From Register Staff

The Rudd Center for Wine Education at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone offers a Spanish Intensive on Tuesday and Wednesday on the St. Helena campus.

Spanish wines are generating waves of excitement now as the industry — and the country — rebounds from the dark years of the Franco regime. Through extensive tastings participants explore the vinous treasures of Spain and compare the country’s phenomenal older wines (including Gran Reservas) to contemporary vintages. The two-day class covers Spain’s leading wine regions — Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Penedes, Rias Baixas and Jerez — as well as up-and-coming new appellations and Spain’s extensive range of grape varieties, from well known ones like tempranillo to emerging varietals like albariño and lesser known ones like palomino and xarello.

Taught by Karen MacNeil, the class will also look at Spain’s history as one of Europe’s top wine producers, its geography and climate, and the laws by which the wine industry is governed.

The class meets from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on the St. Helena campus. The cost is $650. For further information, call 1-800-888-7850 or visit www. ciaprochef.com

Sixteen Napa Valley wineries are among Wine & Spirits magazine’s Top 100 wines of the world for 2006, which were revealed at a tasting recently in San Francisco. Honored by the magazine were Beaulieu Vineyard, Chimney Rock, Conn Creek, Diamond Creek, Duckhorn, Girard, Keenan, La Jota, Miner, Robert Mondavi, Patz & Hall, Reverie, Shafer, Storybook Mountain, Truchard and von Strasser.

Roy Raymond Jr., a co-founder of Raymond Vineyard & Cellar along with his father, Roy Sr., and brother Walter, has retired as president and CEO. He is succeeded by Walter, and will remain as an advisor.

Karen Cakebread, longtime winery events director and international sales and marketing manager for Cakebread Cellars, is leaving the family winery to pursue other career opportunities, according to a press release. Cakebread worked for the winery for 17 years, supervising the highly regarded education programs at Cakebread, including the American Harvest Workshop. In recent years she has focused her efforts on enhancing the winery’s international image, traveling around the world and launching food and wine marketing programs, resulting in significant gains for the winery’s export sales.

Liparita Cellars in St. Helena, has been purchased by Spencer Hoopes of Hoopes Family Winery in Oakville. The winemaker, Jason Fisher, has worked with Grace Family Vineyards, Cosentino and Paradigm. The winery produces sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon from vineyards in Yountville, Oakville and Stags Leap.

Tim McDonald, 25-year veteran of the PR wine business, has opened his own consulting firm called “Smart Wine Spoken Here,” to specialize in marketing communications and wine education. Most recently he was with Gallo, headquartered at Louis Martini but he represented the entire Gallo line, and also had been with Trinchero, Geyser Peak, Heublein and Seagram. He can be reached at 363-0174.

Noted wine consultant Michel Rolland has joined the winemaking team at Alpha Omega Winery, and will work with winemaker Jean Hoefliger in crafting the 2006 vintages of cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and a proprietary red wine.

Alpha Omega opened earlier this year on Mee Lane just off Highway 29 in Rutherford.

Wine 2.0 is an informal networking event for people in the wine industry who use the latest technology in marketing or making wine. It’s scheduled for Nov. 8, from 7 to 10 p.m., at the Varnish Fine Art Gallery and Wine Bar in San Francisco.

For information go to www.winetwo.com.

A touch of a finger on the screen of a kiosk in a tasting room or a wine shop called ReadyTouch provides information about wines such as tasting notes, reviews, technical data and food pairings.

The new device also can help to capture information for a mailing list. Whatever data the winery or wine shop using it wants to impart to consumers is loaded into the device, which stands about 4 feet tall. Consumers touch the screen to obtain whatever information he/she needs, and the data can be customized to fit the store’s needs.

Currently one is in use at Copia in the Cornucopia shop as part of a test marketing program. The system’s developer said it has been credited with increasing sales by 10 to 15 percent in the places where it has been used. For information, call (650) 321-3736.

The Stotesbery family gets into a Halloween spirit with guided lantern tours as it celebrates the 120th anniversary of Ladera Vineyard’s winery Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m. Ladera Hillside Estate cabernet sauvignons will be paired with hors d’oeuvres and artisan cheeses. The cost is $50 per person.

Ladera Vineyards is at 150 White Cottage Road South on Howell Mountain in Angwin. R.S.V.P. to Ladera Vineyards at 965-2445 or winery@laderavineyards.com. Space is limited.



Submit items for Wine Notes to Sasha Paulsen, spaulsen@napanews.com