The Swirl Suite

Mailynh(pronounced my-LIN)Phanis the CEO of RD Winery, which takes a more inclusive approach to the Napa Valley wine experience. The winery is the first Vietnamese-owned winery in Napa and was founded with a vision to solely export wine to Vietnam. But in 2020,Mailynhled RD Winerys entry into the U.S. market and opened the Vietnamese-inspired tasting room in the summer of 2020. As an outlier in th...

JC Select Wines Curated Wine Selections, Events & Concierge Services for the Modern Wine Enthusiast. "Once a Civil Engineer, Jennifer "stumbled" into the wine industry during her move from Canada to California. She started out on the broker/distributor side of the business over 10 years ago, co-founded a brokerage, always passionate about the lesser-known, fantastic wineries & their storie...

Eric Depradine is from Boston, Massachusetts. He is a 2006 and 2008 graduate of UL-Lafayette in history and chemistry. He's worked for various municipal governments in Louisiana and Missouri regulating federal and local wastewater laws. He is also a 2021 graduate of Highland Community College's enology certificate program. Finally, he is proud the owner of Zydeco Meadery, one of four minority-owne...

Lizz Rene (she/her) is a Black woman entrepreneur, innovator, and disruptor. The daughter of immigrants, Lizz is a proud first-generation college graduate and proud Black alumna of the University of Georgia. She has dedicated her work full-time to dismantling oppressive systems and amplifying Black stories. With retail partnerships with Busboys & Poets (DMV), Nubian Hueman (DC & Baltimore)...

Ray Sholes is a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers. He has a discerning palate and is a passionate wine lover. He is known not only for his incredible tasting abilities and vast knowledge but also for his friendly, relaxed and professional approach to wine education. Growing up in Compton, California Ray admits, I come from a world where an education in fine wines, sake, craft...

A former 4-H kid, Royal oversees 575 acres, of which about 250 are planted to prime Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel grapes at the iconic Monte Rosso Vineyard . She studied crops and horticulture science at Cal State Chico and then worked as an intern at Gallo , where she was promoted to vineyard manager in 2015. Home to some of the oldest-producing grapevines in California, Monte Rosso has an alm...

With a decade of building intrapreneurship teams at Fortune 500 companies such as IBM and LinkedIn, Terrence is an analytical strategist with a focus on emerging trends and culture. Terrence oversees the execution of current and future visions of Michael Lavelle as he traverses between worlds of strategy, creative and operations to execute each objective at the highest standard. Born and raised in...

SOMM TV brings together five of the top wine connoisseurs, along with other culinary professionals, in SPARKLERS , a high-stakes, high-pressure competition show based on cooking and pairing great sparkling wine from around the world. The 13-episode food & wine competition show premiered Tuesday, November 23rd and continues until a champion is crowned on Tuesday, February 8th. SPARKLERS feature...

A winemaker with a wide and diverse background, Cadamatre started in wine on the East Coast as a winemaking apprentice with Stargazers Vineyard in 2003. After graduating from Cornell University in 2006 with a Bachelors in Viticulture, Nova moved to California. During her time in California, she worked with fruit from all over the state eventually settling in Napa and focusing on Bordeaux and Burgu...

Growing up on the Space Coast of Florida, Alicia Ortiz began her career at Kennedy Space Center as a Public Affairs intern and quickly developed her skillset in brand strategy, media relations, and social responsibility. Ultimately taking her first full-time job out of college with MORI Associates, another NASA contractor based in Maryland, she connected with Blake Hershey in 2019, who told her ab...

AlexJankowskihas been the Marketing Manager for Wagner Vineyards, located in New York's Finger Lakes wine region, since December 2019 and also serves as the Marketing Chair for the Seneca Lake Wine Trail. Prior to this, he was an editor and journalist for publications in Massachusetts, California, Alaska, Connecticut, and New Jersey. He is a native of Buffalo, NY, and glad to be back closer to hom...

Interested in science from youth with a natural proclivity for mixing unusual concoctions (like perfumed toothpaste), Sarah eventually received a degree in Chemistry. Her professional career was focused on pharmaceutical packaging components for injectable drugs. But it was trips to Germany, and wine from Hawaii via husband Galens best friend, that collided to inspire Sarah and Galen to leave corp...

Bronx native, Jermaine Stone, spent his life entrenched in Hip Hop but found an interest in fine wine while packing boxes in the shipping department for Zachys Wine Auction. He later grew to create their global logistics presence while honing his skills as an auctioneer. In 2013 he became one of the founding Directors and Auctioneers for the auction department of LA retail giant Wallys. Throughout...

