Past Events
The Charlotte Wine & Food Weekend has been fortunate to host
some of the world’s best winemakers and educators, a few of which are listed below.
ROBERT M. PARKER, JR.
Robert M. Parker, Jr. has been the author and publisher of the The
Wine Advocate, an independent, consumer’s guide to fine wine with more than
40,000 subscribers, for more than 20 years. In addition, he has authored 11
books, many bestsellers not only in the United States, but also in France,
Japan, Germany, Sweden and Russia. Parker is the only American, other than the
late Orson Welles, to have received both of France’s Presidential honors, a
Knighthood in the National Order of Merit and in the Legion of Honor. A Los
Angeles Times profile by Pulitzer-Prize winning writer David Shaw called Parker
“a fierce champion of the wine consumer,” and “the most powerful critic of any
kind, anywhere.”
KEVIN ZRALY
Kevin Zraly built an impressive career over the past few decades
as Wine Director at Windows on the World from1976- 2001. He was the founder and
instructor of Windows on the World Wine School that has attracted more than 500
students per year and has totaled more than 15,000 students to date. He
authored Windows on the World Complete Wine Course, which is the largest
selling wine book in the country. Additionally, he has been a member of the
Culinary Institute of America Board of Trustees since 1990, a recipient of the
James Bean Award for the Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year, and a
recipient of the European Wine Council Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.
Kevin participated in the 2002, 2004 and 2006 Weekends.
ERIC SOLOMON
Charlotte’s very own Eric Solomon established European Cellars in
1989 and today the company has grown from two to more than one hundred
producers. He works with small, intensely serious winemakers in both classic
and emerging wine regions throughout Europe. Eric worked in one of London's hot
wine bars and found his new vocation when he fell in love with the subject of
tasting, selecting and buying wines, and working closely with owners. Using
London as a base, he traveled extensively to the major and minor viticulture
regions of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Returning to New York in early
1980 he was hired by Heublein, where he remained for nine years as the Director
of French Wines and Ports for his multinational corporation. Eric was named as
one of the Wine Personalities of the year 2002 by The Wine Advocate and in 2006, Food &
Wine Magazine named Eric “Importer of the Year”. Eric and his wife Daphne
Glorian, owner and winemaker of the famed Clos Erasmus, settled in Charlotte,
NC in 1997.
FRITZ HATTON
Fritz Hatton is the nation's leading wine
auctioneer with an impressive resume that includes serving as Director of
Christie's U.S. Wine Department from 1995 to 1998. In this capacity and in
partnership with the leading American wine retailer Zachys, he was responsible
for the largest auctions of wine ever organized in the United States. In 2002,
he joined the prominent retailer Zachys as auctioneer for its new solo wine
auction venture. He has conducted charity auctions throughout the U.S.,
including Sonoma County Children’s Charities, the New York Philharmonic, the
San Francisco Opera Guild, Miami Baptist Hospital/United Way, Napa ValleyOpera
House, Vista Center for the Blind, Make-a-Wish Foundation, and numerous
educational charities in the Bay Area. In the fall of 1998, he became a vintner
when he returned to California to launch Arietta, a collection of ultra premium
Bordeaux-style Napa Valley red wines that are coveted and extremely difficult
to obtain.
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