The People · Page 78
The artisans of taste.
Winemaker, Domaine Paul Pillot
Chrystelle Pillot
Chassagne-Montrachet, France
The working continuity at Domaine Paul Pillot runs through four generations of estate practice in Chassagne-Montrachet, France, with a family line that began in 1900 and remains…
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Winemaker
Codie Palmer
Dongara, Australia
## The Climb Distilling for Codie Palmer started before a title, before a site, before the first professional role in spirits. On the edge of a small remote town in the Pilbara,…
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Winemaker
Crispin Cain
Ukiah, California, United States
Distillery President and senior distiller at Mendocino Spirits / Tamar Distillery in Redwood Valley, Crispin Cain came into the trade through winery labor in 1983 and stayed close…
View →Master Distiller, Nonino Distillery
Cristina Nonino
Pavia di Udine, Italy
Cristina Nonino is a member of the fifth generation of the Nonino distilling family in Percoto. With her sisters Antonella and Elisabetta, she helped reformulate Amaro Nonino…
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Chef
Daisuke Hamamoto
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Daisuke Hamamoto, Executive Chef at Arancino at The Kahala in Honolulu, is shaped by repetition, kitchen discipline, and a working command of classic Italian cooking. At Arancino,…
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Founder and Proprietor, Garrison Brothers Distillery
Dan Garrison
Hye, Texas, United States
Dan Garrison’s work sits inside a family line before it becomes a whiskey line. At Garrison Brothers Distillery in Hye, Texas, that origin is framed without sentimentality and…
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Winemaker
Daniel Barnes
Dripping Springs, Texas, United States
Director of marketing at Scott Street Portfolio in 2004 is the earliest dated marker in Daniel Barnes’s record. It fixes the point where the work begins to show a line: marketing…
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Chef
Daniela Soto-Innes
Punta de Mita, Mexico
Born in Mexico City, Mexico, Daniela Soto-Innes came up through modern Mexican cuisine with each kitchen adding to a body of work that reads as cumulative rather than abrupt. The…
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Winemaker
Dave Pickerell
Ancram, New York, United States
Dave Pickerell brought chemical engineering, Army service, bourbon production, and consulting into one distilling career. Born in 1956, he worked across the technical and…
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Master Distiller, Archie Rose Distilling Co
Dave Withers
Sydney, Australia
The path into spirits runs through family wine work for Dave Withers, who has described it plainly: “My dad was a winemaker, my grandfather was a winemaker. Wine was prominent for…
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Winemaker
David Baker
Melbourne, Australia
## Coming Up Bakery Hill Distillery has carried David Baker’s name since 1999, when he founded the Melbourne, Australia, operation and set its direction from the start. That kind…
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Winemaker, Domaine des Croix
David Croix
Beaune, France
In Beaune, France, work at Domaine des Croix is built around Burgundy fundamentals rather than cellar display: fruit picked at full physiological maturity, fermentations carried…
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Winemaker
David Gölles
Riegersburg, Austria
## The Path Fruit processing and distillation are the throughline in David Gölles’s work, and that line runs straight through Gölles GmbH in Riegersburg, Austria. Raised at home…
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Winemaker
David Nahmias
Yonkers, New York, United States
David Nahmias is master distiller at Nahmias et Fils Distillery in Yonkers, where distillation is the work and the discipline behind it is visible in the result. Raised in…
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Winemaker
Dimitris Spentzas
Mytilene, Greece
Dimitris Spentzas has served since 2013 as proprietor of Ouzo Veto Spentzas Distillery on Lesbos, where the work of making ouzo is not treated as a relic, but as a living craft…
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Master Distiller, Bladnoch Distillery
Dr Nick Savage
Bladnoch, United Kingdom
At Bladnoch Distillery in Bladnoch, United Kingdom, the work sits in the long cycle of single malt Scotch whisky: cask maturation, finite liquid, and time counted in years rather…
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Winemaker
Drew Kulsveen
Bardstown, Kentucky, United States
The long gap in the distillery’s operating life gives Drew Kulsveen’s work a specific weight: for much of his life, Willett was not running. That kind of pause changes what…
