawa
Tokyo, Japan
## Coming Up Since 2022, Kazuyuki Kitagawa has served as Executive Chef of Ginza Kitagawa, steering the kitchen with a hand that favors control over display. In Ginza, where…
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Chef
Oscar Velasco
Madrid, Spain
Oscar Velasco is cooking at VelascoAbellà in Madrid after a run through kitchens where standards were set by repetition, service, and exacting control. The work in Madrid reads as…
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Chef
Claudio Fortuna
Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy
## The Path Shift management at Grand Hotel Miramare in Santa Margherita Ligure put Claudio Fortuna inside a house that runs on precision, pace, and clean service lines. That role…
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Chef
Israel Ramos
Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
## Career Mantúa in Jerez de la Frontera has been Israel Ramos’s base since 2017, and the work there has been marked by patience, discipline, and exacting standards rather than…
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Chef
Marcos Nieto
Seville, Spain
Before Marcos Nieto took over as Argentine head chef of Cañabota in Seville, Spain, in 2016, he had already worked through a clear line of Spanish kitchens. The sequence matters…
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Chef
Mark Sullivan
Atherton, California, United States
Cooking, in Mark Sullivan’s account, is a matter of temperament before it is a matter of title. “I didn’t choose to become a chef. It basically chose me. I actually started…
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Owner and Creator, Smuggler's Cove
Martin Cate
San Francisco, California, United States
Martin Cate is the owner and creator of Smuggler's Cove in San Francisco. The first-party bar history dates its opening to 2009 and centers Cate's work in rum and…
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Chef
Yoshiaki Hoshino
Tokyo, Japan
Yoshiaki Hoshino has been the chef at Shinbashi Hoshino in Tokyo, Japan, from 2012 to the present. The work is defined by control of pace: a kitchen that holds its timing, a plate…
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Winemaker
Charles Symington
Pinhão, Portugal
## Coming Up Port blending is the core discipline here, and Charles Symington’s work sits inside it: reading estate fruit, weighing vineyard differences across the seasons, and…
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Chef
Gianfranco Pascucci
Fiumicino, Italy
## The Path Self-taught formation in a professional kitchen depends on repetition, heat, timing, and correction rather than a formal school. In Gianfranco Pascucci’s case, that…
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Chef
Paul Gagne
Pittsboro, North Carolina, United States
## The Path Technique built first on repetition: that is the throughline in Paul Gagne’s early kitchen work, from Violi’s Restaurant in Massena, New York, where he cooked as a…
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Chef
Rafa Peña
Barcelona, Spain
## Career Wine is part of the structure of the kitchen at Gresca, where Rafa Peña has built a style that is local in address and selective in reference. Self-taught in Barcelona,…
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Chef
Danny Lledo
Washington DC, Washington DC, United States
His work is built around modern Spanish cuisine, with paella as the signature craft. ## The Climb The line from University of Maryland in College Park to the stove runs through…
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Chef
Eduardo García
Mexico City, Mexico
Eduardo García works at the overlap of French-Mexican cooking and local sourcing at Máximo in Mexico City, where he is chef and co-founder. The throughline in his work is not…
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Winemaker, Henschke
Fraser Armstrong
Keyneton, Australia
Fraser Armstrong is a winemaker at Henschke in South Australia's Eden Valley. He first worked an Henschke vintage in 2016 and remained with the cellar team before beginning a…
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Senior Winemaker, Henschke
Gwyn Olsen
Keyneton, Australia
Gwyn Olsen is Senior Winemaker at Henschke. After studying science and biochemistry, she completed postgraduate oenology in 2005 and worked vintages in the Languedoc,…
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Winemaker
Héctor Durigutti
Luján de Cuyo, Argentina
Born in Rivadavia, Mendoza, Argentina, Héctor Durigutti describes his enological training in the terms of method: “I trained myself enologically with the European school adding…
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Iñaki Salvador
Galdakao, Spain
His work has the kind of continuity hospitality rewards: years counted in service, in early starts, in the repetition that builds timing and discipline. Iñaki Salvador’s earlier…
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Business Development Manager, Winemaker and Viticulturist, Henschke
Johann Henschke
Keyneton, Australia
Johann Henschke is a sixth-generation member of the Henschke family and serves as business development manager, winemaker, and viticulturist. He earned a viticulture and oenology…
View →Founder, Co-Owner and Bartender, Mother
Massimo Zitti
Toronto, Canada
Massimo Zitti is a Rome-born bartender and the founder and co-owner of Mother Cocktail Bar in Toronto. He began hospitality work as a junior barista at fourteen and built…
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Chef
Oldřich Sahajdák
Prague, Czech Republic
## Coming Up Traditional Czech cooking is the frame for Oldřich Sahajdák at La Degustation Bohême Bourgeoise in Prague, Czech Republic, where he has also served as head chef. The…
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Winemaker
Pablo Durigutti
Luján de Cuyo, Argentina
Pablo Durigutti has been winemaker and owner at Durigutti Family Winemakers in Luján de Cuyo since 2002, and that long run has made the work as much about structure as style. The…
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Chef
Patricia Courtois
Mendoza, Argentina
## Where They Are Now At 5 Suelos - Cocina de Finca, Durigutti Family Winemakers in Las Compuertas, Mendoza, Argentina, the work is framed by place: vineyard setting, light, and…
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Viticulturist, Henschke
Prue Henschke
Keyneton, Australia
Prue Henschke is the viticulturist and co-custodian of Henschke's vineyards in South Australia. A botanist and viticulturist, she oversees 109 hectares of vineyards as well as…
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Chief Winemaker & Managing Director, Henschke
Stephen Henschke
Keyneton, Australia
Stephen Henschke is Chief Winemaker and managing director of Henschke, where he has worked as winemaker since 1979. The house style attached to his name is built on restraint,…
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Winemaker
Alexandre Chartogne
Merfy, France
Winemaking at Chartogne-Taillet in Merfy is built on continuity, but continuity does not mean stasis. Since 2006, Alexandre Chartogne has worked from a family estate he returned…
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Chef
Angela Hartnett
London, United Kingdom
Angela Hartnett has built her reputation around cooking that is exacting without being fussy: Italian in influence, restrained in execution, and disciplined in the kitchen. At…
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Chef
Arabelle Meirlaen
Marchin, Belgium
Arabelle Meirlaen is the chef behind Arabelle Meirlaen in Marchin, a name that stands for a career built in stages: kitchen work first, then a slow widening of scope, then…
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Winemaker
Aurélien Laherte
Blancs-Coteaux, France
## The Climb since 2002, Aurélien Laherte occupies a role that rests on continuity as much as authorship: keeping a house legible from one vintage to the next while making the…
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Winemaker
Cédric Bouchard
Celles-sur-Ource, France
## The Path The early work of a caviste is often the most direct education in wine: bottles at close range, styles compared side by side, and a daily lesson in reading place…
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Winemaker
Denis Dubourdieu
Barsac, France
Denis Dubourdieu moves through the story of Barsac with the quiet assurance of someone whose work is defined as much by restraint as by precision. Since 2014, he has owned Château…
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Winemaker
Émilien Boutillat
Reims, France
## The Path Champagne work starts with method, and Émilien Boutillat came through Montpellier SupAgro (School of Agronomy of Montpellier), where the technical base for a cellar…
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Technical Director, Château Haut-Bailly
Gabriel Vialard
Léognan, France
Gabriel Vialard is the Technical Director at Château Haut-Bailly in Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux, where he has preserved the estate's signature style of understated elegance with…
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