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Red Blends: Classic and Contemporary

Webinar: Tuesday December 1, 2020 12pm EST/9am PST
01 Dec 2020 Webinar Watch replay
01 Dec 2020
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Webinar

Explore Australia’s red blends and learn how these styles fit into the broader history and context of the country’s wine scene.

Blends mean different things to different people. In Australia, we have a long tradition and history of red blends that have been refined and evolved into new favorites.

For this webinar, three industry veterans, Paul Grieco, Tonya Pitts and James Tidwell MS beamed in from across the country to share their take on three different styles of red blends – Rhone blends, Bordeaux blends and the Cabernet Shiraz blend.

Learn what excites them about these styles while Wine Australia’s Mark Davidson keeps the conversation on track, focusing on how they fit into the broader history and context of Australian wine.

Speakers

Mark Davidson

Head of Education – Americas, Wine Australia

Born in London and raised in Sydney, Mark has over 35 years of experience in the hotel, restaurant and wine business. During his 15 years as a sommelier, he was named Sommelier of the Year at the Vancouver Wine Festival in 2001 and won the Spirited Industry Professional in 2014. Following his experience as a sommelier, Mark has produced numerous wine education and restaurant etiquette courses. As a Department Head and Instructor with the International Sommelier Guild, he was instrumental in the on-going development of the curriculum and has taught classes in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas. Mark joined Wine Australia in 2009 and he has been in the Education team since 2013. Outside of his day-to-day role, he is also an annual judge at Texsom International Wine Awards, Sunset Magazine and LA International wine competitions.

Paul Grieco

Terroir Tribeca, New York

Born in Toronto, Canada and raised in the Northwest Territories, Paul followed the Bay City Rollers on tour in 1976. First wine experience was at the Wedding at Cana...wine tasted thin. Slept with a 2" X 4" for 2 years to better understand oak. Just exited scream therapy so that I could relearn all there is to know about wine.

Tonya Pitts

Sommelier, Wine & Food Consultant, Speaker, San Francisco

Certified through the Court of Master Sommeliers, Tonya is known for catapulting wineries into the mainstream throughout her extensive career. As Sommelier & Wine Director for One Market Restaurant, Tonya’s wine program has received numerous Wine Spectator awards. Tonya is a philanthropist, mentor and leader for diversity and inclusion; she established Women in Wine, serves as advisory board member for Wine Unify and is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier International. She is a core committee member of Batonnage Forum Mentorship Program. Tonya is a board member for United Sommelier Foundation. Her appearances include judging the San Francisco International Wine Competition, speaking at Culinary Institute of America Summit and many media features.

James Tidwell MS

TEXSOM, Dallas

James Tidwell MS is co-founder of the world’s leading wine education conference, TEXSOM, and owner of one of the United States’s most prestigious wine competitions, the TEXSOM International Wine Awards. He is a member of the editorial committee of the Classic Wine Library, speaker, freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The World of Fine Wine, Lonely Planet, and others, and is a former Beverage Director with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. In 2019, he was nominated for the Person of the Year in Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s Wine Star Awards.

Contact

For more information about this webinar, please email christy.frank@wineaustralia.com