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Chef
Driss Alaoui
Marrakech, Morocco
Driss Alaoui’s work at Farmers in Marrakech, Morocco sits in Modern Farm-to-Table Fusion: a contemporary approach that keeps seasonality as operating logic, not decoration. ## The…
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Winemaker
Dylan Meiring
Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town is the reference point in Dylan Meiring’s work: place first, then rum, then the discipline of small batches. The logic is visible in itself — flavour rooted in a city…
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Chef
Eddy Münster
Jette, Belgium
His work is shaped less by a linear ascent than by the way cooking, wine, and family logistics kept folding into one another. In Eddy Munster’s case, the table is not just where…
View →Chief Executive Officer, Nonino Distillery
Elisabetta Nonino
Pavia di Udine, Italy
Elisabetta Nonino is Chief Executive Officer of Nonino Distillery and a member of the family's fifth generation, helping lead the family company and sustain its international…
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Chef
Eunji Lee
New York City, New York, United States
Founder of Lysée in New York City, Eunji Lee works in a French-trained pastry register shaped by restaurant service, bakery production, and composed desserts. Since Lysée opened…
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Pastry Chef
Eunyoung Yun
Seoul, South Korea
Eunyoung Yun built Garuharu in Seoul around restraint, clarity, and controlled sweetness. Since opening her first pastry boutique in 2012, she has developed a dessert language…
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Chef
Fayçal Bettioui
Casablanca, Morocco
## Coming Up From 2015, Fayçal Bettioui was owner and chef at Zur Krone in Germany’s Pfalz wine region, where the work demanded more than line-cook precision: it required the…
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Winemaker
Fiona Coutts
Burnie, Australia
Her work is Tasmanian single malt whisky, with ultra-aged stock and bourbon-cask maturation doing much of the heavy lifting. The structure comes from long, slow distillation,…
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Winemaker
Florian Rabanser
Siusi allo Sciliar, Italy
The craft here sits between inheritance and experiment, and Florian Rabanser works comfortably in that tension. Distilling, in his hands, is a process shaped by place, method,…
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Winemaker
Franco Regalini
Mar del Plata, Argentina
He is also the co-founder of Restinga Gin in Mar del Plata, and his introduction is tied to Tierras Azafranes. ## The Climb Behind the stills, Franco Regalini worked as maestro…
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Winemaker
Frederic Dezauzier
Cognac, France
Global Brand Ambassador and Master Blender at Camus in Cognac since 2010, Frederic Dezauzier has worked at the level where cognac is judged, assembled, and explained. The line he…
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Winemaker
Gail Coppinger
Santa Rosa, California, United States
## The Path Early in her career, Gail Coppinger did work that measured progress in stamina, repetition, and attention to the task in front of her. As a shingler in Kentfield, she…
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Winemaker
George Daher
Houston, Texas, United States
In Brookshire, Texas, George Daher brought more than 20 years of homebrewing beer, wine, mead and more into a family business in 2017, turning a long private practice into Shire…
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Winemaker
George Georgiadis
McLaren Vale, Australia
George Georgiadis is co-founder and managing director of Never Never Distilling Co in McLaren Vale, where the brief is plain: build gin around concentrated botanical flavour and…
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Winemaker
Greg Hill
Gingindlovu, South Africa
## The Climb Wine work for Greg Hill started in a sequence of cellar and production roles: a winemaking internship at a few local Carmel Valley wineries, cellar work in Livermore,…
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Founder, Tequila Fortaleza
Guillermo Erickson Sauza
Tequila, Mexico
He ties the work to family land without dressing it up: the ground itself is part of the record. Guillermo Erickson Sauza frames that inheritance in terms of repetition and…
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Chef
Gunnar Thompson
Chester, New York, United States
Gunnar Thompson has led the kitchen at Glenmere Mansion in Chester, New York, in the fall and beyond, shaping a dining program that feels closely tuned to the season and the…
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Founder and Master Distiller, Reisetbauer
Hans Reisetbauer
Kirchberg-Thening, Austria
