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MARCH NEWS for the west region. Baker has 27 years of experience in multiple facets of the food and beverage industry, and Bullington is the former owner and partner of Dué Sales and Marketing. Shannon Ridge is located in Lake County. Details: shannonridge.com. Sapporo Nagoya Osaka ma Smith promoted to sales director Peirano Estate Vineyards promoted Mi- chael Smith to the position of director of sales. Smith has been with the Lodi-based winery for four years, and his most recent position was eastern regional sales man- ager. Details: peirano.com. New winemaker at Benziger Jeff McBride has joined Benziger as vice president of winemaking, replacing Ro- drigo Soto, who resigned in 2011 to return to his native Chile. Most recently, McBride served as vice president of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. Details: benziger.com. Evening Land appoints CEO Evening Land Vineyards named Greg Ralston as its CEO. Ralston will manage and develop Spring Mountain hires two Spring Mountain Vineyard in Napa Val- ley has hired Tony Glorioso as director of national sales and marketing, and Kenneth "Scotty" Barbour as director of interna- tional sales, strategy and key accounts. Glo- rioso comes to Spring Mountain Vineyard from St. Helena-based Tuck Beckstoffer Wines, where he was vice president for na- tional sales. Barbour is the former director of domestic and worldwide sales and mar- keting at Opus One winery in Napa Valley. Details: springmountainvineyard.com. Tokyo Greg Ralston a collection of Pinot Noir and Chardon- nay vineyards and winemaking op- erations in Oregon's Willamette Valley, Occidental in Sono- ma County, Santa Barbara County's Santa Rita Hills and in Burgundy. Prior to joining Evening Land, Ralston was the senior vice president at Wilson Daniels, an importer and national marketing company. Details: eveninglandvineyards.com. J vineyards certified sustainable J Vineyards & Winery has achieved certified sustainable status through the California Sustainable Winegrowers Alliance (CSWA). The sustainable certification covers all vine- yard and winery operations. Located near Healdsburg, J Vineyards & Winery owns 10 estate vineyards located throughout the Russian River Valley. Russian River winegrowers announce new officers The Russian River Valley Winegrow- ers elected new officers and named new members of its board. John Holdredge of Holdredge Wines is the new president; Randy Lugin- bill of Sonoma Silverado Vineyards LLC is first vice president, and Ar- mon Azevedo of Wilbur-Ellis Co. is the second vice president. Carol Kozlowski Every of Kozlowski Farm was appointed secretary, and Saralee McClelland of Kunde Tasting Room Focus Analysis, Best Practices & Trends: A newsletter for managers of tasting rooms, wine clubs and DTC wine sales. A monthly email newsletter with the latest: • Expert advice about tasting rooms, inside sales, wine clubs, leadership, online marketing and data metrics; • Direct-to-Consumer (DtC) and wine flash sales analysis; • Featured tasting room suppliers. Sign up today! Email trf@winesandvines.com or visit winesandvines.com/TRF 22 Wines & Vines MARCH 2012 March Advertisers: Beyond Wow Bufkor CI Solutions PakSource Salina Glass Wine Appreciation Guild Wine Barrel Designs is treasurer. New board members for the 2012-14 term are: John Balletto of Bal- letto Vineyards and Shannon Donnell of Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards. NORTHWEST New director for clean plant center Ken Eastwell, a pro- fessor in the Washing- ton State University Department of Plant Pathology based at WSU's Irrigated Ag- riculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser, Wash., has been appointed director of the Clean Plant Center of the Northwest. As director of CPCNW, East- well will supervise the development and distribution of deciduous fruit trees, grapevines and hops that are free of viruses and virus-like agents. Details: healthyplants.wsu.edu. Gordon Brothers redesigns brand Gordon Brothers Family Vineyards has renamed its primary brand Gor- don Estate. The new name comes with a redesigned label as well as updates to the business website. The Gordon family worked with Britton Design of Sonoma, Calif., on the redesign. Founded in 1980, Gordon Brothers Family Vineyards is located in Pasco, Wash. Details: gordonwines.com. New leader for Washington state industry Merck & Co. executive Steve Warner has been hired as the new executive director of the Washington Wine Commission. Warner, currently managing director for the pharmaceutical giant in Bucharest, Ro- mania, officially will take the helm of the commission March 12. WWC chair Kent Waliser said the commission chose War- ner because of his knowledge of science, finance and marketing. Lacroute honored in Oregon Ronni Lacroute, co-owner of WillaKenzie Estate Winery and a Linfield College trust- ee, was named 2011 Oregon Wine Person of the Year in recognition of her philan- thropic outreach to nonprofits and arts organizations. Lacroute has supported the arts, hunger relief, children's causes, educa- tion, social services and medical research, according to a statement released through Linfield College.