We were fortunate and honored to have the following experts in their field moderate seminars for us in 2010. Moderators for our 2011 seminars will be posted here in September.

Frederick L. Dame, MS

Vintage Burgundy Tasting

Frederick L. Dame MS brings an impressive blend of experience, expertise and enthusiasm to the world of wine and cuisine. He is the first American to have served as the president of the Court of Master Sommeliers Worldwide and assists restaurateurs and hoteliers in developing their wine programs in his role as Director of Prestige Accounts for Beam Wine Estates. Dame founded the American Branch of the Court of Master Sommeliers in 1986 and has played an active role in the expansion of the Master Sommelier program throughout America since that time. He is currently the President of the Guild of Sommeliers Education Foundation. He was elected to the prestigious National Restaurant Association College of Diplomates in 2004. In 2006, he received Santé Magazine's Wine Professional of the Year as well as Starwine's Lifetime Achievement Award.

John Haeger

Pinot Noir Primer

A one-time professor of Chinese language and history (Pomona College, Linfield College and UCSD) and vice-president emeritus of the not-for-profit Research Libraries Group, John Haeger has written about wine for Connoisseur, Wine & Spirits, Los Angeles and Saveur since 1985.

As author of the highly acclaimed North American Pinot Noir, in 2004 Haeger literally wrote the book on the fascinating history and evolution of Burgundy’s illustrious grape variety here in the United States. John’s academic approach to both the research and the writing created an instant hit and a must-have treatise for most wine lovers.

In 2008, Haeger published Pacific Pinot Noir”, since, as he notes, “96% of North America’s Pinot Noir comes from an area I call the Pacific Pinot Zone,” it was only natural for him to focus on an area extending from mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon to Santa Barbara in California and extending up to thirty miles inland.

Michael A. Jordan, MS, CWE

Seminar A,  Williams-Selyem Ten Year Retrospective

Veteran restaurateur Michael Jordan is currently President of Beachcomber Restaurants, a group of restaurants themed to and located in the California beach scene. Jordan previously had a nine year stint with Disney as Global Manager of Wine Sales and Standards (and Wine Education) for Disney Parks and Resorts, as well as serving as General Manager of the fame Napa Rose Restaurant. Passionate about wine education, Jordan is a regular 'radio sommelier' on various radio stations in the Los Angeles region, as well as creator and host of his own radio show with Mike Horn called What's Cookin' on Wine heard on the Cable Radio Network across the country.

Prior to his time at Disney, Michael opened the award-winning Pinot Provence Restaurant in Costa Mesa where he was General Manager.  Additionally, he was the chef/owner of Bella Teresa restaurant in Corona del Mar, the general manager of the Five Diamond award-winning Pavilion Restaurant at The Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach, and the General Manager of Spencer's Restaurant in  Pasadena. In his younger years, he followed his celebrity restaurateur father Matteo's footsteps and was chef at his family's Italian restaurants and later general manager and "maitre d' to the stars" at Matteo's in California and Hawaii.  In all, Michael as over 35 years of experience in the restaurant and beverage industry.

Allen Meadows
Burghound.com

Saturday Featured Burgundy Tasting Seminar

Allen Meadows was a finance executive for 25 years, holding a variety of positions, including stints as the senior vice-president and director of corporate development for Great Western Financial and as chief financial office for Fidelity National. In 1999, he retired in order to write a book on Burgundy but in 2000 decided to found Burghound.com, a quarterly review that is devoted exclusively to Burgundy and US Pinot Noir wines. Burghound.com was the first to offer specialized and, more importantly, exhaustive coverage of a specific wine region. The first issue was released in January 2001 and there are now readers in 45 different countries.

Meadows spends almost 4 months each year in Burgundy and visits more than 300 domaines during that time. He also lectures widely in both the US and abroad.

William Sherer, MS
The Iron Sommelier Challenge

William Sherer MS is the wine director of Aureole at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, where he presides over a Wine Spectator Grand Award winning wine list. Sherer won the prestigious James Beard Award for Wine Service in 2006. Over the years, he has created and directed some of the most innovative wine programs in the United States, with stints at Atelier in New York, Aqua and Moose's in San Francisco and Montrio in Monterey.