## The Climb Distilling is the work named for Hans Reisetbauer at Hans Reisetbauer Distillery, and the title is best read as a description of method rather than status. In…
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Winemaker
Heather Greene
Blanco, Texas, United States
Heather Greene is CEO and master blender at Milam & Greene Whiskey in Blanco, Texas, United States, where flavor work and production leadership sit in the same job. The discipline…
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Winemaker
Helmut Wilderer
Paarl, South Africa
His own description does the work plainly: “My name is Helmut Wilderer. I am a distiller and restaurateur.” That kind of line tells you what matters here. The craft is the point,…
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Chef
Hervé Lussault
Rochecorbon, France
"When I arrived here, I simply wanted to cook and make the customer happy." That plain statement fits the work at Les Hautes Roches in Rochecorbon, France, where Hervé Lussault…
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Chef
Hirohisa Hayashi
New York City, New York, United States
The restaurant reflects a personal expression of Echizen, Japan, with sake service treated as part of the cooking. ## The Climb Speed, discipline, and rhythm were formed early at…
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Winemaker
Holly Klintworth
Mornington Peninsula, Australia
## The Climb At Bass & Flinders Distillery on Australia’s Mornington Peninsula, stewardship and production sit in the same set of hands. Holly Klintworth holds both Managing…
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Winemaker
Hubert Germain-Robin
Ukiah, California, United States
## Coming Up Distillation is the line that runs through Hubert Germain-Robin’s work: exacting process, inherited habits of attention, and a career built around turning raw spirit…
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Winemaker
Ian Palmer
Glenrothes, United Kingdom
The arc of Ian Palmer’s career sits in operations, distilling management and company leadership, then in the build of a distillery shaped by a technical brief. His own framing is…
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Winemaker
Ian Schmidt
Adelaide, Australia
Ian Schmidt is co-owner and distiller of Tin Shed Distilling Co / Iniquity Single Malt Whisky in Adelaide, Australia, a role that reads as an extension of the still rather than a…
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Winemaker
Isidoros Arvanitis
Plomari, Greece
His work is anchored in Plomari, and the plain fact that Isidoros Arvanitis “was born and raised in Plomari” does the describing for itself. For a trade profile, that is the…
View →Fourth-Generation Distiller, Poli Distillerie
Jacopo Poli
Schiavon (Vicenza), Italy
Jacopo Poli is a fourth-generation distiller at Poli Distillerie. Born in Bassano del Grappa in 1963 and raised beside the family stills, he joined the distillery's modernisation…
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Winemaker
Jaime Camposano
Tulahuén, Chile
## Career Jaime Camposano works as the winemaker of Pisquera Tulahuén, Chile, in a field where pisco depends on controlled handling from raw material to still. His own account…
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Co-Founder, Ministry of Sound
James Palumbo
London, United Kingdom
James Palumbo is an entrepreneur and co-founder of London's Ministry of Sound. With Justin Berkmann, he backed the sound-first club that opened in 1991 in a former bus garage in…
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Chef
Jamie Snell
Portland, Oregon, United States
Rather than a long chain of named kitchens or schools, the work runs through the Portland counter Jamie Snell co-founded, where a small doughnut can still carry the feeling of a…
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Winemaker
Jan van Ryn
Stellenbosch, South Africa
## The Climb Jan van Ryn entered the trade by founding a distillery in Stellenbosch in 1845, after crossing from the Netherlands to Cape Town that same year. The record is clear…
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Winemaker
Jane Sawford
Hobart, Australia
## The Climb Tasmanian whisky work has moved through distilling, brand management and sales in Jane Sawford’s career, and each role sits close to the liquid rather than around it.…
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Winemaker
Jason Barrett
Rochester, New York, United States
## The Climb Since 2012, Black Button Distilling has been shaped by Jason Barrett in three linked roles: founder, Master Distiller, and president. That combination keeps the work…
View →Co-CEO, Tao Group Hospitality
Jason Strauss
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Jason Strauss is Co-CEO of Tao Group Hospitality, the operator whose global portfolio includes OMNIA Nightclub in Las Vegas. He shares executive leadership with Noah Tepperberg.
