Peter Ventura, Auctioneer
The auctioneer for this year's Lake County Wine Auction is Peter Ventura of Hidden Valley Lake. Ventura has conducted over a dozen charity auctions, each raising between $100,000 and $600,000. He is a thirty-year veteran of the wine industry who began his career part time while attending Santa Clara University in 1962-1966 and then spent a few years practicing tax law before returning to the business of wine.
Ventura has held positions in the cellar, lab, winemaking, and senior positions in marketing, public relations, and management, including Senior Vice President at Robert Mondavi Winery. He was Director General of Opus One with responsibility for all aspects of operations, including visitor, media and promotional programs, vineyards, winemaking, marketing, sales, finance and administration.
A former officer and director of the North American Institute of Masters of Wine in London, Ventura is a past director, officer and chairman of the American Institute of Wine and Food, past president of the Napa Valley Oakville Winegrowers, a former North American Director of Grapes for Humanity, and a Supreme Knight of the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Vine.
In 2007 Ventura moved to Lake County from St. Helena with his wife, a practicing registered nurse. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Clearlake and a volunteer driver to the Middletown Senior Center's Meals on Wheels program.
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Stephanie Green, Auctioneer
Stephanie Green of Kelseyville will assist with auctioneering and provide wine information at the annual Lake County Wine Auction. Green, of Kelseyville, is a certified sommelier through the Court of Masters Sommeliers who owns and operates Focused on Wine, a wine bar and tasting room in downtown Kelseyville. She is a wine educator, a private wine consultant, and noted cellar master of wines, on both the domestic and international wine scene. She recently completed her first year with the Institute of Masters of Wine and is locally recognized as a wine expert.
Green is member of the Rotary Club of Lakeport, the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, and the Kelseyville Business Association. She is a past co-president of the Lake County Chapter of California Women for Agriculture.
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Budge Brown, Honorary Chair
Budge Brown, owner of Tulip Hill Winery and the Cleavage Creek wine label, is the honorary chair of the Wine Auction. Brown, a graduate of UC Davis, has been farming in California for over fifty years. With his daughter, Kristi, he opened Tulip Hill Winery at its location on Clear Lake’s northshore in 2004, at the site of the historic Bartlett Springs water bottling plant. The facility features a unique tasting room, special event area, and seasonal gardens that include 30,000 tulips. Brown’s newest cause is his label, Cleavage Creek, which, in memory of his late wife, honors breast cancer survivors on every bottle, donating 10% of the gross proceeds to fund breast cancer research and offering medical support to those stricken with the disease. Brown is also an entrepreneur who invented the water slide and has traveled the world teaching others how to build them.
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Jed Steele, Honoree
Jed Steele is the owner and winemaker for Steele Wines. Steele will be honored with a Congressional resolution for his many contributions to the California wine industry and, in particular, for his pioneering work in establishing the fine quality of Lake County wines.
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Joy Merrilees, Cuvee Winemaker
Joy Merrilees was born in Kelseyville and raised in Lake County, graduating in 2002 from Humboldt State University with a degree in Horticulture and Landscape Design. During a college exchange to Lincoln University in New Zealand, she fell in love with the wines and wine culture of that country. After completing her degree, she returned to New Zealand and worked for Vineyard Solutions, consulting and doing contract work for small vineyard owners.
Now in her seventh year with Steele Wines in Kelseyville and fifth year as assistant winemaker to Jed Steele, Merrilees notes she is "honored to be the winemaker" for this year's Wine Auction cuvee blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.
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Rob Roumiguiere, Master of Ceremonies
Rob Roumiguiere, partner in Roumiguiere Vineyards and Wine Alliance treasurer, is the master of ceremonies. The Lake County Military Funeral Honors Team will open the event with the traditional presentation of colors.
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Mike Thompson, Special Guest
Mike Thompson has represented Lake County in Congress since 1998. Prior to serving in Congress, he represented Lake County in the California State Senate. He is the co-founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Wine Caucus, which consists of over 215 U.S. Senate and House members. He is also a member and former co-chair of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, and a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate Democrats. Mike currently serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Mike has been an active supporter of the Lake County Wine Alliance and the annual Wine Auction since its inception, believing that the wine industry is a major contributor to the Lake County economy, providing employment, protecting agricultural lands, and adding to the recognition that enjoying wine in moderation is part of a healthy lifestyle. He believes that the Wine Auction benefits many worthy charitable organizations while also bringing attention to Lake County as a premium wine region that grows grapes for wineries all over California as well as producing its own outstanding wines.
Mike and his wife Janet, a family nurse practitioner, own a small vineyard in Lake County. They are the parents of two sons, a firefighter and a deputy sheriff, and grandparents of four children.
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