Category Archives: SWE

Marc DeMarchena CWE, CSS, CHE – a newly-elected member of the SWE Board of Directors.

Last August, at our annual conference, SWE welcomed its new Executive Committee and Board of Directors.  While many of our board members have served for quite a few years, there are also some new faces in the group as well.  Today we’d like to introduce you to one of our new board members, Marc DeMarchena…and thank him for his service to the Society!

Marc DeMarchena CWE, CSS, CHE is a newly-elected member of the SWE Board of Directors. Mark is currently an Associate Professor of Beverage and Dining Services with the College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University. During his 18 years as an instructor, Marc has taught a variety of classes, including Foundations of Wine and Spirits, Principles of Beverage Service, Dining Room Supervision, Contract Food Service Management, and Old World Wines.

Many of our members have met Marc throughout his 18 years of involvement with SWE, including our conference speakers who have found Marc to be a true life-saver in his frequent role as our Conference Audio-Visual Liaison.

Marc was lucky enough to spend a few weeks in Bordeaux last summer as part of this third re-accreditation as a Bordeaux Wine Tutor. He describes this journey through Bordeaux, hosted by the L’ École du Vin de Bordeaux, as a “dash between all the subregions visiting and tasting the deliciousness along the way.” He goes on to say that “this captures what I love about wine education.  The connection to the culture—seeing, feeling and tasting how it transcends into our subject matter—is simply fabulous.”

When asked how he sees his role on SWE’s Board of Directors, Marc replied, “My 18-year relationship with the Society has given me so much opportunity to connect to the world of wine. I would like to share that community with future members and help them see the value of our organization’s ability to light their beverage passion. It is pretty amazing to have witnessed the past decade of growth and educational programing that the Society offers. I believe my years managing in the food and beverage business and my time teaching at the university level can bring a combination of skills that will be useful to the Society as we face new opportunities and challenges.”

Welcome, Marc!

…

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to hear Bill Deutsch, founder of Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, talk about his insights into the wine business? How would you like to spend a Thursday afternoon comparing and contrasting the wines of Napa Valley and Bordeaux along with Mary Gorman-McAdams, MW? How does a debate on minerality in wine – led by Master of Wine Roger Bohmrich sound? Would you like to sit in on a session on “Advanced Tasting Strategies” led by Tim Gaiser, MS?

If this sounds intriguing, you can experience all of this and more at SWE’s 40^th Annual Conference, to be held August 11–13 in Washington DC. Click on this link for more information!

Lorraine Hems having a good time at the Masked Ball at this year’s SWE Conference

Last August, at our annual conference, SWE welcomed its new Executive Committee and Board of Directors.  While many of our board members have served for quite a few years, there are also some new faces in the group as well.  Today we’d like to introduce you to one of our new board members, Lorraine Hems…and thank her for her service to the Society!

Lorraine Hems, CSS, CWE, is a newly-elected member of the SWE Board of Directors. Lorraine has been in the wine and spirits industry at the retail, wholesale, and educational levels for over 30 years. She currently teaches wine and spirits studies as a full-time lecturer in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.

Lorraine is also a Certified Bordeaux Educator with L’Ecole du Vin de Bordeaux/SOPEXA. She stays active in the wine industry through various roles with SWE, Women for WineSense, and the American Wine Society that have included volunteering, teaching at local events, and presenting at national conferences. In 2012, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Chapter of Women for Wine Sense.

Lorraine is an active advocate for the wines of the Finger Lakes, the area she calls home. Even though she is lucky enough to live in such a lovely wine region, she still enjoys travelling, particularly while checking  the various wine regions of the world off of her “spit bucket” list while presenting and judging at wine and spirits competitions throughout the world.

Welcome, Lorraine!

.Jorge Hernandez presenting at the 2013 Conference of the Society of Wine Educators

Last month, at our annual conference, SWE welcomed its new Executive Committee and Board of Directors.  While many of our board members have served for quite a few years, there are also some new faces in the group as well.  Today we’d like to introduce you to one of our new board members, Jorge Hernandez…and thank him for his service to the Society!

Jorge Hernandez is a newly elected member of the Board of Directors for the Society of Wine Educators. Jorge is the National Director of Wine and Spirits Education for Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, responsible for conducting educational seminars for all aspects of the beverage alcohol industry and the public at large. 

Jorge has been a passionate wine educator since 1983, when he hung out his shingle in an independent wine consulting business known as “Palate for Hire.” This led to employment with R.H. Philips, Kendall Jackson’s Artisans and Estates, Seagram’s Chateau and Estate Wines Company, and Diageo. In the early and mid 1990s, Jorge also wrote and recorded a series of fine wine radio spots that were broadcast weekly in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. 