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Chef
Jean Pierre Vuillermet
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
French bistro work depends on recognizable forms handled with discipline: a clear sauce, a crisp surface, a market-aware plate, a room built for return visits rather than one-time…
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Winemaker
Jean-Baptiste Bachelet
Saint-Aubin, France
Stewardship in Saint-Aubin is a practical role before it is a title: vineyard inheritance, cellar restraint, and continuity across parcels in Burgundy. At Domaine Jean-Claude…
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Winemaker, Domaine Jean-Marc Vincent
Jean-Marc Vincent
Santenay, France
## The Route Appellation work depends on daily proximity to growers, parcels, seasons, and the defense of a village name over time. Early in his career, Jean-Marc Vincent served…
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Chef
Jeremy Hansen
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Jeremy Hansen has been executive chef at Fork in Philadelphia since 2019, and the work is defined by control, consistency, and a sustainable frame of mind. At a closely watched…
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Chef
Joel Gott
Napa, California, United States
The format took shape in St. Helena in 1999 around a practical overlap: fruit-forward wine, locally sourced food, and a roadside style built for regular use. In Joel Gott’s work,…
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Winemaker
John Cashman
Kilbeggan, Ireland
## The Path Since 2013, John Cashman has represented Irish Whiskey beyond its home market as Global Brand Ambassador for Irish Whiskey at Kilbeggan Distilling Company / Beam…
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Chairman and Fifth-Generation Owner, Glenfarclas Distillery
John Grant
Ballindalloch, United Kingdom
John L. S. Grant is chairman and a fifth-generation owner of Glenfarclas Distillery. He joined the family business in 1974, became chairman in 2002, and continues to live and work…
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Winemaker
John Hall
Grimsby, Canada
## The Path Work across wine and whisky marks John Hall’s career more than any single role. At Chateau Gai in Ontario, he worked as a winemaker until 1992, learning the slow…
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Winemaker
John Ibrahim
Oatlands, Australia
John Ibrahim founded Callington Mill Distillery in Oatlands, Tasmania, and his name is now bound to the island’s whisky story. The work took shape after the purchase of Dysart…
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Winemaker
Jon Hillgren
Härnösand, Sweden
## The Path Service at The Coach & Horses in London, where Jon Hillgren started behind the bar in 1999, set the pace for the work that followed. The room demanded timing,…
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Winemaker
Jordan Watters
Spicewood, Texas, United States
His operating focus is disarmingly direct, and it sets the tone for everything that follows: "The customer experience is key for us at Iron Wolf." For Jordan Watters, the work is…
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Master Blender, Fuji Gotemba Distillery
Jota Tanaka
Gotemba, Japan
Since 2017, Jota Tanaka has held the Master Blender role at Fuji Gotemba Distillery in Gotemba, Japan, where the work sits between sensory judgment, repeatable process, and…
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Winemaker
Kai Kilpinen
Helsinki, Finland
## Coming Up At The Helsinki Distilling Company in Helsinki, Kai Kilpinen has built his work around blending as a disciplined practice: tasting, adjusting, refining, and returning…
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Winemaker
Kalle Valkonen
Isokyrö, Finland
Master Distiller at Kyrö, Kalle Valkonen carries a formation that begins with science before it reaches the still: a Master of Science, time as a research assistant growing algae…
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Winemaker
Keith Batt
Bothwell, Australia
Keith Batt, founder of Nant Distillery in Bothwell, Tasmania, Australia, is best read through the estate model: a whisky project built around a historic site, restored production…
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Winemaker
Ken Lewis
Newport, Kentucky, United States
## The Path The NKY Community Award in 2023 sits alongside a career built around construction, oversight, and planned succession. At New Riff Distilling in Newport, United States,…
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Winemaker
