19 Sep

Leslie and Nelson First Fifteen

Leslie Sbrocco, head Thirsty Girl, has been a fan of New Zealand wines for many years and has made numerous trips to the island nation.

This week and next (September 19-30, 2011), she’ll be sampling wines in the South Island’s Central Otago region then heading north to Nelson, the aromatic and artistic capitol of New Zealand. There she’ll be judging a unique wine competition dubbed the Nelson First Fifteen.

This 3-day event is dedicated to celebrating world-class examples of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer from New Zealand, Italy and the United States. Why just those countries since we know France, Australia, Germany and more make benchmark bottlings, too? It’s the Rugby World Cup and during the time of the event the US is battling it out with Italy.

So, check back in on our site for Leslie’s dispatches from the road…and the rugby field.

10 Mar

Bertha Gonzalez Nieves

Only a few men in the world hold the top distinction in the tequila category as Maestro Tequilero. And even fewer women. Bertha González Nieves is the first woman ever to be accredited as Maestra Tequilera by the Academia Mexicana de Catadores de Tequila.

Her extensive, unparalleled knowledge of the industry, coupled with her singular vision to revolutionize the category of tequila, lead her on a journey to create a tequila with a profile unlike any other. Casa Dragones is a limited edition, uniquely smooth sipping tequila, hand-crafted in small batches with meticulous attention to detail.

Prior to co-founding Tequila Casa Dragones, González Nieves spent the last ten years as a top executive for Jose Cuervo International, the largest tequila company in the world and one of the top ten global spirits. She was responsible for Cuervo’s portfolio of brands in North America and managed over 65% of the company’s worldwide revenue. González Nieves was also instrumental in establishing the company’s global team in New York and played a key role in the recent upsurge and popularity of the tequila category in the U.S. and worldwide.

While at Jose Cuervo, she held senior marketing and commercial positions, including Commercial Director for North America, Global Director of New Business and Innovation and Global Brand Director. Prior to her position at Jose Cuervo, González Nieves served as a consultant at Booz Allen & Hamilton, where she designed and implemented marketing strategies for leading global packaged goods companies.

González Nieves graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Business Administration from Universidad Anahuac in Mexico City and holds a Masters of Science degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from the Medill School of Journalism & J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Among her honors, she received the Arthur E. Tatham Award for exceptional performance and outstanding promise in the field of marketing communications. She has also been identified as one of Mexico’s top young businesswomen.

In her spare time, González Nieves pursues various personal endeavors, including producing a film entitled Matando Cabos that was selected to appear at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and launching DF, Mexico City’s magazine in 2005.

She has also served as board member of Editorial Mapas in Mexico City and Legal Momentum in New York City, as well as on the marketing committee of El Museo del Barrio in New York City.

You can find out more about Tequila Casa Dragones on their website at http://casadragones.com. Join them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CasaDragones.

And follow them on Twitter at @Casa_Dragones.

03 Feb

Tanya Pietrosante

Tanya Pietrosante began Spiked Cakes in August 2010. With a background in accounting and business and after becoming a stay at home mom, her desire to be back in the business world reemerged.

Something kept telling her she needed to be on her own. Tanya wanted to LOVE what she was to do. Having known she loved good food, good drink, and good people was obvious but she never thought a career could come of it.

Tanya began working at Natali Vineyards in 2008 by supplying the Vineyard with a fruit called Beach Plums that she and her husband grow. The relationship blossomed and she realized her love for the atmosphere of the Vineyard. After that she began working in the tasting room and working events.

In her mind, she knew that she wanted to do this every day in some aspect. She couldn’t find her niche until one day someone asked why standard wines aren’t normally paired with desserts, which got her thinking. She decided to combine wine and dessert in a different way, hence how Spiked Cakes began.

Even though she wasn’t a baker, as soon as she made her first batch of spiked cupcakes the ideas wouldn’t stop coming. She was making cocktails and having fun. By October of 2010 word was out and people were loving it.

There has been bumps in the road but she is determined to succeed because of her love and passion, and with so advernturous many ideas, Tanya is not only a Thirsty Girl, but has found her calling.

Email Tanya: spikedcakes@gmail.com

Follow Tanya at http://twitter.com/SpikedCakes

On the web: http://www.relylocal.com/newjersey/cape-may-county/spiked-cakes

13 Jan

Danielle Westfall

She’s not a wine geek. Far from it. Whenever someone (for instance her husband) starts to wax on about how they can detect gooseberries or cumin or porcini in a wine’s aroma, Danielle Westfall is most likely rolling her eyes. It’s not that she doesn’t like wine … she loves it, in fact, there’s nothing better than a great glass of Pinot Noir or Sauv Blanc at the end of the day – or any time really; she just doesn’t want to analyze it to death.