Jorge was born in Colombia, but is proud to have traveled to all 50 of the United States, as well as Washington DC. In his free time, he enjoys playing music – particularly stringed instruments such as the guitar and ukulele, and writes original musical compositions as well.

Welcome to the board, Jorge Hernandez!  

Last month, at our annual conference, SWE welcomed its new Executive Committee and Board of Directors.  While many of our board members have served for quite a few years, there are also some new faces in the group as well.  Today we’d like to introduce you to one of our new board members, Valerie Santoro…and thank her for her service to the Society!

Newly elected SWE Board Member Valerie Santoro, CSS, CSW

Valerie Santoro, CSW, CSS is a newly elected member of the Board of Directors for the Society of Wine Educators. Valerie is the Director of Training at Great Lakes Wine & Spirits (GLWAS), Michigan’s largest distributor of alcoholic beverages, supplying over 6,500 wine, 1,500 spirit, and 1,000 beer items, and servicing all 83 Michigan counties.  Valerie is also a Certified Specialist of Wine and a Certified Specialist of Spirits, with a B.S. in Viticulture and Enology from Michigan State University.

Valerie has always been interested in wine, from her earliest memories of red wine served with the family dinner meal, night after night.  Here interest grew when she first attended Michigan State University, with the intention of studying Botany. However, one day while walking through the Plant & Soil Building, she passed a plaque on the wall that read “Viticulture Lab” and was intrigued! She applied for a got a job in the Viti Lab analyzing fruit and berry samples for the local and the school’s research plots.  This led to helping out in the research winery and not much longer, Valerie was in love with wine and switched majors to Viticulture and Enology.

Prior to working for GLWAS, Valerie worked in wholesale wine sales, and while she enjoyed the work (and the travel opportunities it afforded), she found that here favorite part of the job was the “ah-ha moments” her customers would experience during staff and customer trainings. In her current job, Valerie is in charge of staff training in wine, spirits, and business, and handles on-boarding as well.

In her “spare” time, Valerie is an avid hiker, cyclist, gardener, wife, and mother to two active children. Her daughter and son are both soccer players, and members of youth orchestra – that is, when they aren’t trying to talk their mother into playing a round of Minecraft.

Welcome, Valerie!

Last month, at our annual conference, SWE welcomed its new Executive Committee and Board of Directors.  While many of our board members have served for quite a few years, there are also some new faces in the group as well.  Today we’d like to introduce you to one of our new board members, Maeve Pesquera…and thank her for her service to the Society!

New Board Member Maeve Pesquera, CSS

Maeve Pesquera, CSS is a newly elected member of the Board of Directors for the Society of Wine Educators. Maeve has over 20 years of experience in fine dining and currently serves as the Director of Wine for the nationwide Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar group. During her time at Fleming’s, she has curated the award-winning wine list, created many innovative staff training programs, and implemented Fleming’s unique WiNEPAD.

Maeve’s love affair with wine began in France, as her family spent many summers in Provence, in a picturesque village with a small family vineyard. Her family, particularly her “Grandpapa,” who was  89 or 90 at the time, was the one who showed her that wine was not just a drink, not just a beverage, but something much more special than that.

Maeve recalls this time with her grandfather, as “every night at dinner he would pour each of us a tiny glass of wine and encourage us, guide us, to smell it, put our nose in the glass-just inhale and enjoy. His gentle guidance taught me how to discover wine, guided me to understand that it is an experience, an emotion, a connection. He guided me onto my own journey with wine, and that led me into the wine world.”

These days, in her spare time, Maeve likes to focus on her family, which includes her husband, Luis, and their five sons. This big, happy family enjoys weekend soccer, cross-country, and baseballs games as well as enjoying the beautiful beaches of southern California.

Welcome, Maeve!

Our heartfelt congratulations go out to Sharron McCarthy – SWE Past President and current Director Emeritus!

Sharron was – just yesterday – inducted into the Italian Trade Commission’s Hall of Fame for “outstanding leadership, contribution, and lifelong dedication to the appreciation, education and marketing of Italian wines in the US.” The Hall of Fame induction took place at a luncheon at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, as part of VINO 2015 – Italian Wine Week.

Sharron, who is Vice President of Wine Education for Banfi Vintners, is a gifted wine educator and is consistently among the most popular and highest-rated speakers at SWE’s Annual Conference. (Be sure to congratulate her and say “hi” next August in NOLA)! Harry Mariani, the President Emeritus of Banfi Vintners, was also among the 17 honorees at the event.

It’s nice to be in the Hall of Fame!