2009 WORLD OF WINE JUDGES:

John W. Buechsenstein

Winemaking and Teaching Activities
2003 to present – Winemaker/COO, Sauvignon Republic, Inc.
1996 to present – Adjunct Wine Faculty, Culinary Institute of America at Greystone
1993 to present – President Wine Education & Consultation
1979 to present – Wine Instructor, UC Davis Extension
President of American Society for Enology & Viticulture, 1992-93
President, Trellis Alliance 1996-97

Professional Member
American Society for Enology and Viticulture (Past President)
Society of Wine Educators
American Wine Society
California State Fair Wine Advisory Board

Wine Judgings and Boards
California State Fair, Intervin International, San Diego National Wine
Competition, El Dorado County Fair, Finger Lakes International Wine Competition, InterVin, Veritas South Africa; Editorial Review Board: Winemaker Magazine
Past Co-Director, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science

1980 Graduate with Honors, Defense Language Institute, Presidio of Monterey
1978 – 80 Graduate Studies in Enology, UC Davis
1978 BS Degree in Enology, University of California, Davis

Traci Dutton

Traci Dutton serves as the Sommelier in the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant at the Culinary Institute of America. With the goal of creating The Ultimate California Wine Cellar to be housed in the former Christian Brothers winery, the wine list has won awards and gathered national recognition for the extensive representation of wines from throughout the state, with a special emphasis on Greystone’s Napa neighbors.

Ms. Dutton worked in New York City for 14 years and came to California with vast experience in fine dining beverage service and international wine buying. She specialized in Italian wines with her first Sommelier position at Andiamo! and then immersed herself in French wines (though unfortunately, not literally) by joining the top notch service team at the 3 star Montrachet, under the direction of Daniel Johnnes. Ms. Dutton worked as a consultant for several other restaurants in New York at various times specializing in mixology, beer, organic wines and the wines of the northeastern United States. In addition to her work at the CIA, Traci has judged the Dallas Morning New Wine Competition and the LA County Fair “Wines of the World” Competition, two of the largest competitions in the country. She has spoken on marketing at UC Davis, Sonoma State University and the Wine Industry Financial Symposium. Her special interest is in passing on the belief that most wine should be for everyday drinking and to continue to find places which produce “labors of love” that speak to a need for day to day civilized living.

Desmond Echavarrie

Desmond is currently the wine director for SWITCH restaurant at Steve Wynn’s Encore Hotel in Las Vegas. Previously, he was the sommelier and wine buyer (at age 25) for Picasso Restaurant at the Bellagio Resort. Picasso was the only restaurant at Bellagio to win the prestigious Wine Spectator Grand Award. In 2004, Desmond won the Chaine des Rotisseurs best young sommelier competition for the U.S. He most recently passed two out of the three sections of the Court of Master Sommerlier’s M.S. Examination. Apart from his dutires at SWITCH, he also has a wine consulting firm, Liaison Wine Consulting LLC based in Las Vegas.

Elaine Marshall

Elaine Marshall, ACWP is a industry veteran with over 11 years experience in professional wine evaluation, wine marketing, and brand building.  Her clients have included Sunset Magazine Wine Club, Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wines, Kapcsandy Family Winery, Roberts + Rogers Howell Mountain, eWinery Solutions, and Windsor Vineyards. She specializes in e-commerce marketing and wine club operations, bringing her email design, SEO, social networking, and direct mail experience to all of her winery and third-party marketing clients.

Elaine Marshall founded the First Street Wine Company in Livermore, California .  A former restaurant sommelier, Marshall is an Advanced Certified Wine Professional of the Culinary Institute of America and was one of the first to acheive the designation. A specialist in New World wines, Marshall has studied extensively the wines of California, Australia, France, Greece and the Pacific Northwest .  Elaine holds a Diploma as a Hellenic Wine Ambassador.  Accepted to the Institute of Masters of Wine program in 2006, she is currently pursuing the MW certification.  As a wine buyer and consultant, she tastes thousands of wines annually.  She has served as a wine judge for many California wine competitions. Elaine also lectures as part of the University of Bordeaux 's Wine MBA/OIV program held at UC Davis every summer and has served as wine educator for Les Confreries des Chevaliers du Tastevin, Silicon Valley Chapter. 

A graduate of the University of California at Davis , she has produced and bottled her own private-label wine for multiple vintages. Her wine reviews have been published in Diablo Magazine and in various on-line newsletters, including Sunset Magazine, AllExperts.com, IntoWine.com, and Better Homes and Gardens.

Lisa Shara Hall

Lisa Shara Hall is the author of Wines of the Pacific Northwest (Mitchell Beazley 2001) and the co-author of The Food Lover’s Companion to Portland (Chronicle Books 1996). She serves as Senior Editor for Wine Business Monthly, Wine Business Insider and Winebusiness.com and writes for numerous publications including The Oxford Companion to Wine, The Hugh Johnson/Jancis Robinson World Atlas of Wine , and Decanter. Lisa is an active member of the Society of Wine Educators and the British-based Circle of Wine Writers. She is a frequent lecturer and educator, as well as the first candidate in Oregon for the Master of Wine qualification. Hall judges wine competitions regularly, including the annual all-Greek competition in Greece, the International Wine Challenge and was one of only three North Americans invited to judge Decanter's inaugural (and annual) World Wine Competition in London.

Bruce Zoecklein

Bruce Zoecklein worked in the California wine industry and taught Enology at California State University-Fresno prior coming to Virginia Tech in 1985. His education includes: BS Microbiology/Biochemistry, MS Horticulture and Ph.D. Food Science.

Dr. Zoecklein is currently the head of the Enology-Grape Chemistry Group at Virginia Tech. He conducts research, extension, classroom and graduate student education. He has co-authored two books on wine chemistry and analysis (Wine Analysis and Production and a Spanish language text Analisis y Vino Produccio), in addition to authoring numerous book chapters, research, trade, and extension publications.

His research interests include secondary plant metabolites: aroma, flavor and phenol compounds. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research, and Practical Winery and Vineyard. Dr. Zoecklein has also consulted for the Romanian, Moldavian, Italian, Argentine and Chinese governments, and has been involved in winery design and planning for wineries around the world and currently has a CD titled: Winery Planning and Design.

His electronic technical brief, Enology Notes, is mailed to 3,500 subscribers around the world. Information on the teaching, research, and extension activities of the Enology-Grape Chemistry Group at Virginia Tech, including Enology Notes, is available at www.vtwines.info.