Vintage Salon: Cultivating Resilience

After heat extremes in 2020 and 2022, and atmospheric rivers early last year, 2023 turned out to be an ideal vintage, with Napa Valley winemakers thrilled about the quality of the wines. Please join us for a special salon conversation, moderated by Andrea Robinson MS. Cathy Corison, Owner & Winemaker at Corison, Matt Brain, Winemaker at Alpha Omega, and Morgan Twain-Peterson MW, Owner & Winemaker at Bedrock Wine Co. will join in conversation around navigating and adapting to climate swings and weather weirding from one vintage to the next. They’ll discuss what made 2023 such a great year for quality, and the audience will have the chance to try comparative samples of 2022 and 2023 wines.

speakers

Andrea Robinson, MS

Andrea Robinson is a world-renowned Master Sommelier who takes the seemingly daunting subject of wine and food, and brings it down to earth for all to understand and enjoy. Robinson, one of only 26 female Master Sommeliers in the world, couples this distinction with a strong culinary pedigree as a graduate and former Dean of the French Culinary Institute, and the winner of three James Beard Awards. In addition, she has been widely featured across leading national television networks and publications as the “go-to” expert for all things wine.

Cathy Corison | Owner & Winemaker at Corison

Winegrower Cathy Corison produces artisanal, age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon that speaks of place, sourcing great benchland vineyards between Rutherford and St. Helena. We invite you to experience a unique glimpse inside a small, family-owned working winery the next time you are in the Napa Valley.

Matt Brain | Winemaker at Alpha Omega

Alpha Omega Winemaker Matt Brain, possessing a master’s degree in biosciences and a background in process engineering, brings naturalist philosophies and highly technical abilities to winemaking at Alpha Omega where he began as Associate Winemaker. Matt earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in biosciences at Sam Houston State University, where he was a scholarship decathlete. He also earned a winemaking degree from UC Davis and held winemaker titles at prominent California wineries and winemaker/lecturer positions with Enology and Viticulture programs at both Cal Poly and Fresno State universities. Matt’s passion for the environment benefits Alpha Omega, where the land and winery are both Napa Green certified and the Vineyard Management team practices sustainable farming.

Morgan Twain-Peterson, MW | Owner & Winemaker at Bedrock Wine Co.

Morgan’s early exposure to wine and winemaking was thanks to his father Joel Peterson, who had started a small passion project called Ravenswood Winery— a job for which he was steadily not making money while working out of a small building along the big curve on Broadway. Though always enamored with the wine industry, Morgan bypassed a traditional Viticulture and Enology degree and studied History and Political Science at Vassar College. After undergrad, he enrolled at Columbia University with an eye towards a Masters in American Studies. meanwhile working at a small shop in the Upper East Side called Pet Wines. There, he met Chris Cottrell, with whom he became fast friends.