Meridith is responsible for the branding and content for The SOMM Journal. As #15 on the list of INTOwine.com’s 100 Most Influential People in the Wine Industry, she has successfully made SOMM Journal the largest circulated print publication for the hospitality industry.
Meridith is Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of The Tasting Panel and The Somm Journal.
Ruth Tobias could write before she could tie her shoes, and she’s been chronicling her way through life ever since. After graduating with a BA in English literature from UCLA in 1992, she received an MFA in poetry from the famed Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa before heading to Boston University for her PhD in literature.
In Boston, her passion for food compelled her to follow an unexpected course of study. While working to obtain her Professional Chef’s Certificate at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, she began writing about restaurants and bars for a range of publications. After signing on as the local editor for Zagat, she left academia to pursue a career as a food-and-beverage writer.
Tobias now lives in Denver, where she continues to write about dining and drinking for local and national media.
Lars began his professional career as a reporter for The Daily Star in Oneonta, NY. In addition to writing he has long had a focus on Italian language and culture which eventually brought him to Banfi Vintners, America’s leading importer of fine wine. While there, in various roles from sales, marketing, to public relations leadership, over the course 33 years, he represented the portfolio across the U.S., Europe, Canada, the Caribbean, and Asia, working directly with the firm’s Mariani family proprietors and developing an unprecedented hospitality program at their Castello Banfi estate in Montalcino, Tuscany. He has led press trips to Chile and Italy, spoken at sommelier conferences, various cooking schools and culinary universities, and appeared in the movie Somm II: Into the Bottle. Since 1998 Leicht has brought over 100 wine professionals on scholarship trips to Italy for SommFoundation and SommSouth. As founder and de facto “Dean” of Cru College, he has brought Italian winemakers on barnstorming trips across the U.S. for insightful seminars and exceptional tastings. Lars joined The SOMM Journal team in July of 2019.
Stef Schwalb comes from experience in the hospitality, design, culture, business, and technology industries, her short- and long-form work has been featured nationally in a variety of publications, including Boston Magazine, The Alcohol Professor, Honest Cooking, Thirsty Magazine, Bar & Restaurant, Force Brands Newsroom, and more. She is also WSET Level III certified.
Jessie “JABS” Birschbach is a Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers with a background in fine dining (Spago, Beverly Hills; Mastro’s Steakhouse, Beverly Hills), creative marketing (Signature Creative, Protagonist), and comedy (iO West, UCB LA, National Comedy Theatre). An avid beer enthusiast, JABS is an active homebrewer and belongs to the Pacific Gravity Homebrew Club. Her most recent enterprise involves pairing cannabis strains (and their respective terpenes) with wine and beer. Although she is from the island of Kauai, spending the first six years of her life on the islands, JABS grew up in San Diego, where she received her Bachelor of Science in Marketing from San Diego State University. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her wife and son.
Jonathan Cristaldi began writing for The SOMM Journal and sister publication The Tasting Panel Magazine in 2012. Time Out New York has called him a “Wine Prophet” for his witty and avant-garde approach to wine education. “The L-Train Luncheon,” a video on YouTube, features one of his most memorable, experiential event concepts, which came to life on a New York City subway car. In 2020, Cristaldi launched the “MOG Radio Hour!,” a humorous podcast published sporadically on Instagram. He currently lives in Northern California with his wife and daughter. When he isn’t writing about wine, he is scouring the Bay Area for the best soft ice cream money can buy.
Native New Yorker Wanda Mann began writing about wine in 2008. She is the founder of the website Wine With Wanda and has worked as a freelancer for various publications. She regularly hosts informative, and often humorous, Instagram Live interviews with winemakers and other industry professionals. The daughter of a professional chef, Wanda has always been captivated by the world of food and wine, but it wasn’t until studying in Spain for two years that she began to truly understand wine’s cultural significance. She has since traveled to numerous new- and old-world wine regions. Wanda holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from Pomona College, and in 2015 she earned the Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) credential from the Society of Wine Educators. She currently serves on the board of Les Dames d’Escoffier New York.
Randy Caparoso is a full-time wine journalist/photographer living in Lodi, California. In a prior incarnation, he was a multi-award winning restaurateur, starting as a sommelier in Honolulu (1978 through 1988), and then as Founding Partner/VP/Corporate Wine Director of the James Beard Award winning Roy’s family of restaurants (1988-2001), opening 28 locations from Hawaii to New York. While with Roy’s, he was named Santé’s first Wine & Spirits Professional of the Year (1998) and Restaurant Wine’s Wine Marketer of the Year (1992 and 1998). Between 2001 and 2006, he operated his own Caparoso Wines label as a wine producer. For over 20 years, he also bylined a biweekly wine column for his hometown newspaper, The Honolulu Advertiser (1981-2002). He currently puts bread (and wine) on the table as Editor-at-Large and the Bottom Line columnist for The SOMM Journal, and freelance blogger, and social media director for Lodi Winegrape Commission. You may contact him at [email protected].
Dawn Verdone is well versed in the event and hospitality industries with more than 20 years of experience. With a BA in Business Communications and Public Relations, she traverses the ever-changing event landscape with ease and professionalism.
Whether it is an intimate wine dinner or a multi-day Somm Camp, no detail is overlooked and provides each guest with the “wow” experience.
A Minnesota native, Dawn now resides in Phoenix, Arizona with her two dogs, Leonidas and Zula, aka “The Bumpus Hounds.” In her spare time, Dawn enjoys hiking, baking, spending time with family and friends and is no doubt a hockey fan.