Kenneth Gibbons
Schenectady, New York, United States
Kenneth Gibbons works in spirits from two angles: making and teaching. In Glenville, he keeps the work tied to scale, process, and finish, where each decision has a direct result…
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Winemaker
Kenneth Maverick
San Antonio, Texas, United States
Kenneth Maverick’s work starts in the backyard: a practical testing ground where weekends went to family, friends, and the mechanics of making. By 2025, that hands-on curiosity…
View →Chef
Kentarou Imamura
Tokyo, Japan
Executive Chef at Sushi Imamura in Tokyo, Kentarou Imamura opened Sushi Imamura in Shirokane, Tokyo in 2009 and has run it since, building his reputation around the quiet rigor…
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Winemaker
Konstantinos Kalpaxidis
Athens, Greece
## Coming Up The work of a Metaxa Master draws on multiple disciplines at once, and Konstantinos Kalpaxidis came into it with study and practice in hand. Born and raised in…
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Winemaker
Konstantinos Lazaris
Corfu, Greece
Since 2005, Konstantinos Lazaris has owned Lazaris Distillery and Artisan Sweets, a Corfiot operation built on the island’s working traditions rather than nostalgia. The craft…
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Winemaker
Kristy Booth-Lark
Richmond, Australia
Kristy Booth-Lark’s work reads as accumulation in the practical sense: years in service, years on the floor, years learning the still house from the inside. Since 2016, she has…
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Winemaker
Leon Webb
Oyster River, Canada
Leon Webb works from the grain forward. At Shelter Point Distillery in Oyster River, his starting point is the field, where the raw material sets the terms for everything that…
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Chef
Lino Scarallo
Naples, Italy
## The Climb The kitchen identity at Palazzo Petrucci is built from Naples, the table, and the exchange between memory and immediacy. Lino Scarallo is chef there today, a role…
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Winemaker
Lisa Wicker
Brooklyn, New York, United States
## Coming Up Kentucky is where Lisa Wicker now works, but the throughline in her career is still the stillhouse: a route that moved from a winery near Bloomington, Indiana, into a…
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Winemaker
Lorna Scott
Still Bay, South Africa
## The Climb A career in service and operations sits behind the distillery work, and Lorna Scott’s path shows that clearly. It started as an air hostess at South African Airways,…
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Winemaker
Lucy Beard
Cape Town, South Africa
The work is defined by discipline first: law, then the daily practice of small-batch distillation, regional flavor, and South African heritage expressed through craft gin and…
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Winemaker
Lusine Hartunian
Napa, California, United States
Lusine Hartunian’s work is built around small-batch spirits made seasonally from local wines, a method that keeps Napa Valley Distillery tied to the materials and rhythms of its…
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Chef
Manabu Ohshima
Tokyo, Japan
Steak-focused beef cookery narrows the field on purpose. At Shima in Tokyo, Japan, the dinner-only format is built around that restriction: beef as the central material, steak as…
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Winemaker
Mark Reynier
Waterford, Ireland
Mark Reynier founded Waterford Distillery in Waterford, Ireland, in 2014 and has served since then as chief executive officer. The through-line is not branding but formation: a…
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Winemaker
Marko Karakasevic
Ukiah, California, United States
Marko Karakasevic’s work at Charbay Distillery in Ukiah is built on continuity: Master Distiller and Co-Owner is not just a title here, but a line of practice carried forward with…
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Winemaker
Marko Suput
Lompoc, California, United States
Marko Suput runs fruit brandy from Rock 12 Distillery in Lompoc, California, United States with a site-specific brief: fruit in, brandy out. He founded Rock 12 Distillery in 2016…
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Winemaker