People are surprised at this lack of, shall we say, descriptive gusto. Just about her entire career has been spent in the wine business, starting with a marketing and operations director role at Wine.com – one of the first on-line wine retailers — in the late 1990’s. From there she eventually moved on to Viansa Winery. Viansa (a brand known at the time for being a complete innovator – -selling over 80K cases a year solely through the Direct channel) was like a second child. As the VP of Marketing & Ops, she advanced the winery’s consumer direct business in what was the true sense of multi-channel direct wine brand. A winery property that could be compared to a theme park, a Wine Club with tens of thousands members, catalogs, food products, magazines, events, and oh yeah! The wines! It was an experience she would not change for anything.

This Thirsty Girl is an entrepreneur at heart (and perhaps a sucker for start-ups) and in 2006 she decided to launch her own business, Westfall Marketing Group. The timing was good – more and more wine and luxury brands were starting to realize that marketing directly to consumers was a good way to build awareness and loyalty and sell more wine. Her client base expanded quickly to include brands like legendary racecar driver Mario Andretti’s wine brand, Andretti Winery, Francis Ford Coppola’s Rubicon Estate, Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, St. Supery Vineyards and Winery, and Childress Vineyards of NASCAR fame. Exciting work with the perks of great wines to enjoy.

Then she got another idea. After having children she would get together with other moms for play dates and inevitably the conversation would turn to the myriad charity events they were involved in or cared about. One day she thought — why not put these two together? And that’s how VinoFina – an on-line wine retailer that donates a portion of every bottle sold to charities and non-profits – got started. That was in the fall of 2009.

Apparently one start-up, a consulting business and two girls under 7 wasn’t enough for her, so in early 2010 her and her husband Tony, launched Winery Insider, a luxury members only wine channel. So, like countless others before them, they dumped their life savings into starting another business.

So here she is with one husband, two children, and three businesses. Juggling is all she does, besides drink. Sleeping is for sissies. And though it’s true she may not be one to discuss a wine’s acidity level or tannin profile, she know what she likes, why she likes it and when she’d want to drink it, and after all this experience she’s pretty good at figuring out what her customers like as well.

Hopefully, that’ll be enough businesses for her for now … until the next idea pops up. After all she is a Thirsty Girl.

w ww.invino.com

Like Us on Facebook

24 Jun

Camille Meola

Designer and Owner of Camille Meola Collections. As a native New Yorker, Camille was raised in a family where appreciation of the arts was part of everyday life. It is her early exposure to the New York art scene that is at the root of her interest in the broad scope of design elements that influence her work today.   Camille’s collections consists of two unique lines. Her DESTINQTIV collection are wearable art pieces that would appeal to any Thirsty Girl’s wardrobe from jeans, to business attire and especially with the “Little Black Dress.” She also has the DeVin Wine Stopper Collection. These hand-crafted, one-of-kind Wine Stoppers are more than just a “Bar Tool” but are Lifestyle Accessories which would enhance any Thirsty Girl’s total wine experience. Check out Camille’s works and collections at www.camillemeola.com and tell us which one is your favorite!

17 Jun

Susan Leuker

As winemaker for Sonoma’s Simi winery she has a background as diverse as the complex wine she crafts. Having grown up in a farming family she thought a career in agriculture was NOT in her future. Well, that’s before she discovered the joys of wine. Armed with a degree in chemistry, she headed to graduate school while working at John Hopkins as a play therapist (that’s what wine is all about!). One thing we love about Susan is the way she combines her love of wine with fashion — don’t you want a ZINFUL belt, too? Cheers to a fabulous TTG.

10 Jun

Belinda Chang

Belinda Chang is the fabulously fun and talented Wine Director at NYC’s The Modern restaurant. As one of Head Thirsty Girl, Leslie Sbrocco’s favorite places to eat in New York City, The Modern is located at the Museum of Modern Art. This hot spot is home to one of the country’s top women of wine, Belinda Chang. Formerly, the cellar queen of places like Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago and Fifth Floor in San Francisco, Belinda has been nominated for a James Beard award, appeared on national television and worked on three cookbooks. When asked what she’s drinking now after a long day at the restaurant, Belinda says “Zind-Humbrecht Pinot d’Alsace 2007 (low commitment for my wallet, delicious, Olivier Humbrecht is the bomb, and I just love the way Pinot d’Auxerrois rolls off of the tongue) a beer that we made with Six Point Brewery called “Dr Klankenstein” (perfect for after a long day at the restaurant, we have it on tap!). Her enthusiasm, elegance and contagious smile, make us honored to have Belinda in our Thirsty Girl ranks.

29 Apr

Thea Dwelle

A sparkling force of nature, Thea’s love of all things wine was born at  Sonoma State University and expanded with her travels to Australia, Italy, and California wine regions. With her wine blog, Luscious Lushes, she encourages everyone to taste and learn about wine in a supportive casual environment. She enjoys exploring new wine regions at various tasting events, and loves meeting new friends in wine.  An avid tweeter—@winebratsf (recently voted most Twitteriffic wineaux) & blogger, Thea runs the Wine Blogger Conference Scholarship Fund, dedicated to ensuring that all bloggers have equal opportunities to attend the annual conference, to learn, network and have some fun. Thea vows to never stop learning, in wine and life and is always good for a giggle! You find her blog at www.lusciouslushes.com

Tag Archives: Wine