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February 2016 WINES&VINES 25 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS CALIFORNIA New GM at Walt Wines Jeff Zappelli is the new general manager of Walt Wines in Sonoma. The wine brand is the Pinot Noir- and Chardonnay- focused label owned by Hall Wines of St. Helena. Zappelli joined Hall in 2006 to oversee direct-to-consumer sales, and that role ex- panded to include Walt when the Halls launched the brand in 2012. Covenant hires GM Covenant Wines of Berkeley, Calif., hired Sagie Kleinlerer as its first general manager. Kleinlerer will oversee sales, marketing and the expan- sion of the kosher winery. Founded in 2003 by partners Leslie Rudd and Jeff Morgan, Cov- enant has doubled its production in the past three years, built a 7,000-square-foot winery in downtown Berkeley and recently released its first wine from Israel: Covenant Israel. Kleinlerer worked at Larkmead Vineyard in Napa Valley prior to joining Covenant. Carneros Alliance elects board officers The Carneros Wine Alliance announced that Crista Johnson of Schug Carneros Estate Winery is the new chair of the board and Carla Bosco of Bouchaine Vineyards is the vice chair. T.J. Evans of Domaine Carneros continues to serve as treasurer. The rest of the board includes Anne Moller-Racke of Donum Estate, Alison Crowe of Garnet Vineyards, Jennifer LaRosa of Poseidon Vineyard and Sam Jamison of Carneros Hills Winery. Johnson has served on the board of the Carneros Wine Alliance since 2014. In addition to serving on the alliance board, Johnson is the marketing communications manager at Schug Carneros Estate Winery. Bosco has served on the Carneros Wine Alliance board since 2014 and previously served as secretary of the alli- ance. Bosco formerly ran marketing and public relations for the national nonprofit group Women For WineSense. Three years ago she joined Bouchaine Vineyards. New winemaker, operations director at Clos du Val Jon-Mark Chappellet is the new director of operations and Ted Henry is the new winemaker at Clos du Val Wine Co. of Napa. The recent hires follow several other changes set in motion by president and CEO Steve Tamburelli. Clos Du Val has renovated the winery and is now focused on making wine almost exclusively with grapes from estate vineyards. According to a statement from the winery, Clos Du Val signifi- cantly reduced production, and its overall Cab- ernet Sauvignon production has been cut nearly in half. Jon-Mark Chappellet is the son of Donn and Molly Chappellet and spent two decades as director of operations for Chappellet Winery, where he worked with Tamburelli, who was the general manager. Henry will be responsible for guiding Clos Du Val's transition to an estate- Regional News Jeff Zappelli Crista Johnson Ted Henry, Steve Tamburelli and Jon- Mark Chappellet StaVın Inc, P.O.Box 1693, Sausalito,CA 94966 (415) 331-7849 f (415) 331-0516 stavin.com One of our staff scientists, Dr. Jeff McCord has developed a micro-oxygenation system which enables stainless tanks to breathe in precisely the same manner as oak barrels. When used in union with StaVin's array of Oak Integration Systems, The OxBox can effectively transform a stainless tank into the oak barrels of your choice. For about an eighth of the price. ® © 2015 StaVin Inc. PHOTO OF CRISTA JOHNSON BY ASHLEY TEPLIN