Markus Kypreos
Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Since 2019, Markus Kypreos has been the founder of Blackland Distillery in Fort Worth, a role that sits at the intersection of legal discipline and Texas place. The legal training…
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Chef
Megan Vaughan
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Boston’s high-end steakhouse format is built on beef, shellfish, heat, polish, and repeatability. From 2023 to 2026, Megan Vaughan worked that format at Encore Boston Harbor,…
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Chef
Michael Helfrich
Lugo, Spain
## Early Years Regional sourcing is the base layer in Michael Helfrich’s cooking. Japanese forms and Canarian mojo enter as controlled accents, and at Silva in the Austrian Alps…
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Winemaker
Natasha DeHart
Lewisville, Texas, United States
In Lewisville, Texas, the work at BENDT Distilling Co. sits on balance, timing, and proportion. Since 2011, Natasha DeHart has treated whiskey blending as an exacting discipline:…
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Chef
Nick Curtin
Laurel Highlands, Pennsylvania, United States
Dining-room craft at Alouette in Copenhagen is built around analysis as much as appetite. Nick Curtin, American Chef & Owner of Alouette in Copenhagen, Denmark, came to the trade…
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Chef
Nicolas Rathge
Keitum, Germany
His cooking at Oma Wilma Heimatküche reads as modern German Heimatküche with the edges kept clean: regional ingredients treated with care, classic technique turned with a lighter…
View →Co-CEO, Tao Group Hospitality
Noah Tepperberg
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Noah Tepperberg is Co-CEO of Tao Group Hospitality, the operator whose global portfolio includes OMNIA Nightclub in Las Vegas. He shares executive leadership with Jason Strauss.
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Winemaker
Noel Sweeney
Enniskerry, Ireland
## Coming Up Whiskey production rewards long memory, tight process control, and a palate that can stay consistent across years. Noel Sweeney’s early work reflected that: he began…
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Chef
Olle T. Cellton
Stockholm, Sweden
In Stockholm, seasonal ingredients set the pace at Stockholm Stadshotell, where Nordic cooking is given international touches and the menus change daily with what can be sourced…
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Winemaker
Pablo Apodaca
Mar del Plata, Argentina
## Coming Up Since 2021, the work around Destilería Kalmar has been shaped by socio fundador Pablo Apodaca, with the role anchored in the distillery’s day-to-day development in…
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Winemaker
Paolo Dalla Mora
Barbaresco, Italy
## The Path Brand work gave Paolo Dalla Mora a route through mass-market and fashion-facing management, moving from marketing executive at Unilever to marketing executive at…
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Winemaker, Domaine Gérard Mugneret
Pascal Mugneret
Vosne-Romanée, France
Pinot Noir in the Côte de Nuits is exacting work at small scale: row by row, barrel by barrel, tasting by tasting. At Domaine Gérard Mugneret in Vosne-Romanée, France, Pascal…
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Winemaker
Patrick Maguire
Hobart, Australia
## The Climb In distilling, the work often starts before the category has an audience. Patrick Maguire entered that kind of field in 1999 as distiller at Tasmania Distillery in…
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Chef
Paul Donnelly
New York City, New York, United States
Glasgow supplied the first working discipline in Paul Donnelly’s cooking: formal training, restaurant repetition, and the habits of heat, timing, and movement. The later work in…
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Chef
Paul Shewchuk
Toronto, Canada
Toronto reads Paul Shewchuk through hotel kitchens: the cadence of large-scale service, the discipline of Italian classics, modern Italian cuisine, and the repeat order value of…
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Winemaker
Peter Affenzeller
Alberndorf, Austria
Before Whiskydestillerie Peter Affenzeller became the center of his professional life, he spent years in Vienna building an internet company and working as an innovation…
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