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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT First Annual Central Coast Oyster Festival Appointments The Vintner Group, a wholesaler and importer of fi ne wines based in Ashland, VA, appointed Brian Koziol, MS as Florida Sales Director for Stacole Fine Wines. Koziol most recently served as Director of Strategic Accounts On-premise for Treasury Wine Estates. Additionally, Koziol has worked for the Walt Disney World Company where he oversaw the beverage programs for several award-winning restaurants. He is one of only 118 wine professionals in North America to have earned the title of Master Sommelier, and currently conducts training semi- nars on behalf of the Court of Master Sommeliers. I n celebration of the world- renowned oysters of California's Morro Bay, the Central Coast Oyster Festival will be held Saturday, June 16 at the Morro Bay Golf Course from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. This new event will benefi t OPTIONS Family of Services, a nonprofi t organiza- tion serving the disabled or persons with developmental disabilities and persons with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The festival will feature oysters from the Morro Bay Oyster Company, widely recognized as one of the greatest suppliers on the West Coast. Dozens of chefs from across the Central Coast will go head-to-head for the "Best Oyster of the Central Coast" Chef Award, and the audience will be invited to taste their sumptuous efforts. Tickets for this full-day experience are $20 and are available at www. CentralCoastOysterFestival.org. Brian Koziol. Theresa Heredia is the new winemaker at Gary Farrell Winery. The long-time winemaker at Freestone Vineyards in Sonoma County, Heredia brings extensive experience with cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay as well as small-lot, single-vineyard wines. A hands-on winemaker, she has a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She replaces Susan Reed. Founding winemaker Gary Farrell sold the winery in 2004, and today Gary Farrell Winery is owned by The Vincraft Group, a fi ne-wine investment com- pany run by wine industry veterans Pete Scott, Walt Klenz and Bill Price. Theresa Heredia. Christopher Wade is VP of Sales Development for Heineken USA. In his new role, Wade will report to Scott Blazek, Senior VP of Sales. Wade joined Heineken USA in 2008, as the Zone Director for Texoma. He managed objectives for the zone and helped drive performance by overseeing distributor management, retail execution and team develop- ment. Under Wade's leadership, Texoma was the best performing zone in the company three years in a row; delivered 14,000 new points of distribution and an incremental 464K cases versus the prior year. Prior to joining Heineken USA, Wade most recently served as a Director of Sales at Diageo Guinness USA. Wade will be relocating to the New York Tri-state area. Chris Wade. Industry veteran Dickson Lew will lead West Coast regional sales for Bouchaine Vineyards. He recently served a 20 year sales and management career with Rodney Strong Wine Estates, represent- ing Rodney Strong Wines, Sonoma Vineyards and Davis Bynum Vineyards as VP of California, Hawaii and the Pacifi c Northwest. "Coming to Bouchaine and working with longtime colleague Greg Gauthier is the perfect opportunity to bring my sales acumen to a family-owned company. says Lew. It's like coming home," 12 / the tasting panel / june 2012 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K