Wineries and Winemaking

Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards promoted Steven Urberg to winemaker, where he will work side by side with director of winemaking Bob Iantosca. Urberg, who has a Masters in chemistry from UC Berkeley, studied graduate level enology at UC Davis and has been with Gloria Ferrer since 2001.

Jim Silver joined Peconic Bay Winery on the North Fork of Long Island, New York as general manager. Silver comes to Peconic Bay Winery after two years at Bedell Cellars as senior vice president of sales and marketing. Silver has been working on the North Fork since 2003 when he joined Pindar Vineyards and Duck Walk Vineyards as national sales director. He has worked for Henry Wine Group and The Hess Collection.

Allen Shoup, founder and managing partner of Long Shadows Vintners and former CEO of Chateau Ste. Michelle, was inducted into Junior Achievement's 2009 Puget Sound Business Hall of Fame last month. The award celebrates the accomplishments of individuals whose leadership and inspired vision created positive business models for future generations.

Distributors, Importers & Retailers

Wirtz Beverage Illinois announced it has appointed Nadine Heidrich as CFO. Heidrich replaces long-time CFO Mike Taormina upon his retirement. Previously, Heidrich, a CPA, was with Wilson Heidrich Associates.

Industry Suppliers & Services

Nichola Hall, Ph.D. will be joining the fermentation staff of Scott Labs after several years as a technical representative for Vinquiry winemaking products. At Vinquiry, Hall served as a technical resource for fermentation, microbial nutrition, wine microbiology and analysis as well as winery sanitation. Hall brings experience with the Lallemand Enoferm product line, which is newly distributed by Scott Labs. Before Vinquiry, Hall was manager of microbiology at Bronco Wine Co.

Debbie Jennings recently left Tapp Technologies to join C&E Capsules in Fairfield as vice president of sales. C&E Capsules is a division of Enoplastic S.P.A. in Italy, which is the largest PVC and polylam capsule manufacturer in the world. She began her wine packaging career with California Glass in 1982 for 12 years and then was in wine label sales for Lawson Mardon and Tapp Technologies for
15 years.

Wine Education

Fresno State is looking at three candidates to replace Dr. Robert Wample who announced that he is retiring from his position as head of the Fresno State Department of Viticulture and Enology and of the Viticulture and Enology Research Center. The candidates are Dr. Peter Cousins, USDA/ARS, NY; Dr. Terry Bates, Cornell University, NY; and Dr. Christopher Steel, Charles Sturt University, Australia. All are under consideration by the search committee. wbm