Jamal Rayyis’s 30-year interest in the Languedoc-Roussillon stems from an encounter with Domaine de Fontsainte Gris de Gris, a pink wine from gray-skinned grapes made in Corbières. That wine, he says, inspired a pilgrimage to Narbonne, as well as his fascination with wines from underappreciated regions.
As a retail buyer, Susannah traveled abroad extensively, especially in Italy and Greece, to learn the stories behind her favorite wines and then connect others with the vines and the humans that make them. She is excited to excited to join W&S, since that is the magazine’s mission. Raised to be curious, she finds, after over 20 years in the world of food and wine, that she loves best how wine touches so many disciplines—history, language, geology, cuisine, biology, horticulture, etc.—keeping the quest for knowledge fresh every day.
Sydney Love
West Coast Tasting Coordinator
Sydney Love runs our tasting department for US wines in the Los Angeles office, where she also researches and writes stories for the magazine. She comes to W&S with a degree in English literature and creative writing from Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia, and a post-graduate course at NYU’s magazine and book publishing certification program. She worked at a wine shop in Atlanta and then as a harvest intern in the Russian River Valley before joining Wine & Spirits. When she’s not running tastings, Sydney likes to travel up and down the coast to remain close to the source of California wine.
Corey Warren
East Coast Tasting Coordinator
Corey Warren moved to New York in 2015—fifteen years too late to join The Strokes—after earning a degree at Cornell in Comparative Literature. He started polishing glasses at Betony and threw himself into the restaurant world. Later, while a captain at Aquavit, he began working part time in the Wine & Spirits tasting department. Now, in addition to running tastings, he manages the digital editorial work for the magazine. Corey likes almost anything bubbly, from Miller High Life, the Champagne of beers, to Champagne, the Champagne of Champagne, but he’ll drink anything once, and loves finding new values and emerging regions.
Joshua Greene
Publisher & Editor
Editor and Publisher of Wine & Spirits since 1986, Joshua Greene began drinking wine with meals during a summer in Galicia, Spain, at the age of 13. In later years, he worked in wine shops in western Massachusetts and served as wine captain at Wheatleigh, a small inn in Lenox. After graduating from Princeton University in 1981, Greene pursued a career in magazines, focusing on the management of special-interest publications. His work with Wine & Spirits began on a consulting basis, eventually leading to his purchase of the magazine in 1989.
Greene has traveled extensively in the wine regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, South Africa and all the major wine regions of the United States. In addition to his duties as editor and publisher, Greene serves as the critic for Napa Valley, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Portugal, Rioja, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He also writes feature stories and commentary for each issue of the magazine.
Nick Mrozowski
Art Director
As the former creative director of WWD magazine and Adweek magazine in New York Nick has extensive experience in the areas of advertising, marketing and branding.
Vivian Ho
Production & Digital Director
After graduating from CUNY Baruch College with a BA in Graphic Communications, Vivian earned her certification in Web Development with Open Standards at her alma mater in 2012. Vivian’s design adventures started at Marvel Entertainment as an intern, then as a junior designer. Now with 10 years of print and digital design experience, she manages print production for Wine & Spirits and just completed a second redesign of the company’s website using WordPress.
Louise Nightingale
Marketing Manager
Louise comes to W&S from Hudson Wine Brokers in Los Angeles, where she served as Market Development Manager for the West Coast. For seven years, Louise worked with Wine Australia North America, first as the Event Coordinator, later as the Event Manager, bringing her experience with all facets of event production to our projects. She holds a Bachelor of Wine Marketing from the University of Adelaide, as well as an intermediate certificate from the WSET.
Roy Schneider Jr.
Director of Finance
Roy joined Wine & Spirits in 2003 to oversee the daily and long-term finances of the magazine. He handles cash flow works alongside the publisher to develop and fine tune strategic plans; Roy also manages basic business operations of the company—from IT to human resources. If there’s a problem, he’ll solve it.
Having begun his career on Wall Street, Roy holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and has worked for a number of corporate and boutique firms from New York to Japan. While he clearly enjoys wines—having, over the years, sampled many thousands—he remains true to his Caribbean roots and maintains a primary love for rum.
Tara Q. Thomas
Executive Editor
Since Tara Q. Thomas joined Wine & Spirits in 1997, she’s traveled the wine world from Argentina to Australia. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, with more than 20 years of experience in the food and wine world, Tara puts her culinary knowledge to use as W&S’s resident food critic, and is the critic for the wines of Austria, Germany, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. She’s particularly enthusiastic about the wines of Greece, where she once lived and cooked. Outside of W&S, Tara has authored two books, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wine Basics and The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Wine; contributed to the Oxford Companion to Cheese as well as Oxford’s forthcoming volume on spirits; and writes a wine column for Culture: The Word on Cheese.
Patrick J. Comiskey
Senior Correspondent
A former sommelier, Patrick J. Comiskey serves as the W&S critic for all domestic wines outside of California—including New York, Oregon and Washington—and contributes articles on the wines and viticulture of these areas. His wine travels include regular visits to US wine regions, as well as trips to France, Italy, Germany and Australia. Comiskey’s writing credentials include contributions to the San Francisco Chronicle’s wine section, the Los Angeles Times, Bon Appétit and the Robb Report, and also teaches classes and moderates panels on viticulture, wine tasting and various wine regions. His recent book, American Rhône: How Maverick Winemakers Changed the Way Americans Drink (UC Press 2017), was shortlisted for the 2016 André Simon Food & Drink Book Award and 2017 Louis Roederer Domaine Faiveley Wine Book of the Year.
Stephanie Johnson
Italian Wine Critic
Stephanie serves as critic for the wines of Italy, having passed the Tasting Director baton in January 2017.
Chloe Jenkins
Account Manager
Having spent nearly a decade in the marketing world, Chloe followed her enthusiasm for wine to work at a wine marketing company, before joining the team at Wine & Spirits. She loves using creative strategy to help brands tell their stories and connect with their audiences. Chloe holds a Level 3 (Advanced) Certification from the WSET, as well as specializations in French and Italian wine.
Patricio Tapia
Senior Correspondent
After graduating with a degree in journalism from the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Patricio Tapia attended Bordeaux University in France, where he studied for a diploma in wine tasting and winemaking. Since then, he has visited wine regions around the world and authored several books, including his annual Descorchados, a Chilean wine guide; The Wines of Colchagua Valley;TodoVino and Wines for Great Occasions. Tapia is also the South American correspondent for The Oxford Companion to Wine,The World Atlas of Wine and Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Book. For the past three years, he’s been a host on the El Gourmet channel in South America. At Wine & Spirits, Tapia is the critic for the wines of Argentina, Chile and Spain, and regularly contributes articles on these regions.
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Julie H. Case
Digital Editor
Accomplished forager penning a book on wild fungi and recent contributor to the October issue on pairing spirits with insect-rich cuisine, Julie H. Case brings a diverse background in writing and editing. Currently a contributor to SevenFifty Daily, Westchester Magazine and Travel & Leisure, Julie earned her BA in Broadcast Journalism at Arizona State and her MFA in Creative Writing at Pacific Lutheran University. She held senior editorial roles at several publications for the University of Washington and served as Senior Editor for SagaCity Media, where she launched several magazines, including Washington Wine, while editing the firm’s stable of local visitors’ guides.