We close out 2021 with one of our favs. Rae Mathis. The topics range from holiday gifts to red flags. The entire episode is live on our YouTube Channel . Here are a few of the black businesses we mention: https://www.instagram.com/mrs_tastebudz/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/blkandbold/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/zeninajar/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/sdesirebrand/?hl=en Follow Rae: htt...

Introducing Mixology and Murder: Cocktails Inspired by Infamous Serial Killers, Cold Cases, Cults, and Other Disturbing True Crime Stories byKierraSondereker a new full-color book that adds a twist of true crime to 60 classic cocktails. Accompanied by tales of serial killers, cold cases, cults, and more, youll find page-after-page of alarmingly appealing drink recipes. https://www.amazon.com/Mixol...

Donae Burston is a luxury wine & spirits leader with over 15 years of industry experience. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Donae achieved a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Mathematics from Clark Atlanta University in 1998. He concurrently completed a second degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech before he began his career in the information technology sector, initially consult...

CEO of curated virtual events company VirtualWithUs&CultureWithUs,withmore than 15+ years of experience in wine, spirits and luxury hospitality communications. Alexandra is the Founder of Virtual With Us, curated virtual experiences and Culture With Us, the missing link between hybrid, remote and in-person employees with offerings for unique corporate gifting and bespoke hybrid experiences for...

Arden Montgomery and Margaux Reaume are the founders of Argaux , the all-women operated and owned online wine shop and educational platform. Argaux brings a modern, accessible approach to shopping for and learning about wines through experience-based kits and sommelier-guided tastings for everyone from beginners to more experienced wine connoisseurs. Arden and Margaux received their Level I and II...

Shitty Wine Memes is aFlorida-based brandthat brightens the day of an audience connected to wine. From those just starting out to deep into their wine career, theres something for everyone. Shitty Wine Memes merchandise is fashionable, fun, and a great gift for that wine nerd in your life! And $1 per pin sold is donated to The Roots Fund . Check out daily wine humor content on Instagram @shittywin...

Jeryl Cole of @offtherox joins the Swirl Suite this week. Maryland natives, Jeryl & Ty Cole desired a high-end wine and beer shop so they built one in their own neighborhood on the East Side of #Baltimore . https://www.instagram.com/offtherox/?hl=en https://shop.offtheroxwine.com/ Collaboration Box www.vinemeupdc.com/shop-1/p/beadsnbutterbox Books and Bottles fb.watch/8tow8Qx-dE/ The Swirl Sui...

Michael Evans founded The Vines in 2005 in Mendoza, Argentina, which is now expanding to 12 regions around the world. There are currently 17 founding members of The Vines global membership club, in addition to 240 making wine in Mendoza. For background, fifteen years ago Michael went to Argentina from Los Angeles for what he thought would be a three-week vacation. He fell in love with the people a...

Monique Bell, professor of marketing at Fresno State, researches the intersections of business and culture. Her recent work has explored survey data of Black wine entrepreneurs in an industry lacking diversity. In fact, Black-owned wineries account for less than 1 percent of all U.S. wineries. The Terroir Noir: 2020 Study of Black Wine Entrepreneurs survey respondents answered multiple questions r...

Tamy Rofe is the sommelier, beverage director and partner of longstanding Colonia Verde in Forte Green, Disco Tacos in Williamsburg and Comparti catering in NYC. To share some background Tamy entered into the world of restaurants when she and her husband Felip Donnelly (burnt out from their decade-long advertising jobs) started hosting intimate, weekly supper clubs, Thursday at Worth Street, in th...

Born in Belgium but raised in both his homeland and Italy,AldoZaninotto spent much of his time growing up at his fathers Italianrestaurant in the heart of Brussels. It wasthere, that his love for the restaurant industry took off. After graduating with honors from one of the top hospitality schools in Europe,CERIA, Zaninotto hadthe opportunity to learn and work in some of the best restaurants in Br...

Antonio Galloni, born in Caracas/Venezuela, studied in the USA and went to Italy at the turn of the millennium, where he published the first English-language magazine on Italian wine: the Piedmont Report. In a short time he earned a high respect at Italian wineries. He held tailor-made seminars and events, including the highly acclaimed "Festa del Barolo". So he cameRobert Parkerto his attention a...